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Can anyone recommend a good guide for spot metering? Zone system?



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 4th 03, 01:34 AM
w
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Default Can anyone recommend a good guide for spot metering? Zone system?

I am an advanced amateur, and I want to really understand spot metering
practically. I've read the "Handheld Metering Guide" and I don't doubt
that the authors can meter well, but they have shown they can't instruct
well. Information is neither too advanced or too simple, not enough
detail and little more than what a sales brochure would give, might be
helpful in deciding which type of meter to buy but lacking otherwise and
if you really want to know how i feel about the book : )

Has anyone read a really good book on metering with great practical
tips? Where to point the spot etc. I know that sounds like a simple
question but lets say you are in a meadow in autumn, what element is
likely to most closely resemble 18% gray.Is that the best approcah to
find a 18% grey in the scene and meter that? Or do I determine what will
be grey if I can't control developing and printing. Does the Zone system
have use for the digital or roll film photographer?

  #2  
Old December 4th 03, 06:56 AM
Dean Van Praotl
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Default Can anyone recommend a good guide for spot metering? Zone system?

w apparently said:

... lets say you are in a meadow in autumn, what element is
likely to most closely resemble 18% gray (?)


Your meter is calibrated to place whatever it "sees" on
Zone V. In landscapes, middle greens generally fall there,
meaning green grass, many deciduous trees, etc. Most
conifers, such as Douglas Fir, do NOT fall on Zone V, but
are about a stop darker, so beware if in the western mountains
where there are lots of pines and firs. Another thing that is
usually a good Zone V, is red flowers. A field of bright red
tulips should be quite close to middle gray. Of course, there
are all kinds of red just as there are all kinds of green, so YMMV.
Yellow aspens in the fall are one stop brighter than 18%.

Remember that slide film has only a 5 stop dynamic range.
That means that you will retain detail to +/- 2 stops from whatever
you metered. With transparency films, the highlights are the
most critical exposure; too much exposure and the highlights
will be blown out. With that in mind, you can use a spot
meter to measure the brightest area in the scene. Place that
area on Zone VII (give it 2 stops more exposure than the meter
indicates) then check other areas and see where they fall. If
the entire scene is within +/- 2 stops of the exposure you set
on the camera, then you're right on.
  #3  
Old December 4th 03, 08:34 PM
Mikesphoto
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Default Can anyone recommend a good guide for spot metering? Zone system?

Pick up Ansel's Book "the negative" it tells you in simple easy way to
understand how to do what you want.



In article , w
writes:

Has anyone read a really good book on metering with great practical
tips? Where to point the spot etc. I know that sounds like a simple
question but lets say you are in a meadow in autumn, what element is
likely to most closely resemble 18% gray.Is that the best approcah to
find a 18% grey in the scene and meter that? Or do I determine what will
be grey if I can't control developing and printing. Does the Zone system
have use for the digital or roll film photographer?



Mike Babcock
Mike's Photo


  #4  
Old December 25th 03, 01:16 PM
bill harrison
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Default Can anyone recommend a good guide for spot metering? Zone system?

I was trained as a photographer years ago buy the military and before
automatic
cameras with fast internal metering. I learned that I gauged or metered
what I wanted exposed
correctly and let everything go. If you are shooting a black horse standing
in front of a white
barn or shooting a white horse standing in front of a black barn, the meter
is going to read both
shots WRONG. Either in whole field of view mode, weighed or spot. You need
to know what
is going on in your viewfinder and correct by over or under exposure from
what the meter says.
Your concern is what the light source intensity is. If you shoot lots of
images you will learn
how your meter is 'off', but until then, carry a small gray card, readily
purchased at any good
photo supply store, and when unsure of your scenic lighting, place the card
in similar lighting
as the area you wish the best detail in the finished photo, meter the card
then shoot your photos,
bracketing around the reading on the card. You will be happy with your
results.
Bill H

w wrote in message
. ..
I am an advanced amateur, and I want to really understand spot metering
practically. I've read the "Handheld Metering Guide" and I don't doubt
that the authors can meter well, but they have shown they can't instruct
well. Information is neither too advanced or too simple, not enough
detail and little more than what a sales brochure would give, might be
helpful in deciding which type of meter to buy but lacking otherwise and
if you really want to know how i feel about the book : )

Has anyone read a really good book on metering with great practical
tips? Where to point the spot etc. I know that sounds like a simple
question but lets say you are in a meadow in autumn, what element is
likely to most closely resemble 18% gray.Is that the best approcah to
find a 18% grey in the scene and meter that? Or do I determine what will
be grey if I can't control developing and printing. Does the Zone system
have use for the digital or roll film photographer?



  #5  
Old February 5th 04, 11:40 PM
Ken
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Posts: n/a
Default Can anyone recommend a good guide for spot metering? Zone system?

You haven't mentioned whether you are shooting black and white, colour or
transparency.
Keep in mind that if you use black and white and develop yourself then you
can also control the contrast in the development procedure. This is described
very well in Ansel Adams book, a recommended text for University courses on
photography.
If you shoot transparency then what you expose is essentially what you will
get as the end result unless you stipulate changes in the development process
at the lab.
If you shoot standard print film and have it developed to print you may not
get the results you had set out for, when these films are printed it is
standard that the print is adjusted by either the computer program or the
operator of the printer or usually both. They automate the process as much as
possible.
I recommend that you select either a standardised way of developing and
contact printing your own black and white to see the differences in your
exposure as you learn with the spot meter or shoot transparency until you
learn it.

You may also want to look at Ansel Adams book The Print, if you are
developing and contact printing your own work.

Cheers good luck.

Mikesphoto wrote:

Pick up Ansel's Book "the negative" it tells you in simple easy way to
understand how to do what you want.

In article , w
writes:

Has anyone read a really good book on metering with great practical
tips? Where to point the spot etc. I know that sounds like a simple
question but lets say you are in a meadow in autumn, what element is
likely to most closely resemble 18% gray.Is that the best approcah to
find a 18% grey in the scene and meter that? Or do I determine what will
be grey if I can't control developing and printing. Does the Zone system
have use for the digital or roll film photographer?


Mike Babcock
Mike's Photo


  #6  
Old March 14th 04, 07:38 PM
KBob
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Posts: n/a
Default Can anyone recommend a good guide for spot metering? Zone system?

On Thu, 25 Dec 2003 07:16:40 -0500, "bill harrison"
wrote:

I was trained as a photographer years ago buy the military and before
automatic
cameras with fast internal metering. I learned that I gauged or metered
what I wanted exposed
correctly and let everything go. If you are shooting a black horse standing
in front of a white
barn or shooting a white horse standing in front of a black barn, the meter
is going to read both
shots WRONG. Either in whole field of view mode, weighed or spot. You need
to know what
is going on in your viewfinder and correct by over or under exposure from
what the meter says.
Your concern is what the light source intensity is. If you shoot lots of
images you will learn
how your meter is 'off', but until then, carry a small gray card, readily
purchased at any good
photo supply store, and when unsure of your scenic lighting, place the card
in similar lighting
as the area you wish the best detail in the finished photo, meter the card
then shoot your photos,
bracketing around the reading on the card. You will be happy with your
results.
Bill H

Actually, when you get all the Zone System books by Minor White and
others, and try to apply the ideas you arrive at a very simple
conclusion: meter everything with an incident meter. This is what a
lot of pros do (even James Nachtwey, the famous war photographer is
seen to rely heavily on an incident meter in the recent video "War
Photographer").

In other words, no matter what color the horse, the incident reading
would give a correct exposure. I've been thinking about getting one
of those ExpoDisc things, too bad their so expensive...
w wrote in message
...
I am an advanced amateur, and I want to really understand spot metering
practically. I've read the "Handheld Metering Guide" and I don't doubt
that the authors can meter well, but they have shown they can't instruct
well. Information is neither too advanced or too simple, not enough
detail and little more than what a sales brochure would give, might be
helpful in deciding which type of meter to buy but lacking otherwise and
if you really want to know how i feel about the book : )

Has anyone read a really good book on metering with great practical
tips? Where to point the spot etc. I know that sounds like a simple
question but lets say you are in a meadow in autumn, what element is
likely to most closely resemble 18% gray.Is that the best approcah to
find a 18% grey in the scene and meter that? Or do I determine what will
be grey if I can't control developing and printing. Does the Zone system
have use for the digital or roll film photographer?



 




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