Paul Stenquist wrote: > > Shel Belinkoff wrote: > > Using a spot meter has helped me to better > > understand the subtleties of correct exposure, > > and has given me a better understanding of > > light and scene brightness. > > Coupled with an understanding of the zone system, the use of a spotmeter helps > one make sense of it all. You pick a part of the scene that you want to fall in > zone 3, and you meter it. Then you might look at the highlights and see if > they will be recordable at that exposure. It's invaluable.
Here's something fun to do. Find a scene with a good tonal range and meter the shadows, highlights, middle areas, and so forth, adjusting exposure each time to what you think is correct. So, lets say you meter a white house in the sun, open up two - three stops and shoot the scene. Meter a shadow and stop down a couple of stops, and so on. Then when you've processed the film, see how close you were to the right exposure. The object of the exercise is to allow one to practice recognizing different aspects of the light and coordinating that with exposure and development. Theoretically, no matter where you meter, if you adjust the exposure properly each negative should be the same. After a while you won't have much need for a meter except in tricky lighting situations. The camera meter can only give you so much creativity and control. -- Shel Belinkoff mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.earthlink.net/~belinkoff/ - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
