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52 Photo Challenge: Week 34-Spot Metering

“When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?”
—Shel Silverstein, A Light in the Attic

This week my assignment for the 52 photo challenge was to use spot metering. I’ve heard the words before and had a vague understanding of what they mean, but it was time for me to really figure it out.

For those unfamiliar, it’s a setting on your camera that takes a measurement of light from a single spot and then adjusts the exposure. It took me watching a few how-to videos to find the setting on my camera and then I headed to Old Folsom at night.

The results show how inexperienced I am. In retrospect, night photography wasn’t the best idea. However, I did get a picture of the moon that’s not a white blurry blob. Skill unlocked. Be warned—there will be a lot more pictures of the moon now!

Let me know what you think. My son said the clock photo reminded him of Alice in Wonderland as the clock tower has virtually disappeared. Do you like the effect? Do you have another favorite? Thanks as always for your support and have a wonderful week.

Also, if you’ve not read it before, here’s the short story I wrote this time last year:

Week 34: The Blackberry Quest

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  • Photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW
  • If you want to join the 52 Photo Challenge, you can find all the information at nicolesy.com

52 Photo Challenge
Week 1: Bokeh
Week 2: Silhouette
Week 3: Black and White
Week 4: Motion Blur
Week 5: Texture
Week 6: Framing
Week 7: Leading Lines
Week 8: Negative Space
Week 9: Patterns
Week 10: Symmetry
Week 11: Green
Week 12: Sidelight
Week 13: Sense of Scale
Week 14: One Lens
Week 15: Series
Week 16: Flat Lay
Week 17: Behind the Scenes
Week 18: Water
Week 19: Blurry Foreground
Week 20: Unique Perspective
Week 21: Shadow
Week 22: Food
Week 23: Abstract
Week 24: Reflection
Week 25: Contrast Color
Week 26: Think in Threes
Week 27: Starburst
Week 28: Low Perspective
Week 29: Macro
Week 30: Backlight
Week 31: Big Sky
Week 32: Dominant Color
Week 33: Fill the Frame

59 thoughts on “52 Photo Challenge: Week 34-Spot Metering”

    • “When the day becomes the night and the sky becomes the sea, when the clock strikes heavy and there’s no time for tea; and in our darkest hour, before my final rhyme, she will come back home to Wonderland and turn back the hands of time.”

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  5. Like ’em. I prefer the images where the light is crisp. doesn’t bleed into the shot. So I’d tend to underexpose a little.
    I never bothered with spot metering – it always felt dated – pre-digital. With a d-slr I just took a guess. If it didn’t work out, I’d see it immediately on the screen, adjust things and try again until I got a decent image.
    One thing that was invaluable for any kind of time expoosures was a tripod and a remote shutter thingy. And see if you can try the moon of a 500mm lens – seeing it in detail is incredible.

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  8. You are right that night wasn’t the best idea but still most have worked well. Non Favourites are 4 and 10 – too messy and distracting.
    Favourites are 2,6,8 and 9 and our Moon of course. I can see lots of Moon photos coming up. It is addictive so watch out. I think I must have hundreds of moon photos 🙂

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    • Thank you for such great feedback. I fully agree with everything you said here and I’m already making plans to visit a local park on the night of the full moon to try and get some nice shots. Pretty excited about it!

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  9. I enjoyed your Moon. More would be welcome.

    The piano keys, who’d a thought, interesting. Stories waiting to take the light. Then – What is That? A hanging light fixture with a bird cage on top, or are those weeds growing there? Makes no sense either way, but look, you made a mystery. We like salt crystals too. Got one myself. Any excuse for something big and glowing. You are being a good student I think.

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    • Thank you, Neil. That light figure is odd isn’t it? It’s in front of an antique shop and I think it’s just wires and perhaps a few odd leaves stuck in there. That last photo is taken there too. It’s a very interesting place and I’ve actually set one of my novels partly in a shop just like it. Filled from to bottom with stuff.

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  14. I’m liking #’s 1 and 2, plus the header photo of the moon. I like the piano the best because I’m assuming you metered on the bright reflection–it darkens the remaining part of the keys and adds moodiness to the photo.

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    • Thank you! Yes, that piano photo was pretty tricky to photograph in the low light. The first few attempts were too dark but I kept adjusting the aperture until I got the effect I wanted. I almost didn’t post it, but I’m glad I did as it seems to be the most popular.

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    • Thanks! I almost didn’t post that one, but it seems to be the hands-down favorite so I’m glad I did. It was tricky to get the lighting right. I’m glad I didn’t give up on it.

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  22. What a wonderful challenge! Thanks for sharing this. Love your spot metering results, I’ve never tried that. I’ll have to see if my camera has that function (it’s about 10 years old). The photos are so dramatic and atmospheric, love the piano keys shot especially and the moon! Wow, how did you get such a detailed shot?! 🙂

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    • That’s the very first time I’ve taken a picture of the moon that actually has detail. The spot metering allows the camera to focus in on the light and block out everything else, giving detail instead of making it all just too much light for the camera and the dreaded white blob I usually get. (I’m sure I’m butchering the technical stuff here, but that’s how I understand it). I tried recently to get a shot of the moon with the trees, but I could only seem to capture one or the other in focus. I’ll need to keep trying and playing with the settings.

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