Best metering mode for outdoor family portraits?

9 years 5 months ago #408102 by Vladimir
What metering mode are you all using for outdoor family portraits?  If the sun is setting to the right of your subjects would you  spot meter on one of them or ???  


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9 years 5 months ago #408111 by Stealthy Ninja
Use manual mode, personally I use the general metering mode (matrix?) to give me a ballpark range to work with, then adjust.
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9 years 5 months ago #408113 by KCook

Vladimir wrote: What metering mode are you all using for outdoor family portraits?  If the sun is setting to the right of your subjects would you  spot meter on one of them or ???  


If the sun's disk is in the shot I would use a large spot.  Otherwise more likely center weighted average.

Kelly

Canon 50D, Olympus PL2
kellycook.zenfolio.com/

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9 years 5 months ago #408215 by Glen Mosley
Same here


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9 years 5 months ago #408218 by Joves
I would spot meter on the subjects. Also I hope you are using auxiliary lighting to offset the brightness from one side, or at least a reflector to balance it out. You can use matrix, but will have to look to see which side of the lighting that it is trying to balance from. If most of the scene is dark around the subject then the lit side will be over exposed, if it is mostly bright then it will under expose the darker areas. At least this has been my experience with it, so I spot meter in high dynamic range scenes.


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