Great Images Through Metering

Almost all of the newer Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras have multiple TTL (Through The Lens) metering modes. Each manufacturer calls their metering modes by different names, but basically, they all fall into four categories: spot, center-weighted, multi-pattern and matrix metering, the last one being proprietary to Nikon.

Spot Metering - Spot metering, as the name implies, reads the light from a very small spot or portion of the overall scene. This mode reads the light reflecting from what is inside the small circle or rectangle in the middle of your viewfinder. It will not be more than 9.5% of the overall scene. With spot metering, you can pinpoint the area you want metered for reflectance light. The disadvantage is you pinpoint the spot you want metered for reflectance light.

Now wait a minute, how can pinpointing be both an advantage and disadvantage? The advantage is you are free to choose where to take your meter reading from in a scene. Just put the circle or rectangle on the area you want metered and press the shutter button half-way down to see the shutter speed and aperture settings.

The disadvantage is the TTL meter in your camera sees everything as middle tone or 18% reflectance. If the spot you pick is not middle tone, the exposure of the whole scene could be either over or under exposed. To get an accurate exposure, choose something close to middle tone, such as green grass, tan tree bark, blue sky or light brown flesh tone. Or as an alternative, take the reading and manually dial in exposure compensation to achieve middle tone settings. The spot meter can be difficult to learn, but once you have mastered it, you will find it indispensable when you want your subject, the part in the spot, exposed correctly in a high contrast situation.

Center-Weighted Metering - Center-weighted metering is the most common of all the metering systems and the one used in all point-and-shoot cameras. Center-weighted metering reads light from about 75% of the center of the scene, weights it heavier, then reads the light from the remaining 25% of the scene and weighs it normally . This information is computed by the camera coming up with the final exposure reading. Remember, the overall area metered needs to average out to middle tone. Anything other than middle tone requires you to compensate by using the exposure compensation feature in your DSLR camera.

Multi-Pattern Metering - Multi-pattern metering is also known as evaluative metering. With this method, the viewfinder is broken down into several metering segments built around the auto-focus sensors. Once you choose the auto-focus sensor, a center-weighted metering pattern is built around that selected sensor. This system is basically the same as the center-weighted metering system except the center-weighted reading is taken from the selected auto-focus sensor instead of from the center of the viewfinder.

Matrix Metering - Proprietary to Nikon, matrix metering uses multiple metering segments arranged around the auto-focus segments in the viewfinder much like the multi-pattern metering system, but it also uses a database of actual photographic situations. This system works by each segment metered individually and assigned a light level. These light levels form a contrast pattern. The contrast patterns are then filtered through the database in the DSLR finding the proper exposure compensation for a given scene. With this system, no manual exposure compensation is needed because the metering system automatically does it for you.

When To Use Each Metering System - Each metering system has its own use in specific situations. Generally, center-weighted is best to use when learning how to take photos. As you master this metering system, you can move to spot metering. Here you will pinpoint a spot in the scene and manually apply exposure compensation. Use matrix or multi-pattern metering for rapidly changing light situations or when faced with highly complex lighting.

Now would be a good time to dust off your camera manual and read up on metering modes specific to your camera. Mastering metering modes takes your imagery to a whole new and higher level.

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