Metering for Light & Dark

Metering for Light & Dark

It was in one of the neighborhoods in Jaipur, India where I, with camera in hand, had met several young boys who volunteered their white doves as potential ‘props’. Although I did in fact take up their offer, placing one of the doves in a number of locations within the neighborhood, it was this simple composition seen here of a single dove in one of the young boy’s hands that intrigued me the most. A subtle shift between the white textured feathers and the light beige shirt were in marked contrast to the much darker skin tone.

Because this composition is comprised of both light and dark subjects, you might think it would be a challenging exposure, but actually it was quite easy. As I often do when metering for white or dark/black on an overcast day, I took a meter reading at +2/3 rds from the palm of my hand, knowing full well that this was akin to taking a meter reading at -1/3 from a grey card and clearly it proved once again to be a correct exposure. (Also, you might notice a somewhat ‘grainy, heightened texture‘ quality to this shot too, and that has everything to do with my ‘pushing’ the Texture slider in Adobe Camera Raw to about 30% in post).

You keep shooting! Nikon D500, Nikkor 18-300mm, F/11@1/100, 320 ISO, Daylight/Sunny

No Comments

Give a comment