Which Metering Mode to Use

This is surprisingly easy, and although people really seem to overthink and sweat this part of the process, you don’t have to. I use the metering mode that is actually the default on most cameras these days: evaluative metering (also known as matrix metering). The reason it’s the default choice is because it’s the most sophisticated metering system out there, and that’s why it works so well for most lighting situations. When you’re using evaluative metering, your camera analyzes the light from the entire scene you’re aimed at, and then it combines the data from all those different areas to give you an overall great exposure. There was a time when this stuff was tricky, but thanks to evaluative metering, for the most part, it’s a set-it-and-forget-it type of thing. I rarely—rarely—ever have to change my metering mode (and, really, only in one situation do I change it at all—see the next page). So, if you were sweating the whole exposure thing, don’t (especially since you have exposure compensation—see the previous page). If you don’t agree with how the camera exposed your image, you can override it yourself. Also, if you somehow missed it during your shoot, and you open an image later and realize that it’s half a stop or more too bright or too dark, you can fix that in Lightroom or Camera Raw by moving a single slider 1/8 of an inch.