Metering on Nikon D40x

[airPLAINcrazy]

Hey all,

Just had the BAe 146 of 32nd squadron (the Queens Flight) go past my window which I photographed, however a reccuring issue of metering is playing on my mind.
Most of the images came out underexposed as I had centre weighted metering selected. The light was from behind and the sky was cloudy, as shown in the example below.



however with a bit of photoshop wizardry (or shear luck) I was able to recover it (different shot of the same sequence)



the question remains though...why did my metering play up...again, its not the first time its happened!
Also suggested setting for particular scenario's will be appreciated!

Thanks all once again for helping a newbie DSLR shooter!

[Cam]

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm

A good site for the D40.

[airPLAINcrazy]

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm

A good site for the D40.

That's a good site(now in my favorites)however it doesn't really help me I'm afraid, I'm looking to know which metering setting to use and when. The site just tells you what the metering modes are, an explanation with some examples will probably do the trick i suppose.

Thanks

[cf73]

I use a D70 and have found that I do get underexposure. I use both centre and spot metering.

If the plane fills up most of the frame as in this example (if you havent cropped already) I would use spot metering. If you have used centre weighted and part of the metering area is on the sky then you will have backlighting issues which again will cause underexposure.

In these cases try and add 0.5 or 1.0 +/ev (exposure compensation) or use manual metering.

cheers
carl

[Cam]

I use:

Metering: Center
Colour Balance: I choose the type of day. Cloudy; choose the little cloud. Sunny; choose the sun...so on and so forth.

I always shoot on large and fine. After you take a picture, use the directional pad to scroll down to see where your curve is. It's really dark, add some plus compensation, or if it's a little overexposed, negative.

For me, I just read through the book with the camera in hand....in time you will be dishing out the advice!

[Cabillon]

Your meter worked properly, it gave you a picture that was 18% gray as it is designed to do. It is up to the photographer to use that as a reference point and compensate accordingly. Take a test shot using your meter in any mode you prefer, then check your histogram and either switch to manual or dial in the appropriate exposure compensation to give you a proper exposure. The histogram should be as close to the right side as possible without clipping the highlights.

And take anything that Ken Rockwell says with a very large grain of salt. He can be very good at times but at other times can be completely off base as well.

[seahawk]

This is a normal result for the conditions.
You need to use exposure compensation. Add +0,7 exposure compensation and you are good to go. Reduce under brighter conditions. I usually start with +0,6 (when it not bright and sunny) and work from there.

And btw, plz do not up-load the edited photo, it will get rejected.

[airPLAINcrazy]

thanks

Thanks as always everyone for the helpful tips! I shall definately take them into consideration for the next shots I take.

And btw, plz do not up-load the edited photo, it will get rejected.

Wasnt going to, going to upload the shots from my camera again and have another shot at editing.