The most common metering moids, the moids. Hi guys and welcome back to another video. Today I want to talk a little bit about exposure and metering modes on digital cameras. As some of you suggested I should cover this topic, so I decided why not let's make a video about it. First of all, when it comes to photography, light is one of the most important things out there. That's why you will hear a lot of photographers saying that, oh I need to get good light, I'm going out to chase the light. Light is basically what produces the image, what produces the final result that you're getting. Technically what the camera does is basically taking the light that you're seeing and it transposes into an image. So that's why when it comes to taking a photograph, lighting in your picture is the most important thing ever. So what I want to cover today is mainly the metering options. Most cameras out there, when used in automatic mode, they will analyze the entire image. What they will do, they will take the darker area of an image and the brighter area and they will try and find a balance between the two so that you will have enough details both in the darker areas of the image and in the brighter areas of the image. Now using that automatic mode is absolutely fine. Most of people use it. I know I have been using the automatic mode for ages, but when you do that, sometimes the image might end up overexposed on under exposed. So allowing the camera to do the metering automatically for you can sometimes backfire. So there will be situations where depending on the subject and depending where the actual light in your images, you might end up with a picture where you're losing all the details either in the bright areas or in the dark areas. So in order to end up with a well exposed image, the solution is easy. You need to tell the camera where exactly in the image would you like it to read the light that you're getting on. So if you're taking a landscape, do you want the camera to read the light that you have in the sky or would you like the camera to read the light that you have on the grass, for example. Same goes with portraits, with macro photography, anything that you can think of. If you're telling the camera where exactly in the picture you would like to take that information regarding the light, that will basically help you to end up with a better image in the end with details in both dark areas and brighter areas. When we're talking about the automatic metering, about the automatic exposure that the camera gives you, in most digital cameras out there, the metering is also linked to the focusing. If you do a simple test at home, you just leave the camera in automatic and you're trying to photograph a subject. We're going to take this star that I have here for an example. If you slightly move the focus, you will see how the light in the image also changes. You will have either a brighter image or a darker image. That's because, as I mentioned, in most cameras, the metering is also linked to the focus. Where the camera is focusing is where the camera is also picking up the information regarding the light and the exposure that it should take the picture at. So as we see in this example, leaving the camera to do its own thing and choose where to read the light from, can sometimes end up with not that good of an image. So that's when the metering modes come into place. There are a couple of different ones and we'll talk into details about them, but don't be afraid to use them. I know I was the first time when I used them and they didn't make any sense whatsoever until I actually sat down with my camera and I started changing through them and seeing how it will improve my final photograph. Now, the most common metering modes found on the cameras are as follows. You have average metering, center weight average, matrix metering, and my favorite spot metering. Depending on the type of the camera you have, you might find a couple of extra ones or you will find out that some of these particular modes are missing from your camera. But don't worry, these are modes that some manufacturers are putting into their cameras, depending on the type of the camera that you have. If it's a high end one or if it's a compact camera, you will see that some of them are more limited or you will have a couple of extra options. So you might find a slight variation of these ones on the cameras, but the idea is that they will do the exact same thing. Now let's talk about them a little bit more in detail. First one, the average metering point is the most common one, the one that you will find or most point and shoot cameras, is the one that the camera is using when you are using the camera in automatic mode. So what it will do, it will read up the whole entire image that you are trying to photograph, and it will try to find a metepoint a balance for what you are about to photograph. Now the main drawback to this particular metering mode is if you are trying to photograph a backlit scene, you will probably end up with a sky brighter than the foreground. The next one is the center weight average, which is very very similar to the previous one, but instead of analyzing the entire image, it will just analyze the center of the image. Now the camera will do this and this mode is created to analyze the center of the image, because in most situations, the camera and the camera manufacturers and the way that it was created, it was that the subject will most likely be in the center of the image, so the camera will want you to expose for the subject in the image. Now for those cases where you won't have the subject in the middle, this will cause some problems. And I know a lot of people are trying to follow the rule of friends where you have the subject on one third of the image, so definitely not in the center. So in that situation, you will definitely have to do some adjustment. The next one is a matrix metering, or is also known as a multi-zone metering mode. What this mode does is it basically divides your image into a couple different areas, and then it takes the information from the areas to produce an average exposure for your final product, for your final image. Now even though this mode is found on more advanced cameras, it's very very similar to the average one that you will find on a point and shit. The only difference is that it has a little bit more technology put into it so that the final image will be a little bit better than if you were to use the average metering spot. Now the last one and one of my favourites is the spot metering. Now this mode will take a reading of the light from one point in the frame, and you have the option to tell the camera where exactly from the frame you would like to do that. If you point a camera at different areas in your image, you will see how the brightness will change, and that will help you to understand what's the best one to choose for the particular result that you want to achieve. As I mentioned, this spot metering does need some practice, so don't be afraid to use it over and over again even though sometimes in my scene like you are failing, and it's not really doing what you want to do. Keep at it, and I can assure you that at some point you will make complete sense, and you will get that result that you actually are after. One great tip for this particular spot metering that I have from my friend, Michelle, is if you're trying to take a landscape, you should always try and meter for the grass. So if you want to have that nice blue sky in your landscapes, always try and meter for the grass. That was all for today's video. As I said, photography is all about finding the light and chasing the light, and it's all about light. Light is what basically creates the image in the end, and I hope that this little bit of information that I've given you will help you out next time when you're trying to take that interesting image, and the light is just not doing what you wanted to do. Try and choose different mainstream modes for the exact same picture over and over again, and see how that will change it. Try and see if you find one that you enjoy using more. Maybe you will enjoy using the average one better than the point one. Maybe that works for the type of photography that you're doing. If you do so, if you try any of these modes, please leave a comment down below and let me know what you think of them. Are they easy enough to understand? Are they annoying? Are they useless? Are you going to use them next time? Just leave me a comment and let me know how you got on. Until next time!