Metering can be tricky for new photographers. When I first started out I ALWAYS metered for my subject and lit it perfectly without much thought to the rest of the image. But over the years I’ve learned that you have to take the image as a whole and meter accordingly to really get the image you want so I figured I’d put together a quick post about metering for those of you who are just starting out.
I just want to preface this post by saying that technically speaking there isn’t a right answer. Everyone’s vision will be different and each photographer will have a different stylistic approach so please know that I’m not saying that its wrong to blow out curtains or other backgrounds. I still do it from time to time when I’m going for a certain look 😉
While I was shooting this image I knew I wanted to be able to see that there were curtains behind the bouquet. And because the curtains were white I knew that if I exposed for the bouquet the curtains would have blown out, almost entirely. (as shown in the image below)
And that’s where post processing comes into play! After bringing this image into Lightroom I bumped up the shadows, increased clarity and contrast and voila! The exact end result I was going for 🙂 Lots of detail in the curtains AND bouquet!
Hopefully this helps someone who’s struggling a bit with metering. It was one of my biggest hangups when I first got started in photography. For some reason I could NOT wrap my head around metering for midtones or shadows and I really agonized over figuring it. If you have questions about metering or anything else in regards to photography feel free to leave a comment below or message me! I’m always happy to help!!
Jennie Tewell - Thanks so much for the helpful blog post. I actually have never metered before, but it is something I would like to try. Do you have a meter that you would recommend?
admin - Hi Jennie Tewell! Thanks a bunch for the comment 🙂 I was talking about metering in camera and not with the use of a light meter! Hope that helps!