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Take a look at some of these simple-looking pictures below:
The first was shot using compressed perspective with the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM set at its 200mm focal length while the photo of the HMV outlet was recorded with the EF 50mm f/1.4 USM standard lens. Both were shot using the camera's Evaluative metering system. However, these shots can be ruined if the wrong approach was used to capture them. First, the light-colored building in the first picture could have confused the camera's meter and overexposed the two darker tone buildings on both sides of the frame if one were not careful. If I had centered the camera's AF point on the center building, the other two would have been overexposed. The solution? Take a reading by slanting the camera angle and include less of the center building and more of the others. Lock the meter reading using the AE lock feature and recompose the shot. That's the resulting exposure seen here. For the second picture, again the camera was slanted to exclude the darker part of the scene (on top) and the meter reading was obtained from the posters and the slightly reflected panel of the HMV structure. It has to be done this way because total black does not register as 18 per cent gray by most metering system. The scene was recomposed and shot.
Partial metering was used for the above photo on the left - the lens was zoomed to its 200mm focal length to take a reading from one of the entertainers' faces. With the meter reading obtained via AE lock feature, the scene was recomposed at the 100mm setting and shot. The shooting mode was Shutter-priority AE (Tv) at a shutter speed of 1/20 sec. - in order not to freeze the 24 frames-per-second rate of the large video screen behind them. Evaluative metering may not work that well in this photo because it could be confused by the darker tones of the overall scene. For the photo on the right (above), this scene was recorded the way I viewed it. Evaluative metering was used with the focus obtained at the yellow signage in the center of photo. The two large signboards in the foreground were in shadows and thus, their meter values can be ignored. The lighting was back-lighted, as evident from the reflected road and shadows of the vehicles. The Evaluative reading was obtained by zooming the lens onto the yellow signage and recomposed at the 70mm setting for the final shot. Another example of compressed perspective. Alternatively, if you are still unsure of getting the exposure right, try shooting more frames of the same subject and bracket your shots. In my case, I prefer to do something else for these four pictures of Hong Kong's twin Lippo buildings (below) by relying on my camera's Evaluative metering and exposure compensation where necessary.
Since it was autumn when I shot
the above pictures, the light was getting low even though it was only 4.30 in the
late afternoon - similar to 7.30pm during summer. I had lots of confidence in my
camera's 16-zone Evaluative metering to get the exposure right for both the first
and second pictures, without any compensation. I knew the level of both the illuminations
and contrasts of the buildings during the late afternoon sunlight and wanted to record
them on film the way I saw them. The additional 1/3 of exposure compensation on the
third shot had rendered ineffective the slowly diminishing evening sunlight, making
it look as though it was shot during brighter condition. For the final image, the
reflections of the Lippo buildings together with the towering Bank of China on the
windows of the adjacent complex make for a nice shot. |
