Spot metering? On the face or on the dress?

[iris_van_den_broek]

<p>Just a question in general: normally you use some kind of diffuser on your flash to create a softer light.<br>

But if you're in the bright sun and need your flash' full power, I guess you just shoot without a difffuser (like Lightsphere, Stofen etc.), to make sure you use all the light your flash can give you, right?</p>

[curtiscopeland]

<p>My two cents - always expose for skin. Then, you can correct most under/over exposure areas in post production. If you are using an on camera flash with TTL, it will automatically calculate the fill light for you.<br>

Curtis<br>

http://www.curtiscopeland.com</p>

 

[picturesque]

<p>In bright sun, you go diffuser-less. If you are using the on camera flash as fill, you aren't going to see the effects of softer light anyway. The main or key light determines the hardness of the overall light in an image, and outside in bright sun, the light is hard anyway.</p>

[vikneshn]

<p>The below setting always works very well for me....</p>

<ul>

<li>Shoot in RAW... takes away the issues of WB and allows you to recover more details if needed.</li>

<li>Center Weighted metering for shots that have the interest centered (I use Exposure lock when necessary). Evaluate metering for tricky light situation when I wanna capture all needed and lastly Spot metering for backlight subjects. For majority of shots, skin is my interest for exposure. </li>

<li>Auto ISO (my 40D auto limits this to 800)</li>

<li>Highlight Priority set ON</li>

<li>Manual setting - shutter speed 1/60 to 1/30 and aperture depending on the nature of the shot... DOF needed. Always do a few test shots when changing the manual settings and exposure metering and checks the histogram.</li>

<li>Flash (E-TTL) and diffuser (Demb) always on. I change the reflector angle on the diffuser depending on the shot.</li>

</ul>

<p>Please try and keep on shooting.<br>

All the best.</p>