What exposure mode and techniques should I use when out-and-about?

Question

I'm interested to hear what exposure/metering techniques people use when taking out-and-about shots (no tripod). I almost always have my camera set to Aperture Priority mode, and I suspect most people do the same. I have been using back button focussing for a while now, so I am able to lock the focus point and exposure point individually before composing and taking a shot. I use a single, centred focus point and find that fairly straight forward to use. However, I really struggle with the exposure point. On my Canon 30D there are 4 metering modes:

• Evaluative (called Matrix mode on Nikons)
• Center-Only (Partial Metering)
• Spot (Center-Biased)
• Center Weighted Averaging (Full-Frame Averaging)

Of the 4, Evaluative is the most 'automatic'; the camera makes judged decision on exposure based on the whole scene. I wanted to try to avoid this mode because I thought I would learn more going for one of the more manual options. So I started using Spot mode for a bit, but most of my photos ended up either under or over-exposed. So I reverted back to Evaluative mode.

So, after that lengthy introduction, my question is: do you have a good technique for getting the best out of your cameras metering modes? and Which metering mode(s) do you usually use?

Answer

It doesn't make a huge amount of difference what mode you use because if you want accurate exposures, 9 times out of 10 you have to correct it manually.

I use AV (aperture value) and evaluative meeting, it gets the closest in the widest range of circumstances. Then I shoot and chimp (check the exposure on the rear LCD screen), I often have to adjust the exposure and short again. However sophisticated the meeting algorithm it's based around the assumption that everything you shoot is middle grey. The camera doesn't know what you're photographing so it can't really decide what's over or under exposed.

In this sense all metering modes are "manual", I prefer evaluative over spot as it's less likely to change due to slight composition changes so I can dial in the required exposure compensation.

However if I'm feeling lazy then it's a case of pointing the camera up to get more sky if the image on the LCD is underexposed or pointing it at the ground when it's overexposed (provided you separate metering and focus as you suggest).

The point is you have to decide the exposure not the camera. Metering is however useful for getting you close, or for when you don't have time for a second shot! If you have time, always have a few goes at setting the exposure, as digital film costs (approximately) nothing.

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