Comments on: Photography 101.8 – The Light Meter

By: Dimple

Dimple — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:57:17 +0000

Thank you so much. That worked.

By: AlexO

AlexO — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:45:26 +0000

I don’t want to talk on behalf of this website but I will try and give you a quick answer.
From what you(dimple) described, it is very clear that somebody or you(without knowing) dialed exposure compensation in your camera in the value of +2. In the AEB, camera adds/removes the same amount of exposure compensation to/from the current value which is +2 in your case. So if you want to shoot with AEB with the +/-2, your camera will display 0 and +4 because adding +/-2 to currently +2 will result in -2+2=0 on the low side and +2+2=4 on the high side. Your camera is doing exactly what it is supposed to do so there is nothing wrong with your camera.
And it is very easy to set your exposure compensation back to 0. Just refer to your instruction manual. I do not know what camera you are using but I can tell that it is a Canon from the Tv, Av shooting names you mentioned. And since you have AEB in your camera, I also assume that it is a digital SLR camera.
Look for a button with “+/-” mark on it. Press on that and then use either left and right arrows or a dial(you will probably have a dial on your camera) to set that +2 back to zero. If you have a Rebel series camera, you will need to press and hold that “+/-” button while rotating the dial.
One last thing, I would suggest you post these type of questions on a forum to get much quicker help.

By: Dimple

Dimple — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:47:34 +0000

when I am in Av or Tv mode, my exposure meter always reads +2. I think it should be showing 0 (balanced exposure) but I cannot get it to 0.

Second, on AEB, the scale runs from 0 – +4 instead of -2 to +2.

I think there is something wrong here but I don’t know how to balance my exposure to 0 and change the scale in AEB but I do think they may be related to the same issue. Can anyone help me solve this?

Thanks!

By: Mel

Mel — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:57:14 +0000

ISO, aperture and shutter speed, everyone has their own style of photography, I dig long shutter speeds even with my subject in motion. there is no right or wrong, …to each they’re own!

By: AlexO

AlexO — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:49:27 +0000

Also in the paragraph right under where the exposure meter display on LCD, it says:

“However, if for example you set your aperture to 1/400sec in Tv (shutter priority mode) and the light meter indicated that you needed an aperture of f4,…”

Where it says “aperture” should have been “Shutter Speed”. This is a simple typo and I am sure most of you got it already but some people may get confused. So it would be nice for Neil to fix it…

By: Nikki

Nikki — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:48:11 +0000

I am currently taking a course on digital photography and we are learning about light metering. I completely understand the “WHYS”, but I feel like everywhere I turn, I cannot get the “HOW”. It’s hard for me to relate the light metering to real life situations. The grey scale makes sense. I need someone to tell me step by step what to do. I think I might have the light meter confused with the exposure setting. During my class, my instructor told us to put our camera’s in Auto and set the exposure to 0.0 (I have a Nikon D60). Did that. OK, then in Manual (which is the only setting I ever use) take a picture of a grey card. I am completely lost at that point. It just doesn’t want to sink in. I have a family photo session this weekend and I’m worried I’m going to be concentrating on getting that right so much, that I’m going to do a terrible job. There will be 3 of them I’m photographing and they will be wearing dark blue and purple shirts. What am I supposed to do? I would so much appreciate someone’s explanation!!

By: Charlie Stott

Charlie Stott — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:54:32 +0000

Thanks for this course. I’ve been taking photos for 25 years or more, but only just gone digital, and thought “why not go back to basics at the same?”. I am very glad I did. I really enjoyed the technical discussion of how lens and camera ‘read’ light. Is this the last in the series? I can’t find links to the next lesson. Is there more coming, it seems to end so abruptly.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:36:10 +0000

I have a Nikon D40 and use minus 7 exposure compensation the same is also on the D80 and it usually comes out correct within the histogram and does not clip the highlights.

By: Martin Barabe

Martin Barabe — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:35:50 +0000

Thank you Adam for the info.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 04:04:52 +0000

Martin,

As Dom mentions above, the camera’s light meter will try to go for “18% grey” (I understand this to mean halfway between black and white by luminance). This is very helpful, and is a sensible sort of thing to do, but doesn’t always lead to the best photograph.
It isn’t a fault with your camera, or with your photography – if you know you like shots that are one stop down from the camera’s light meter, use the exposure compensation setting and you’ll be set. Don’t be afraid to try photos that are further away though, sometimes you can get much more evocative images this way.