Cheryl bumped up the challenge this week at Frugual Still Life with a post about metering modes, and asked us to capture some images changing the metering mode. I had to look up where to find the metering mode in the metadata in Lightroom, so right off the bat I learned something important. I forgot to take a shot of the set up this week. I used the cutting board and black board I use for taking shots of my cards in the studio window. It gets the same northern light as the windows in the kitchen, but there’s just one window instead of three, so there’s not as much light.
For the subject I chose three old volumes that sit stacked on the bookcase in our bedroom, and a watch that belonged to my maternal grandmother. She died before my parents were married, and I don’t have much that belonged to her. For many years, I was able to keep the watch in working order, and wore it on special occasions. In some of the photos, you can see the beautiful opal clasp that slides up and down the chain. The watch no longer works, but it’s one of my treasures.
My Canon Rebel 4Ti has four metering modes:
-1 EV, Pattern metering mode, Tamron 18-270 lens
-1 EV, Partial metering mode, Tamron 18-270 lens
-1 EV, Spot metering mode, Tamron 18-270 lens
-1 EV, Center-weight metering mode, Tamron 18-270 lens
I also wanted to play around with perspective a bit.
And finally, Cheryl gave us some textures to play around with. I haven’t played with textures in ages, and it’s not something I find very intuitive. Here’s one with her Volume 3 texture.
I think I used the Overlay blending mode, but I forgot to write it down.
Then I tried a Kim Klassesn texture that was quite a bit lighter. Again, I’m not sure what blending mode I used, even though I had a notebook right next to me!
I’m pretty fond of the one with Cheryl’s texture, but overall I’m happy with most of the images. I don’t see a huge difference in the different metering modes, but maybe I’m just not looking carefully enough.
I so love all your images. Did you adjust your exposure compensation after changing the metering mode? I didn’t change anything but the metering mode when I took mine just to be able to see the difference in modes.
It’s wonderful that you have your grandmother’s jewelry, quite a treasure.
I’m glad you’re taking something away from each lesson as it keeps us in a constant learning mode.
Thanks so much for participating!
I see a little more depth in the color and shine on that chain in the first two. Otherwise, I agree I don’t see a big difference. Week four kind of stumped me and I haven’t really finished it yet. So far all I shot was my omelette!
I love these Karen. I see a difference on the chains and like the one with Cheryl’s texture on best. I am still trying this prompt. I am almost there but I’ve not quite got what I’m hoping for.
You are goin way beyond anything I know about photography now and that means I have really enjoyed looking closely at your photos to see what differences I can see. I think I like the light in the first photo the best? maybe?
your photos are beautiful. I love the collection you chose. I really like that portrait perspective.
All of your photos are amazing! Very beautiful work. 🙂
These are absolutely gorgeous Karen. I skipped the metering exercise myself. But I’m glad you did it and shared it!
Rinda
Great job with these photos Karen. I love the collection of books & the watch as your subject! I need to work on weeks 4 & 5 in Frugal Still Life . . . maybe today although we don’t have much natural light. (Need to look up metering modes for my camera, too.)
I don’t see much difference in the metering modes either, but agree that the photo with Cheryl’s texture is really nice.
Hi Karen,
Your set up with the books and your great grandmothers beautiful watch is so pretty! You did a great work with the metering modes – I tried also all of them, and ended up using the spot metering mode. Your photos would make so pretyy postcards!
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