Spot metering = Professional? 点测光=专业？

Many amateur photographers believe that by using the Camera “Spot Metering” mode can produce a much accurate exposure. With that in mind and putting it to a daily practice caused confusion to a lot of newbie that using a “Spot Metering” mode are more professional.

With spot metering, the camera will only measure a very small area of the scene (between 1-5% of the viewfinder area). This will typically be the very center of the scene, but some professional camera like Canon EOS 1D series will allow the user to select a different off-center spot, otherwise to recompose by moving the camera after metering.

So, when to use “Spot Metering”?

The spot meter is used when the photographer wants to get exactly what he or she is looking for.  

The above photos was taken during a Photography show where the model standing close to the light source and the background are full of other photographers. I can opt for a standard – evaluative or matrix-metering mode, but I can never be sure of the exact outcome and I guess the model will be over-exposewhile the background will be brighter.

But…this is not what I want !

In order to get the background to fall in to darker tone, I decided to employ spot reading from the forehead of the model and let the background to fall into darkness. With this, I can “hide” the busy background and make the model outstanding.

Tip: if you are in a hurry and for the average subject, the camera's “evaluative zone or matrix metering" mode generally is good enough to get the correct exposure. 


点测光=专业？

许多业余摄影师相信通过使用相机“点测光”模式能产生更精确的曝光。这对许多新手造成混乱，觉得使用“点测光”模式便更专业。

使用“点测光”模式时，相机只会测量现场非常小的地区（取景器1-5％的面积之间）。这通常是在取景器的中心，但有些像佳能EOS 1D系列专业摄像机将允许用户选择不同的偏离取景器中心的位置，否则以中心“点测光”测光后通过移动相机重新构图。

那什么时候才使用“点测光”呢？

答案: 当摄影师希望得到他理想中的曝光时…..

上面的照片是在一个摄影展中拍摄地…当时麻豆站在靠近光源的地方而背景非常凌乱(都站满了各路来拼命的摄影师)。 我其实可以选择一个标准的"矩阵测光"模式，但我无法确定确切的曝光结果. 我猜如果当时以"矩阵测光"模式拍摄的话, 麻豆有很可能曝光过度而背景变成比较光亮了。

但...这不是我想要的！

为了让背景沉降到黑暗中，我决定从麻豆额头上以“点测光”模式进行测光，让背景陷入黑暗中。那我就可以把非常凌乱的背景“隐藏”，把麻豆突出。

提示：如果你很赶时间，而拍摄普通主题时，相机以“矩阵测光"模式一般是足以获得正确的曝光的!  

(文章同时在大马摄影俱乐部以中文发表)