 Keri E. Pinney |
Exposure problems with outdoor portraits I'm hoping for suggestions on how to best meter outdoor portraits of children. I shoot with a Nikon D80 and typically handhold given my need to be on the move. I use matrix metering most of the time, but I'm finding that I often have portraits where the camera exposes for a darker background and leaves the subject overexposed. Should I be using spot or centered metering instead? Or should I be using exp compensation? Also, for portraits, should I be metering off the subject's face?
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William Schuette |
You can use any of the techniques you suggested. The drawback with all of them is going to be that when you correctly expose for the subject your background will likely be over or under exposed. If you don't want this to occur, you may want to consider using fill flash as an alternative. Bill
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Pete H |
As William correctly points out, your decision will be based on the final outcome you desire. If background is unimportant, then by all means, spot meter off your subjects skin. Take care if the difference between the brightest and darkest part of their face departs more than 1 stop. If this is the case, expose for the brightest only. Ideally; you should be shooting outdoor portraits in open shade with fill flash...if not, be careful with white balance; dial in some WB compensation or go with the "shade" setting.
Pete
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Alan N. Marcus |
Hi Keri, Fine portraiture always strives to reproduce skin tones as sensibly as possible. A reflected light meter reading aimed from the camera position averages scene brightness (integrated reading). Setting the camera exactly as indicated by the meter may or may not render skin tones correctly. This is because usage of the light meter has pitfalls. My fist instinct is to tell you to use the built-in metering system of your camera because the camera maker has incorporated hard-to-beat chip logic. On the other hand a skilled photographer, with hand-held meter, can force key tone to reproduce as he/she desires. Best advice is to procure a gray card. Place this 18% target (reflects 18% or the ambient red – green – blue) in the scene so that the placard is illuminated exactly the same as the principle subject. Take a close-up reading of the card (simulates a spot reading). Be careful and avoid having your body interfere or influence the light falling on the card. Use this reading for your camera setting. Alternately, take a close-up reflected reading of the principle subject’s cheek or forehead (you can also read the palm of your hand). Keep in mind that a fair complexion measures about 1/fstop more reflective than a gray card. Unless you compensate for complexion variations, skin generally reproduces too dark as this procedure forces the measured object to reproduce at about the same intensity (lightness-darkness) as the gray card. The countermeasure for fair complexion is to open up one f/stop (aperture set to the next smaller value i.e. meter reads f/16 adjust to f/11). For medium dark complexion no compensation is required. For dark complexion’s compensation is 1 to 1 ½ f/stop. Many hand-held meters allow measurement by the incident light method. In this method the meter is fitted with a translucent dome over the sensor. Measurement is made at the subject plane with the meter pointed back at the camera. The resulting value obtained is approximately the same as a reflected reading taken off a gray card. A great number of highly skilled photographers prefer the incident method as does the motion picture industry. Nobody said it’s easy! Alan Marcus (dispenses often disputed techno babble)
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Keri E. Pinney |
Thanks for the sage advice everyone - I really appreciate it. My biggest challenge with metering is the need to be on the move. I am constantly switching from one light zone to another when following children and it doesn't feel like there is time to constantly meter with a grey card. I suppose I'll try spot metering for the times I have to be "on the fly" and then use the grey card or look into a handheld incident meter for shots where I have more time. Thanks again!
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W. |
For shots where you don't have more time – and if you've got enough memory card space – you could try auto bracketing. That way you have a choice after the fact. Have fun!
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