Photography is all about light. As cameras become more and more powerful, they also become more affordable. This means that the consumer can get their hands on a powerful camera for a price that won't break their wallet. Breaking into the world of SLR photography is scary at first, but it all narrows down to controlling light. In order to do this, you need to be able to read and control your camera's light meter.
Locating and Recognizing Your Camera's Light Meter
While it's possible to purchase stand-alone light meters, it's generally accepted that they are rather redundant with the advent of internal light meters. Internal light meters are standard on DSLRs, and some later film SLRs have them as well. In order to access the light meter, look through the optical viewfinder and depress the shutter release partially. This brings up the light meter, a number line, typically starting at -2 and working its way up to +2. Underneath this line should be a small notch, pointing to some point on the number line according to the lighting at hand.
Understanding Your Camera's Light Meter
The light meter is one of the most basic yet vital aspects of producing properly exposed shots on any camera. The rule of thumb is that you want the guide arrow to line up right under zero or the in-between mark, which would be a properly exposed shot. If the guide arrow is to the left of the middle mark, the shot will be underexposed. To the right of the middle mark, the shot will be overexposed.
Control the Meter's Light Reading
There are multiple ways to change how the light meter reads out. Aperture, shutter speed, lighting, and ISO are all taken into account by your camera. In other words, it's key to understanding how each affects the meter. Pointing the camera into a brighter light source will increase the reading, opening your aperture wider will increase the reading, slowing down your shutter will increase the reading, and notching up your ISO will increase the reading. It's a good idea to experiment with different combinations of the four to see how they work in conjunction with each other.
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