EXAMPLES OF LIGHT MEASUREMENT MODES IN PHOTOGRAPHY

There are times in life you have to make decisions. The technology is not able to operate 100% autonomously. She needs us to guide her, to give her some clue. Measuring light in SLR cameras is one of those settings that you have to decide for yourself. Your camera, no matter how efficient it is in automatic mode, cannot guess the most appropriate light measurement mode. You have to decide it. In today's article I would like to help you make this decision. I will not take it for you. What I will try to help you is to understand the meaning of light measurement in a simple way , giving you some clues about when to use each mode. Here we go.

WHAT ARE THE LIGHT MEASUREMENT MODES IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY?

To avoid producing overexposed photos (with too much light) or underexposed (too dark) the camera tries to "dose" the amount of light that enters. If you see that the landscape, person or object portrayed is dark, the camera tries to compensate it by letting it get a little more light. If, on the other hand, you realize that it is a very sunny day, or that there is too much light in the scene, then try to restrict the amount of light that passes inside, thus ensuring correct lighting levels. Do you follow me Well, the measurement of light is an indication that we give to the camera so that it distinguishes which part of the frame should be taken as a reference to regulate the exposure (the capture of light). If some parts of the frame were too bright and others too dark, the camera would go crazy. Someone has to say: "Hey forget about this part x of the frame, focus on this one that is the one that really interests me to photograph with correct exposure levels, if the rest is overexposed or underexposed, I care less . "

TYPES OF LIGHT MEASUREMENT

There are mainly 3 types. Spot Measurement: Here the camera measures the light of a specific point in the frame (usually the center, although in some cameras you can indicate it) and regulates the amount of light it needs to capture based on that measurement. That the rest of the frame comes out darker or more illuminated to the camera is brought without care. What interests to expose correctly is a concrete and "punctual" zone. Hence the name. Do you want an example? If you have a scene in which most of the frame is dark and only a very minimal part is illuminated, you should use the Spot metering mode and tell the camera where that character you are interested in lighting well is.

Spot Light Measurement

Weighted Measurement at the Center: Almost similar to the point measurement, except for the fact that it takes as reference the indicated point, giving it great importance in the calculation, but also takes into account the area around that point, yes, giving it an importance much smaller Example: In this example the center-weighted measurement was used. What had to be properly exposed were the candles along with the two main characters. However, it was possible to see more characters as well as the rest of the scene because the camera also took into account the rest of the frame.

Center Weighted Measurement

Matrix Measurement: This is the easiest way to use, and generally the most frequently used. Here you simply say to the camera: "Look, calculate the different levels of light in the whole frame, take a stocking, and take the picture with that half of light . " Normally, most of the elements of the frame usually come out well exposed since the camera does not go to either end, but instead applies a "medium" exposure. For what situations is it better to use matrix measurement? Any photo in which there is no excessively illuminated or too dark element. Example: Any photo in which we are interested in balancing the light between dark and other illuminated areas would be ideal for the matrix light measurement mode.

Matrix Measurement

How do you see it, easy not ..?