[KellyL]

I wasn't sure exactly where to put this thread, and after considering many of them, I figured this was the best place to post.

I've heard it and read it many times. Exposure control with digital cameras is more crucial than it was with film. I also know that getting it right in the camera saves a ton of time in post processing as well as providing a better image. What I have also learned is that proper exposure does not seem to be an absolute, a steadfast scientific recipe.

Proper exposure seems, at best, an approximation of what would be the best exposure. Many elements can throw off exposure...fool the in camera system.

Therefore, to get the best exposure, the photographer needs to take control over the camera and use manual settings. I do this the majority of the time, and many times I am disappointed with the outcome.

I have read "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Petersen, and "Exposure and Lighting for Digital Photographers Only" by Michael Meadhra and Charlotte K. Lowrie, but I still have some questions.

For outdoor portraits...it appears to me that spot metering is the best way to meter for an outdoor portrait. You have a family against a lush green background. You meter for their faces and shoot. Simple solution? Seems like it. But what part of the face do you meter? The shadow side, the highlight side?

Or...do you throw in an 18% grey card in front of the subject, meter it, and set your exposure based on the reading from the 18% grey card? This will then allow all of the higlights and shadows in the faces to be exposed correctly, not losing details in either?

Or I have heard some phtographers say they meter the brightest part of the face and the darkest part of the face and average the readings. I don't know what that means. Forgive me for being so thick.

Zone system...Michael Meadhra gave a comprehensive explanation of Ansel Adams zone system, but for the life of me, I just don't get it. Perhaps I need to go to a landscape and just practice what the book says and then it will all make sense.

According to Meadrha, "Select an area of the scene and mentally place it's brightness on the zone scale..." "Using a spot meter, read the exposure for the selected area and note the exposure settings recommended..." "Mentally adjust the metered exposure by the number of steps between the selected zone and middle gray..."

So...for example...I meter a highlight in the clouds...find it to be in Zone zone 8. It meters f/11, 1/500 at ISO 200. Zone 8 is three steps away from Zone V, which should be 18% gray. The setting for camera based on this reading would be to adjust my settings 3 stops lower?

I meter another spot, considered to be in Zone 2. When metering it, and if I have correctly assigned the zone, then it should be three stops away from the midtones. Determining the proper exposure for midtones, I would raise the reading three stops to Zone V. If I have properly placed my highlights and shadows in the correct zones, then both readings, after adjusting them, would be approximately the same.

Am I understanding this correctly?

I know a few folks are probably frustrated with me because I can't seem to wrap my mind completely around this exposure thing. I am just trying to take my understanding to a higher level. In the past, when I was on the run, I shot in aperture priority, metered the higlights on the face, and shot away. When time allowed, I used manual mode, metered the face, and shot away.

I am now wanting to improve the quality of my images by understanding the exposure system to a greater degree. Am I foolish for wanting a greater understanding? I don't know.