Need some help with spot metering
I'm no pro, but I would have to say which ever one of the points most important to your desired lighting would be the one to meter and lock. If it's more important for point "b" to be properly exposed (medium tone) rather than point "a or c", lock point "b". Pick your priority. When i find i need to spot meter, I just look through the area and pick the most important part that you want to be "medium tone" and lock that one.. It's not so much about picking a light or dark area, it's about picking a priority of your subject that you want to be properly exposed.
"So if you have a few areas of the photo metered, where do you lock the exposure? And then when I press the shutter down the camera is taking another meter reading"
I shoot some pretty old film cameras but i'm sure these new fan-dangled cameras have some sort of exposure lock button on them somewhere. Your manual should be able to tell you how to lock the exposure on your particular camera. When i spot meter w/my old cameras, I'll spot meter my desired part of the frame (in "Aperture Priority" because thats "my" first priority when shooting landscapes is depth of field. Depending on your subject, that may be different.), turn it to manual and dial in the shutter and aperture that was read when i spot metered.
Hope that helped a little, I'm not the best communicator.
lol 
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