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Hello, .

Today, during the third meeting of the Introduction to Photography class, we covered metering and tonal placement. 

We've been doing this since week one but have not done it as effectively as possible. We'd make a picture first, critique it for tonality, and then change exposure and ISO to achieve the desired tone. 

Today, we got specific by experimenting. We made two separate pictures using the most precise metering pattern available, spot or partial. 

In one picture, we metered for something black with detail (my backpack); in the other, we metered for something white with detail (a wrinkled piece of notebook paper with writing on it). 

We noticed that when metering for black, the black appeared lighter in tonality than the light intensity it was, black with full detail or the darkest value with full detail. 

We decreased tonality by two stops, and the black appeared as a tonality that, in our picture, was accurate to the black we saw as light intensity. 

We did the same experiment with white. 

We noticed that when metering for white, the white appeared darker in tonality than the light intensity it was, white with full detail or the brightest value with full detail. 

We increased tonality by two stops, and whaddaya know; the white appeared as a tonality that, in our picture, was accurate to the white we saw as light intensity. 

When we metered to a standard exposure, the camera recorded the black in the first picture and the white in the second as the same tonality.  

The question was asked: Why doesn't the camera give us an accurate tone when we meter?

The answer is the camera is doing what it's manufactured to do, giving us a constant known tonality value no matter what we meter. 

The camera doesn't know anything. 

Our cameras are sophisticated tools, but they're as dumb as rocks.

Whether we're metering for black, white, dark green, or light red doesn't matter. No matter what we meter off of, we get the same tonality: standard or mid-tonality. 

This is a good thing because if we know what tone we'll get, we can make any changes before we make the picture and get the tonality we want.  

The usual way we do this is to make the picture, not understanding what the camera does, getting annoyed at the result, and, if we know how to change the picture's tonality, make another picture to achieve the tonality we want. 

In other words, we're making two pictures to get the tone right. This ain't a very efficient way to work. 

The elegance and efficiency of metering and tonal placement is that we get to skip the getting annoyed and making another picture step. 

In other words, we get the picture's tonality right the first time because we understand what the camera does. 

The Introduction to Photography classes scheduled for March are now open for registration. Other scheduled group classes are below.

Smaller classes mean better learning, so no more than five participants and me are in each class. 

But smaller classes also mean spots fill up quicker. 

And remember, we learn and improve by doing, so practice making at least one picture daily. 

That's all for now; thanks for reading! 
Sam

I'll help you be a better photographer—study and practice photography with me. 

And what if the timing doesn't work for you in any of my scheduled group classes? If that's the case, let's schedule a one-time lesson or a series of in-person or online private instruction that covers the same things as my group classes. 

Ways to work with me are listed below.