Metering from your hand?

• paperdoll

  Participant

  July 10, 2007 at 3:30 pm

  Could someone please explain this to me once and for all!

  I was reading the another photography forum about metering/exposure etc and someone suggested using your hand to spot meter and then opening up a stop….sounds straightforward…..but do they mean increasing the shutter speed by 1 stop or decreasing? :oops: ie from f/4 1/125 to f/4 1/250 or 1/60? You can use idiot-speak to explain this if you like

  I’ve heard this before but I guess it didn’t sink in :oops: :lol:
  markcapilitan

  Participant

  July 10, 2007 at 3:37 pm

  If your opening up 1 stop, it means letting more light in…so you’d go from 1/250 to 1/125 etc or F8 to F5.6 etc etc.
  Allinthemind

  Participant

  July 10, 2007 at 4:27 pm

  Hiya Paperdoll..

  As said above, allowing 1 extra stop of light in. What you’re telling the camera is that your skin tone is 1 stop lighter than the notorious “middle-grey”. On your camera, in manual exposure mode, you should be able to see the meter in the viewfinder, you need to point at your hand in spot meter mode (with your hand in the same light as the subject) and set it so that the meter is 3 dots towards the + sign. I think your camera has 2 little dots and then a bigger dot. It’s the first big dot.

  When you do this, ho;d your palm out fairly flat so as not to shade it or get bounce from your fingers. Everyones hand varies as do the cameras, so it’s worth experimenting a bit, somewhere between +2/3rds and +1 1/3rd would be normal.

  All best

  Si
  JMcL

  Participant

  July 10, 2007 at 5:03 pm

  Or you could “calibrate” your hand. This would involve getting your hands on an 18% grey card on a once off basis. Select manual exposure, and set the exposure for the grey card. Then without changing exposure, take a reading from the palm of your hand, and whatever the meter shows will be what you need to compensate by. If that seems like a load of trouble to go to, just go for a bit of experimentation as suggested.
  paperdoll

  Participant

  July 10, 2007 at 7:41 pm

  Thanks for the replies guys…I just needed to get that clear in my head! Hopefully this will help any other beginners who are confused about this also.

  :D

  Simon – I know you explained this to me back in May, but I probably had information overload by the end of that day ( you have the patience of a saint)
  randomway

  Member

  July 10, 2007 at 9:41 pm

  I guess the 1 stop is true for the irish skin? Mine wouldn’t really qualify as white for example :)