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Your meter is going to look at what's in the viewfinder and make a decision on how to achieve a 'mid-grey' with what it has..... so if the scene is predominantly light, like a snow scene, the camera will give less exposure (because it's responding to what it sees. Same with a black cat in a coal mine.... the camera will try to give a lot more exposure to achieve the mid-grey. (This is disregarding all those special 'scene' settings beloved of manufacturers but disliked by photographers who know what they're doing). I emphasise the word 'predominantly', though, because unless you're framing the main subject tightly in the viewfinder your camera will be taking into account the background and 'balancing things out'.
So let's say there's a black dog to photograph, and it's more or less filling the frame. Your camera meter will be trying to get a mid-grey..... by giving it more exposure. This is where your Exposure Compensation comes in... your black dog does not need that extra exposure - you want it to be black, so you need to take at least one and probably two stops of exposure off. The opposite with a white dog - you'd add exposure (just as you would for snow scenes).
One big "however" here..... black dogs are, in most cases, relatively short-haired and therefore usually have a sheen on their fur..... it will lighten the black and, while your shot may need slightly less exposure than with a 'straight' meter reading, it won't be as much as you'd take off for pure black. Try a 'straight' shot and make adjustments from there. With a white dog, you may need to add a full stop of exposure to get better recording of fur and shadows.
Experimentation is the answer - and digital cameras have the huge benefit of giving you instant feedback. Compose your shot, see what exposure you're going to get, take the picture. If it's too dark, give it an extra stop with Exposure Compensation (or adjust by a stop at a time if in Manual mode). If it's too light (just a dull grey), take some exposure off.... a stop at a time. You can fine tune by steps of 1/3rd of a stop on most cameras.
And.... WOW - my 1000th post!
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17-08-11, 11:33 AM
