Tonight we had a field trip. We met down at La Jolla Shores. I have not been here since my college graduation bonfire party in 1989! It was windy and cold!
Tonight we learned about our light meter. I learned how to use spot metering. This will allow me to take a light reading on a specific part of my composition and see how that impacts the exposure and quality of the picture. It was quite interesting how when you take a light reading on something dark, the photo will come out very bright and the opposite when your reading is on something bright.
We took several manual shots (using semi-automatic was causing the camera to try and compensate). We would focus and take a light meter reading and then adjust our shutter speed to get the exposure to zero. Once we set up the shot (most of which required a tripod because of the shutter speeds) we could see how different the shots were based on the spot we took our light meter reading.
We also learned how useless the flash is for anything beyond 12 feet. Our instructor show us how you can take a very long exposure and then put yourself in the shot with a flash and you will show up without blur. That was pretty cool.
I got to use my tripod for the first time, and I need to carry a mini-flashlight with me from now on. I cold not tell if the tripod was level or not. I have levels on it, but could not see it.
The last thing he showed us was how to change when the flash goes off (1st curtain or 2nd curtain). This determines if the flash goes off at the beginning or the end. You might change this if you want blur trails (of say a bike) and then have the subject in light/focus at the end.
I can’t wait to go try out some more sunset/night shots now.
Sounds like a good session. Get a flashlight with a red lens so you don’t blind yourself & others around you.
Thanks for passing along great info!