Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Your quote explains the problem we all face, but does nothing to explain how to resolve the problem. By saying that "the correct exposure is the one that makes the photo look the way you want" says nothing about how to achieve that goal. If you sent an amateur out with that advice, he would have no clue where to begin...... At 02:37 PM 4/8/98 -0400, Peter Su wrote: >All this talk of metering has me thinking one thing, and one thing only. > >In one of his how to books, John Shaw says something to this effect: > >The "correct" exposure for a scene is the one that gets you a picture that >looks the way you wanted it to look. If the picture is lighter than you >wanted, then its over-exposed. If it is darker than you wanted, then its >underexposed. The goal is to learn how to use your light meter to get the >exposure that YOU want. > >END SUMMARY > >As with everything else in photography, the way you achieve this goal tends >to be different for everyone. There is no one magic bullet, one technique >that works for everything every time everywhere. In particular, the way you >meter for 35mm color slide film is going to be very different from the way >you meter for B&W 4x5 sheet film. I think we have to keep this in mind when >talking about "correct" metering. > >So, just learn how to use whatever your favorite meter is the right way, and >go from there. > >Pete > Francesco Sanfilippo, Five Senses Productions webmaster@5senses.com http://www.5senses.com/