solution would be to add two to three stops of
exposure to the original meter reading, resulting
in greater density on film, which in turn would
result in a more appropriate rendition of the origi-
nal scene.
Other instances when a meter can be ‘‘fooled’’
occurs with scenes that feature high contrast. For
example, a scene with a backlit subject will often
produce a silhouette of the subject in the photo-
graphic print, since the meter will try to average
the very light background with the very dark sub-
ject. The result is a lack of detail in both areas.
The solution would be to get closer to the subject
in which the detail is desired, re-meter, and use
that setting as the final exposure. The background
will still be bright and without detail, but the
subject will now be rendered with the desired
amount of detail.
Different Meters for Different Scenes
There is no one metering choice for every situa-
tion and every scene. Reflected meters are de-
signed to place any subject they are pointing at
to 18% gray. The white horse scene mentioned
above would render incorrectly if the meter is
followed in its exact recommendation. However,
knowing the exact tone the meter is to measure
can provide an advantage with placement expo-
sure, i.e., placing the tones of the subject based on
the middle reading of 18% gray. The white horse
scene is the perfect example; knowing the scene
would be rendered incorrectly if the meter reading
is followed should prompt the photographer to
slightly overexpose the scene so that the whites
would be white. Reflected meters also have the
advantage over incident meters in that they only
need to be pointed at the subject. Landscapes and
subjects that are very far away are only able to be
metered with a reflected meter, because of the
impossibility of taking an incident meter reading
at such subjects. Reflected meter readings and
placement exposure are the building blocks of
the Zone System, an exposure and development
system developed by Ansel Adams to render the
tones of the scene according to the previsualiza-
tion of the photographer.
Incident meters are used in cases where reflected
meters could potentially fail, such as the white
horse in a snowy field scene. Since incident meters
measure only the light falling on the subject, the
subject’s original tones are rendered accurately.
Incident meters are a poor choice in scenes with
complex lighting or ones in which the subject is out
of easy reach of the camera.Metering Systems
Built-in light meters often come with a series of
metering features in modern cameras. Most mod-
ern SLR cameras come with many metering cap-
abilities. The most common metering features are
automatic (in that the exposure is automatically
set), and aperture and shutter priority. Aperture
and shutter priority can be considered semi-auto-
matic, since they each allow you to choose either an
aperture that you want (in aperture priority) or the
shutter you prefer (in shutter priority). The camera
will then set the corresponding shutter speed or
aperture needed to obtain proper exposure.
SLR cameras also often come with features
designed to make the metering process more accu-
rate. Most in-camera meters ‘‘see’’ the entire scene
inside the viewfinder and calculate the exposure
accordingly. However, many modern SLRs can be
set so that the meter ‘‘looks’’ to the center (center-
weighted) for the exposure, or even more specifi-
cally, can be set to look at only a few degrees of a
scene at a time (spot metering).
Multi-segmented metering systems, also known
as matrix metering systems, divide the scene into a
series of segments that are each evaluated indepen-
dent of one another. The overall pattern is then
compared to a series of common patterns inside
the camera’s memory to give a more accurate expo-
sure. An example of a common pattern would be a
darker foreground against a light sky.
ChristyeSisson
Seealso:Adams, Ansel; Camera: 35 mm; Camera:
An Overview; Exposure; Film; FiltersFurther Reading
Adams, Ansel.The Camera (Book 1). Boston: Little Brown &
Co., 1995.
Adams, Ansel.The Negative (Book 2). Little Brown and
Co., 1995.
Langford, Michael.Basic Photography. New York: Focal
Press, 2000.
London, Barbara, and John Upton.Photography. 6th ed.
New York: Addison-Wesley Longman, 1998.
Meehan, Joseph.The Photographer’s Guide to Using Filters.
New York: Amphoto, 1999.
Schaefer, John.An Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of
Photography, Book1.Boston:Little BrownandCo., 1992.
Stroebel, Leslie and Richard Nakia.Basic Photographic
Materials and Processes. Saint Louis, Missouri: Butter-
worth-Heinemann, 2000.LIGHT METERS