How does Metering Mode work?

Metering Mode is a setting to measure the brightness entered the camera in order to get the correct Exposure. Most camera setting Metering Mode in Evaluative metering by default. Therefore, you will see the symbol like an eye, which shown in the green circle. 

There are four Metering Mode, each of them has different area in detecting the brightness. Most photography lesson demonstrate back light shooting in this topic, but I got something different for today's lesson. :)

1) Evaluative Metering

- This is a standard mode which suitable to most scenes. It is an all-around metering mode, the camera will sets the exposure automatically to suit most scenes such as portrait and backlit subject.

2) Centerweighted Average Metering

- The Metering is concentrated at the center and averaged with the rest of the scene. It will gain more details at the background but the front subject will get darker in back light shooting. Centerweighted Average metering got darker picture compare with Evaluative metering.

3) Partial Metering

- This mode is more suitable for scenes where there are very bright and very dark scenes. The metering is in a small target which cover about 9% of the center of the viewfinder. It is more suitable for back lighting subject. Brightness of both subject and background will be balanced in this Metering Mode, the details of background are lesser compare with Evaluative Mode.

4) Spot Metering

- Spot Metering is available in Mid level and Professional level cameras. It has a smaller metering area compare with Partial Metering, which is about 3.8% of the center of the viewfinder. It looks like Prime's head  to me ^^.

In these cloud photos, you can see Spot Metering got the most details of the cloud and darkest of all. It is because your camera do not exposure instantly, therefore, more details will be captured. You might think, why don't you just decrease the Exposure to get a darker picture if darker one can get the more details? Well, it worth a shot but you probably will not get what you want. :)

Please be aware that Exposure and Metering are different setting, but these setting will affect each other. If you decrease the Exposure, you will get a darker version ONLY, you do not gain details for that. But Metering Mode is the Area you want your camera to concentrate.

Do you remember the chapter "How does Exposure work"? Exposure obtained when the Shutter open. If you shoot the backlit subject or sky, your camera will capture the "bright" thing first. The Exposure is still CORRECT because you do not specify the light area you want your camera to concentrate. Do not get me wrong, Area to concentrate does not same as Focus. Therefore, if the background is too bright, your camera will capture the background instead of the subject. 

Do you want to know more? Please "like" my posts ^^

Check out more DSLR and Gadgets?

How does Shutter work?

What is a Shutter? Shutter is a device, too... ...that's all? Lame joke... ...Let's get serious :)

Shutter is a gate that block light goes in the camera, so your Sensor (for digital camera) or film (for film camera) will not get expose. Remember the Black Box mentioned in "How does Camera work" ? Shutter is actually the "cover" mentioned in the chapter and it decide whether the picture is clear or blur. Why?

Imagine the Shutter is you eyelid, and it is close by now. You see nothing...of course ^^. Now open your eye and close it quickly. What did you see? Well, depends on how fast your eyelid can open and close. So, if you open for just 0.1 second, you only able to capture the image for 0.1 second as well. 

Therefore, faster Shutter speed can Freezes the motion and you can capture a clearer picture.

And for a slower Shutter speed, you will capture something blur.

However, due to the faster Shutter speed, your camera does not have enough time to capture enough light, which we called "Exposure". You will get a darker picture as well. 

Most cameras have 1 sec, 1/2 sec, 1/4 sec, 1/8 sec, 1/15 sec, 1/30 sec and 1/60 sec Shutter speeds. For higher entry level  SLR, 1/8000 sec Shutter speeds is available. 

This is a flame capture in 1/8000 sec, no PhotoShop or relevant software modified. I swear :)

Do you want to know more? Please "like" my posts ^^

Check out more DSLR and Gadgets?

How does Aperture work?

What is Aperture? Aperture is a device... ...that's all? Haha, just kidding. Of course it is a device, it control the light goes into the camera.

Some Aperture might not look exactly like this, but the theory and the way Aperture open and close are same, for sure.

There are several option in setting the size of Aperture, and we called it a "stop". The number "f/2", "f/2.8", "f/4", "f/5.6", "f/8", "f/11" and "f/16" are the "stop" or someone called it a "f-number". Different entry level camera might have different "stop" as well. As you can see, the smaller the number, the larger the Aperture. It is mathematics, assume the "f" is 1, and the larger the denominator, the smaller the value. Easy :)

Do you remember the Black Box mentioned in "How does Camera work?". The hole on the wall opposite the film, it has the same usage as Aperture. 

However, the larger the Aperture open, the more light goes in the camera. The smaller the Aperture open, the less light goes in the camera. Aperture is one of the factors that decide brightness of the picture. If you found your picture not bright enough, you should open the Aperture larger ( if there is any "stop" available).

Here's the picture that shows the differences between the stops.

If you found your Aperture already the largest but the picture still not bright enough... ...Well, we will discuss in next chapter :)

For SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera, the Aperture can be larger or smaller because it depends on the Lens. Some special Lens have a stop at "f/1". But for most compact camera, I sorry to say that, you cannot have a larger or smaller Aperture since you cannot change your camera Lens.

Do you want to know more? Please "like" my posts ^^


Check out more DSLR and Gadgets?