Hey Steve!

I've got some questions regarding metering and white balance settings for outdoor portraits _without_ using strobes. I photographed a senior in her backyard, and the lighting varied quite a bit in different locations--on the grass out in the open, under the trees, next to the wall, fence, on the porch with overhang, etc. Mostly in the shade of the house, but there were reflections from sunlit objects like the fence early in the session. Also moved into the setting sun and used it as back light... we tried a variety of poses and was able to use different parts of the backyard as backdrops. What fun!

Metering: I used matrix metering for most shots. Should I have used other modes such as center-weighted? I noticed that the face was over-exposed with darker backgrounds, probably due to the use of matrix metering. What metering mode would you use? Would you use a hand-held meter instead?

WB: I used Auto for some, and "shade" for others. How would you go about setting WB?

One of these days I'll be brave enough to use strobes outdoors to balance with the scene, but one step at a time...

Thanks!

Hey PD!

Long time no hear! I ALWAYS use a hand held incident light meter. Use spot mode if you must use a reflective meter--and then decide where in comparison to the meter reading [neutral gray] you think that the skin tones should be and adjust accordingly. The incident meter is so much easier for me.

I suppose you would be safe doing a custom WB each time you moved. Auto WB seems to be hit and miss from what I have read. I set mine to daylight and leave it alone. I'll make any needed changes [rare] later.

Steve I love all your tips.

From my experience, Auto WB is a definate hit and miss. I do a new custom WB everytime I move to a new spot outdoors. I know it takes a bit of time, but the results are perfect and I never have to do any correction, which is great because I shoot 100% jpg and that save me in processing time as well as storage space.

Natalie

Thanks Natalie! I appreciate your comments. I would still encourage those of you who are not shooting RAW to do a side by side comparison [use your own images]. I did--after fighting it for a long time--and can honestly say that I won't ever purposefully shoot jpeg alone again.