Backlighting and Spot Metering at 907

("Yes... It's all coming together. Today is the day Maeby get's hers!" ...is what I imagine her thinking in this picture) (sunlight bouncing up from our table; metered off the orange on her face)

I just finished reading this book, Understanding Exposure. It was really great. The guy really knows what he's talking about and of course I was inspired to try many things. Since it was a bright sunny afternoon, I thought I'd try some backlighting, which is a type of lighting I really enjoy, but can be difficult to pull off if you don't meter the subject correctly. Which leads me to the other "thing" I tried, spot metering. Generally, we all use matrix metering (which works really well, obviously), but anything "auto" can't work right everytime.

So this these are my attempts at shooting with spot metering (and some backlighting). I'll try and describe what's going one with each.

(side lighting from a halogen wall lamp; metered off a darker part of her face)

(sunlight off the table from behind; metered off her dark fur)

Dudley get's the tiger-horsetail in his sights (sun off the table from behind me; metered off the horsetail)

Today's film noir, Dirty Dudley & The Case of the Tiger-Horsetail

(sunlight from the table w/ something creating a shadow falling right below his eyes; metered off those freakin bright gold eyes)


this next shot really sums up Dudley's general disposition...

Dudley is not amused... (halogen light; not sure)

Dudley is technically the most difficult cat in the world to photograph. He's black, which absorbs all available light AND throws off the camera's light sensor. So either Dudley is exposed properly and everything else isn't or vice versa. Plus those gold eyes aren't easy to get right.

I love the look of "HELP DAD!" in Maeby's eyes in this shot...

(halogen light; metered off Jess's face)

The rest of these are backlit with sunlight & metered off the face. I love these. I love how the light from behind causes edges to glow (due to them being overexposed) (Maeby's wiskers and Jesse's hair). Such neat effect. Also, look at all the crap floating in our air!



("You will sit here with me while your dad takes a picture whether you like it or not!")

(mother and daughter)


I love these next two...






and just for the heck of it, a stairwell... from church.




And that's it. For now. I'm not sure if non SLR camera's allow you to change the metering; you might just have an exposure lock (which lets you point the camera at something that you want the camera to read off of, lock it, and go back to the shot you had originally intended for).