Metering with the M6TTL

[lewismalpas]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hi guys,

 

I brought a M6 TTL about 12 months ago and absolutely love shooting with it, however one area I struggle with is understanding how to meter correctly using the inbuilt meter. I've read up and understand the area that is being metered within the frame lines given I am shooting with a 50mm Summicron (Type 5) but often struggle to get an acceptable exposure in some lighting situations. I understand this is down to practice and learning to compensate but I'd love to get your advice on any techniques that help with getting a bit closer to the correct exposure.

 

Attaching two examples which show bad exposures from a roll I picked up yesterday - In both of these I was consciously trying to over or under expose based on the light. The first, shows a landscape where I pointed the meter to the grass to get a reading before recomposing and taking the shot which resulted in blowing out the sky. How should I of metered this scene?

 

The second was taken on a walk shooting into bright sunlight, I overexposed by 1.5 stops but it is still under exposed. How should I of metered or exposed this scene? Is a 1.5 overexposure not enough given the bright light?

 

Thanks,

Lewis.

 

 

 

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello Lewis,

 

Welcome to the Forum.

 

Wow. There have been whole books written to explain the answers to your questions just above. Sometimes seemingly simple questions have longer & more complex answers than the person asking the questions might have expected.

 

Fortunately, this is the right place to ask those questions.

 

To begin: The meter in the M6 meters a circle APPROXIMATELY 2/3d's of the height of the frame being used for the lens you are using.

 

Both photos appear somewhat underexposed to me BUT I am not sure what it is that you wanted in your finished photo. Could you explain to us what it was that you wanted the photos to have exposed in which manner, ie: What portion of each photo to be normally exposed? What portion of each photo to be over exposed? What portion of each photo to be under exposed?

 

Did you want all of that flare in the second photo?

 

Also: Which film set at what ISO?

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

[lewismalpas]

Hi Michael, 

 

Thanks for the reply, both were shot using my Leica M6 TTL, 50mm Summicron and Portra 400 rated and developed at box speed. 

 

In the first photo, I was aiming to capture the intense colour of the sky/sunset which was very vivid and pink whilst still retaining some detail in the trees and grass. I metered the grass as from my research a few people suggested doing this as it is roughly18% reflectance.

 

In the second photo I wanted to correctly expose my girlfriend in the foreground with a very summery look so I over exposed by 1.5 stops as I thought this would be enough to blow out some of the sky and correctly expose her and some of the grass and trees. I thought this image would flare as I was shooting directly into the sun and in most cases I don't mind flaring in most cases as I quite like that 'cinematic' look. In this instance, how much should I of overexposed by?

 

Just trying to learn a bit more about how to metering techniques and exposure compensation to achieve the results I want.

 

Thanks,

Lewis.

Edited January 20, 2016 by lewismalpas

[too old to care]

My experience is back light metering is hard to do from a distance.  In the case of the second photo, if I wanted your girl friend exposed correctly, I would have walked up to her and metered off her jacked, filling the viewfinder completely.  Or, do the same with a hand held meter, I use my iPhone with a light meter app.  Strong back light can over power most light meters, unless you are very close.  In the case of the first photo, bracketing is probably the best option since the sun is so low in the sky.  Hope this helps.  

 

Wayne

[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello Lewis,

 

In the second photo I would do what Wayne suggested, just above, or I would meter the shadow in the path, in front of the tree, on the right in the photo. Either way I would have also used a smaller aperture (correspondingly adjusting the shutter speed) to lessen flare somewhat.

 

In the first photo I would have metered the cloud in the top right corner & added 1/2 of a stop of exposure, ie: An F4 reading opened to F3.4 with the shutter speed left where it should be for F4.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

[philipus]

From the manual. I have found this page very useful to visualise what the meter in my TTL sees within any given frame.

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[too old to care]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

My experience is back light metering is hard to do from a distance.  In the case of the second photo, if I wanted your girl friend exposed correctly, I would have walked up to her and metered off her jacked, filling the viewfinder completely.  Or, do the same with a hand held meter, I use my iPhone with a light meter app.  Strong back light can over power most light meters, unless you are very close.  In the case of the first photo, bracketing is probably the best option since the sun is so low in the sky.  Hope this helps.  

 

Wayne

 

 

Edit: 

One more thing.  Color film has a large latitude, that is, it can be over exposed several f-stops and still give good results.  Your lab may be trying to make the best of your photos by giving you what they think you want, that is, a properly exposed background.  The only way to tell is to look at your negatives.  I scan my color negatives to print, and print my B&W negatives using my darkroom to avoid lab issues.  A scan of your negatives posted here may result in more suggestions.   

 

Wayne

Edited January 21, 2016 by too old to care

[philipus]

There might be image info in the (apparently) blown highlights. So if you scan yourself you can scan once for the highlights and once for the rest.

 

Or if you have lab scans only you could possibly recover a bit of the highlights by opening the file twice in Adobe Camera Raw and process the highlights in one and the rest in the other version of the file and then merge in Photoshop using layers. 

 

But yes with C41 the best is to let the highlights fall as they may and then scan and post-process yourself to get the image you want. Over-exposing will have a positive impact on the shadows in terms of grain (and noise).

 

 

The first, shows a landscape where I pointed the meter to the grass to get a reading before recomposing and taking the shot which resulted in blowing out the sky. How should I of metered this scene?

[Home_slice]

These are both challenging scenes and the dynamic range would be too much for a camera to capture in one exposure.  You’ll have to make a choice to meter for the highlights or shadows. From what you say, it sounds like you want the colors of the sky in the landscape so metering for the highlights. You should take into account that your foreground will fall into darkeness and find a composition that works accordingly. For your portrait image, if you’d like to see all the detail in her face, you’ll be metering for the shadows. Again, the highlights will most likely be completely blown out and you’d be risking flare. If you want a more even look to your photographs you’ll need to find that lighting scenario. You can always turn around and shoot with the sun at your back or shoot in total shade.