The best Photo shot, getting Cameras the Exposure Right part 2

Taking a reading

You can measure the light either from the camera position or from close to the subject. The reading can be taken in two ways: using the light reflected from the subject or the incident light falling on the subject. Incident light readings can only be taken using a hand-held meter.

A reflected light reading, taken by both built-in and hand-held meters, measures the light bouncing off the subject. It can he measured either from the camera position, where you will actually take the photograph, or close to the subject. Taking the reading from the camera position will give an overall impression of the available light, including the background. But, if one part of the picture is more important than the rest, walk up to it and take the reading, or measure the light on a substitute. For example, a hand held close to the meter will represent skin tones in a portrait if similarly lit.

An incident light reading measures the intensity of the light falling on the subject. You need a hand-held meter with a translucent dome or Invercone covering the cell in order to do this. The reading is taken close to the subject with the meter and incident light dome pointing towards ‘the camera. It is a more accurate way to measure the exposure for a subject with a broad range of tones and ensures properly exposed highlights. To use an exposure meter in this way takes a little longer and so works best with a static subject, but the result is a correct exposure in a difficult situation.

TTL meters are quicker to use than a hand-held meter. Simply line up the needle in the viewfinder between its over- and under-exposure markers by altering the aperture or shutter speed. Several combinations of aperture and shutter speed will make the needle line up, or the correct LED shine, and it is up to you to choose the best combination. Avoid shutter speeds less than 1/60 unless using a support.

Estimating the exposure outdoors without a meter is not impossible. The following suggestions will give reasonably accurate results, provided you choose uncomplicated situations with fairly even lighting.

* Match the shutter speed as closely as possible to the speed (ASA) of the film in the camera.

* Presuming that the sun is more or less behind the camera, the correct f number will be:

• Bright summer sunlight f16
• Hazy sunlight f11
• Bright, cloudy days f8
• Overcast sky or shade f5.6

To avoid over-exposure of a subject which is fairly light in tone and lit by strong, direct sunlight, use f22.

These combinations will be accurate to within half an f stop. But, provided you keep the total exposure constant, there is no reason why you should not change a setting of 1/125 at fl6 to one of 1/250 at fl l for a moving subject.

Solving Cameras exposure problems

There are certain lighting situations where exposure calculation can be difficult. The lighting may not be constant across the picture area, leaving a crucial part of the subject in deep shadow, or the light may be so dim that a built-in meter cannot give a reading.

Silhouettes: you may want to create the effect of a silhouette outlined against a bright background. This is best done by photographing the subject in front of a bright sky, or even a bright lamp. If you take the light reading from the bright area the subject will be underexposed and stand out as just a dark shadow. Obviously the brighter the background the stronger the silhouette will be, so you could even photograph against the sun. But watch out for flare, or ‘sun spots’ on the lens which might spoil the picture. Positioning the subject directly in front of the sun, and blocking it out, will avoid the problem.

High contrast: a scene containing both very bright and very dark elements is difficult to measure accurately. A reading from one part of the picture will not be right for the rest of it. The solution is to take two readings, one from the brightest point and one from the darkest. Average the two for an exposure which will give a full range of tones and the most realistic result.

Large background area: photographing a person or a small object set against a very bright or a dark background can be difficult. The exposure meter will take its reading over the total picture area and give a result which may not suit the more important, smaller subject.

Fora back-lit subject a large expanse of bright sky behind will influence the meter to under-expose a darker subject in front of it. A large, dark background, like the wall of a house, will suggest an exposure too long for a lighter object in front of it.

To find the correct exposure for the main subject, take a reflected light reading from close to the subject or use a substitute of the same colour and texture. The meter may suggest one or two stops more exposure than for the whole area. If you have a large expanse of sky in a landscape, try tilting the meter down a few degrees to get a reading from the land for a better balanced exposure.

Dimly lit or night exposures: a TTL meter cannot cope as well in very dim light as a quality hand-held meter like the Lunasix. If the conditions seem too dark for the meter in your camera to measure, try taking a substitute reading from a piece of white card held close to the lens. Use the result from the card to estimate the exposure for your photograph. To do this, either open up the aperture 22 stops more than the reading indicated by the card, or multiply the length of the exposure by 6. Either compensation should give a reasonable result. In addition, when photographing at night it is alwayssensible to bracket your exposures— photograph the subject several times using different exposures.

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