This is the eleventh article in a series on "understanding your camera" that I am writing as I teach camera basics and camera operation to my children.

The metering mode determines how your camera will measure the brightness of the scene being photographed to determine the exposure.

Modern DSLR cameras support a number of different metering modes, and it is important to understand how the different modes work, and when the different modes should be used.

This article describes how each of the metering modes works, and also provides some details on selecting which metering mode to use in different situations.



Below is a list of the metering modes supported by most modern DSLR cameras and mirrorless cameras, along with the icons used to indicate these metering modes. Not all cameras support all these modes, and some camera manufacturers use slightly different terminology for the modes.

Evaluative Metering / Matrix Metering / Multi-segment Metering
	How It Works: Your camera will meter the entire frame to determine the exposure required. To achieve this, the camera splits the frame into a number of sections, evaluates each section separately. The exposure readings of the sections nearest to the active focus point are weighted more heavily than other exposure readings from other sections, and the camera then analyses the resulting exposures for each section to determine the over-all exposure for the scene. When To Use It: This is a general-purpose metering mode, suited for most conditions, and is the default mode on most DSLR cameras. When full-auto mode or any basic (portrait, landscape, macro, etc) modes are selected, most (all?) DSLR cameras will revert to this metering mode.
Spot Metering
	How It Works: This mode will cause the camera to meter using a smaller portion of the frame, typically 1.5-3.5%, depending on the camera model. For most DSLR cameras, spot metering uses the centre of the frame. With Canon, Sony and Pentax DSLR cameras, spot metering always uses a small portion of the frame at the centre (the Canon 1D series of DSLR cameras are the only exception). Nikon DSLR cameras behave a little differently, with spot metering using a small portion of the frame centred on the currently selected focus point. When To Use It: Spot metering is useful for metering on a specific part of a subject or scene, especially if the scene has a lot of contrast, with either bright or dark portions.
Partial Metering
	How It Works: The camera meters a small portion at the centre of the frame, typically 5-10%, depending on the camera model. When To Use It: Similar to spot metering, this mode can be useful when you want to meter on a specific part of the scene, but where the area being metered is larger.
Centre-Weighted Average Metering
	How It Works: This mode will use meter the entire frame, but will assign a greater weight to the metering from the centre of the frame. When To Use It: This is a general-purpose metering mode, useful when the scene being photographed is lit quite evenly, and the subject is in the centre of the frame. This mode is largely redundant, as evaluative metering provides better results in most conditions.

Tessellated Pavement in black and white

Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @22mm (10-stop ND filter), 52 sec, f/16, ISO100

Ever since I visited the Tessellated Pavement in Tasmania about five years ago, I've been keen to go back, and try some long exposure photography with an ND filter.
In January this year, I had an opportunity to revisit the Tessellated Pavement, because we spent several weeks travelling around Tasmania with our children.

The Tessellated Pavement is located just north of Eaglehawk Neck, and is a naturally-occurring geological attraction that looks somewhat un-natural due to the straight and parallel lines in the rock formation. The two photos in this post were both shot with a 10-stop B&W ND filter, allowing a much slower shutter speed to be used, causing the moving water and waves to appear as a smooth blur.

pine needles

Kyu-Shiba-rikyu Gardens, Tokyo, Japan
Canon EOS 50D, 24-105mm f/4L IS @40mm, 1/100 sec, f/5, ISO100

The Japanese people take their trees pretty seriously. After all, they have been practising the art of bonsai for more than a thousand years. I noticed similar levels of dedication with the pine trees in the gardens that I visited while in Tokyo earlier this year.

Mysore Palace

Mysore, Karnataka, India
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @10mm, 1/125 sec, f/7.1, ISO100

Last month, while on a business trip to India, some colleagues too me to visit the city of Mysore, about 140km from where I was staying in Bangalore.
The Mysore Palace (also known as Amba Vilas Palace) was one of the highlights of the visit to Mysore. It is situated on large grounds, with various temples and other buildings located around the grounds. Apparently Mysore Palace is one of the most famous tourist attractions in India after the Taj Mahal.

The Palace itself is an amazing building to walk through, with lots of marble, gold, stained glass, and plenty of huge murals on the walls. Unfortunately, no cameras are allowed in the Palace itself, so I was unable to capture the amazing interior, but I did take a number of photos of the exterior of the building.

The exterior of the building is covered with 97,000 light bulbs, and is illuminated on weekends, holidays and festivals. Apparently it is an amazing sight to see the building at night with all the lights on, but we headed back to Bangalore before dark.

the main gate of Mysore Palace

Mysore, Karnataka, India
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @22mm, 1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO100