Using your hand to get it done

[MARINERMAGNUM]

I can't seem to find the thread where Dan was explaining how to use your hand to set exposure. I am curious how this works and what situations it is most preferred. I usually just meter the sky. Is using your hand the preferred method?

[Dbl]

MM, there is more than one way to get the exposure you want it just happens to be one that works well for me. When the lighting is constant as it has been all winter I always am shooting in manual. One of the fastest ways to get a quick meter reading to get you in the ballpark is to open your hand and meter off the palm. You need to make sure that your hand is falling in the same light source as you will be shooting. If you will be shooting a subject facing the sun make sure the sun is at your back and your hand is open to the sun. If the subject will be back lighted you should face the sun, etc.

When do you use it? In the winter it is great you will almost always get your exposure dead on without the snow throwing off the metering. If you have a dark background and light subject in snow your camera will have a very hard time, it is going to average out the scene and you most likely will end up with an underexposed subject. Do you remember the snowmobile shots a week or so ago? Perfect example where you need to control what your camera is doing. This works year round, birds in flight, sports shooting, etc.

I just got finished shooting 150 XC skiers for their team and individual shots outside in the snow. I metered off my hand and shot a test shot or two to verify my exposure with the histogram. Every 5 to 10 skiers I double checked my settings with the histogram and kept on shooting. When I got home to pick shots and post process...well there was nothing to process. The exposure was right on and I had switched to a cloudy white balance so instead of a blue cast in the faces because of the snow I had nice pink faces. Saved me a lot of work. Tomorrow I have another 150 to shoot inside a pool, I will start with this method to get me in the ballpark with one shot.

I have been using this method for close to 30 years both in film days and its translated well to digital. There are many more ways to do this, this one just happens to work for me. Is that what you were looking for? A little long winded maybe

[MN Shutterbug]

If there isn't white or black surrounding your subject, the suggestions are to meter off your hand and then open 1 stop. But, like Dan mentioned, winter time is a whole different scenario. I've also used the north blue sky or green grass or even black dirt, without compensation, but good luck finding any of these three, this time of the year. Actually, one book I've got says you can even meter off brown grass. However, while green grass has worked for me, green can come in many shades as can brown.

[Dbl]

Just to clarify I do not open up one stop when metering in the winter. In the summer if I use green grass I will open about 2/3 maybe 1 stop, just depends on the color of the grass.