So I have a quick "metering mode" question / technique advice
What is the one you guys use the most, I think I mostly have spot metering on my camera, but any advice on when to use other modes or when spot metering is just not very effective? Or the best way to meter before focusing like should I point at the sky and meter and then recompose (I read this a lot on the exposure book I been reading) but a lot of times when I do this the exposure ends up being way too dark.
There's no real quick and easy answer, but lett's see how I do on an iPad. First, the reason your method of pointing at the sky and then decomposing yields dark results is because the sky is very bright, obviously. it's typically generating the light. Whereas the ground and other objects have to reflect that light back to camera.
Which mode to use is really a matter of personal preference and what your trying to accomplish.
ESP(don't know what it's called on other systems) meters the entire scene, then averages it and comes out with what it thinks is the best exposure. This is similar to the zone system.
Spot is great when you have really strong lights or darks contrasted with the opposite, or you otherwise that one particular area to be exposed perfectly and don't care as much about the rest of the scene. Spot usually meters 2% of the entire scene.
Some cameras also have spot hi and spot low, meaning you tell it which one to use based on the spot your metering being bright or dark with the background being the opposite.
Center weighted is similar to spot but meters a higher percentage somewhere around 5-15 % but I forget what my manual said.
I mostly use ESP or center weight for everything, and then exposure bias from there. Spot is great for shooting theaters or concerts where there is a light on the main actor(s).
