Light metering for macros.

I am a little bit confused about metering for macro shots with my Digital Rebel. The problem that exists is that I still have not got my strobe in to practice and everything I have read leaves me with this question.

If you are metering on the subject won't the overexpose the picture? I plan on bracketing my fstops but will that be enough to ensure I do not over expose?

Wetpixel has been a big help to me so far. Keep up the good work.

By the way is ther anyone in the Loveland Colorado area that has a bit of experience wiht digital underwater photography?

Thanks for your time.

Hi,

I believe there is an underwater photography club called CUPS.org, but I doubt it's close since CO is a big state...:-)

For macro photogarphy, most people use only strobe light to illuminate the scene. That means that the camera's light meter is not used. So, set the camera at a high shutter speed and select F-stop and strobe power to acheive (sp?) proper illumination. You must be in M on the camera to do this.

To do ambient background exposures with blue water, some typical settings might be f5.6 @ 1.60th to get a good overall exposure. If you are focusing on a very close subject, you won't get much depth of field at f5.6, so most of the shot will be out of focus.

Hope that helps,

James

Thanks James,

Are you familiar with the digital rebel? I am having problems when I turn off the strobe. My next picture frezzes the camera in an error 99 message. Any ideas on how to avoid this problem with out the strobe going off all the time.

Thanks Again

No, I am not familiar. Although this questions has already been answered on Wetpixel, so you can find the fix by using the search feature.

Cheers

James

You're not as confused as you think. You've pretty much figured out one of the main sources of confusion with strobe use. The meter will tell you how bright the overall scene will be, including those things not lit by the strobe. The strobe then lights up the close stuff, the subject in the case of macro.

You might choose to meter for balanced (normal looking) background exposure or you might choose to have the background way underexposed, almost black. Black backgrounds make the strobe-lit subject really stand out. These are things the meter is good for when using a strobe.

Click here for an example of black background.

Thanks guys,

Just got back from cozumel and came out with a few good photos still trying to get my exposures just right but I must admit the Ikelite housing is a dream to clean and close. Thanks for the suggestions, and I will make sure to take a look at the search for my stobe problems.

Cheers

Mike