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Metering

Metering

Hello everybody, and welcome back to my blog!

May is a beautiful month for both hemispheres. In the North, spring is gradually blooming into summer, while the South celebrates the beautiful colors of autumn and its harvest. Time for the perfect photo 📸, ain't it!

In my two previous blogs, I wrote about ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed, and also, Exposure triangle. In this blog, I will be explaining two modes of metering, out of a total of three. So hang in there for this next blog!

What is Metering?

It is vital to understand what “Metering” means. Metering indicates using the light meter in your camera to read light, and no, it doesn't mean staring into a source of light. What it actually implies is measuring the amount of light entering the camera and correcting it to make the pic look well lit.

Modes of Metering

There are 3 main metering modes:
•Center-weighted average metering
•Evaluative pattern/ matrix metering.
•Spot Metering.

On modern digital cameras, you can choose between them.

Center-Weighted Average metering

Let's start by learning what is Center-Weighted Average Metering.

Center-weighed Metering takes a look at the whole of the image but only works on the assumption that the most important part of a photo in the middle, placing further emphasis on the light value in the middle. In simpler words, it automatically adjusts the exposure of the pic in the middle based on the thinking that it is the most important part. It can be good for beginners, but can get a bit complicated to use in the next stages.

Nikon | Imaging Products | DSLR Camera Basics | Metering (Live ...

Here you can see the red circle in the middle, which indicates how much of the frame is taken into consideration by the Center-weighted average metering mode. Since most of the frame taken into consideration does not even contain the bottles, it becomes evident that the photo will underexpose the bottles and focus on the buildings in the background. So if you take a closer look, the metering is set to expose the buildings, not the bottles. Therefore, we can say that it is not such a good idea to use Center-weighted metering for frames that don't have their subject right in the middle.

Evaluative/Matrix Metering

Evaluative pattern, Matrix metering are all different words for the same kind of mode of metering. The most utilized term is evaluative. This mode of metering is like the Center-weighted mode 2.0!
It is better, as instead of only taking account of the light in the middle, it divides the screen into many parts and looks at the most vital part of the frame, which is the subject in focus, making it smarter than Center-Weighted mode.


Nikon | Imaging Products | DSLR Camera Basics | Metering ...

So for those of you who are wondering what will it look like when you shoot in Matrix mode, the answer is right above. In this photo, you can see that one of the rectangles is red, meaning that the camera thinks that this is where the subject of the photo is. It also set the exposure automatically, which can help a lot of lazy people out there (like me 😁) become a better photographer!
phew clipart - image #7Well, that's it for today (Hope this isn't too much to take in 🙄...)  Remember to stay tuned for more upcoming blogs. The next one is going to be about the remaining topic in Metering, which is Spot Metering. Stay tuned!!

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