Recently I've decided to pay a little attention to the exposure guide as
printed inside the film cartons. As I take pictures I've been noting the
exposures and comparing them to the guide. Well, I'll be. They actually
are accurate! Forget multispot metering, forget matrix metering, forget
OTF metering and by all means forget the incident light meter. Just open
up the film carton and just look at the guide.
What I'm getting at, is that we seem to park our brains when it comes to
metering. For instance, at high-noon and a bright sunny day we are
pannicking because we can't seem to meter this landscape. Instead of
totally relying on the meter (and demanding ever-increasing complexity such
as 3D color matrix), you should have a general idea of what the exposure
should be--automatically. Yes, this comes through experience, but does
provide you with both a starting point and a "confirmation" for the
electronic calculation.
The ultimate meter is not a spot meter. Nor is it a 20 enter-weighted
averaging meter. Sorry, but it isn't even an incident meter. The ultimate
meter is the brain cells in our skull and photoreceptors in our eyeballs.
Here is an assignment for everybody: Take a roll of slide film (or B&W)
and shoot it completely without using any meter at all. To make this even
more challenging, you must only take one picture per composition--no
bracketing allowed. The only exposure assistance you may have is the guide
in the film carton. There must be at least 5 different lighting conditions
on your roll. Write down your exposures (frame by frame). If you shoot
B&W for the assignment, have a proof sheet done at normal exposure.
This is a learning assignment, no grades will be given at the end of class
and all I ask is that you share what you've learned out of this assignment.
Ok, class dismissed.
Ken
Kenneth E. Norton
Image66 Photography
image66@xxxxxxx
(515) 791-2306
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