Learn to use your camera's built-in light meter.
Most cameras come with a built-in light meter that measures the light reflecting off of the subject. Though less precise than readings taken with a handheld incident light meter, these in-camera light meter readings can help you determine accurate exposure settings. In-camera light meters vary from camera to camera, but the same basic principles for taking readings and selecting exposure settings remain constant.
Instructions
1. Select the manual mode on your camera, if possible. This allows you to choose your own aperture and shutter speed without the camera's automatic mode overriding your decisions.
2. Depress your camera's shutter button to take a light meter reading. Most cameras' light meters are activated by this slight shutter button depression, and lights appear inside the viewfinder to indicate the reading. Depending on the camera you have, different indicators appear. Some cameras show red dots moving toward a plus or minus sign to indicate over- or underexposure, with a green dot indicating correct exposure. Other cameras show a red plus or minus to indicate over- or underexposure.
3. Adjust your camera's aperture and shutter speed settings to correct for over- or underexposure. For example, if the light meter tells you that the image will be overexposed with your chosen settings, you can either select a larger f-stop number to close down the aperture, or select a faster shutter speed. If the light meter tells you the image will be underexposed, you can select a smaller f-stop number to open up the aperture, or select a slower shutter speed.
4. Take a second reading to make sure the new settings yield an accurate exposure, and then take the picture.
Tags: light meter, shutter speed, your camera, over- underexposure, accurate exposure, aperture select