Hi community,
My first post on here, reason i'm posting in this category is because I'm mostly a hobbyist automotive photographer but have done some paid shoots and I don't know what automotive photography falls under in the practice and technique forum section. I just recently learned all cameras meter for 18% gray, which is why i've been having trouble with exposing a car properly; my personal definition properly exposing is making sure car body is lit exactly the same on all sides as well as the tires. I also over expose by a few stops to retain the full tonal range, in case I need to raise the shadows in lightroom and don't want noise in the shadows. My question is, if say I am shooting a bright colored vehicle against a dark colored background, center the vehicle while locking the exposure using center weighted average metering mode, will the shadows retain detail without me having to move the slider to the right? I'm always trying to aim for a natural look but it's always the shadows that gets to me. I've literally shot with a bright colored vehicle against a bright colored background and the tires, wheels, lip are pretty much nonexistent without me moving the slider to the right by 50 and then i've also done a dark colored vehicle in the middle of the road and could only shoot with 0 EV due to clipped highlights and then shadows don't retain any detail at all in post process.