The Confused Photographer's Guide to On-Camera Spotmetering (The Confused Photographer's Guide to . . . Series) (The Confused Photographer's Guide to . . . Series) | 
 enlarge | Author: Bahman Farzad
Creators: Linda Voychehovski, Ron Smith
Publisher: Confused Photographer's Guide Books.
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $11.96
You Save: $8.03 (40%)
New (2) Used (4) from $11.54
Avg. Customer Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 284755
Media: Paperback
Edition: Third
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 11 x 8.6 x 0.6
ISBN: 0966081706
Dewey Decimal Number: 771.37
EAN: 9780966081701
ASIN: 0966081706
Publication Date: January 14, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Absolutely brand new book. Same day ship! Never find better!
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Book Description
World's first book written to illustrate the on-camera spot metering technique for 35mm, Digital, and Medium Format photographers: All types of metering systems used in different cameras (with the exception of the on-camera spotmeter operated by a skilled photographer) use a "cookie-cutter" approach to photographic exposure. What this means is the camera meter measures the various tones of your subject, and then averages all of the tones in order to come up with an overall exposure. Sometimes the overall exposure works and sometimes it doesn't. With this approach, the ball is in the camera's court and in many instances the photographer has no hand in the final look of the image. With on-camera spotmetering, the photographer uses a "tailored" approach to find the correct exposure for a very specific subject. With this approach, the skilled photographer interprets the spotmeter readings from the subject and establishes the correct exposure that captures the desired image (what the eye sees) on film. The consistency and flexibility of the narrow-angled spotmeter makes it the most powerful and versatile exposure tool in existance today. The only catch in using a spotmeter is that the photographer must have the skill to use this powerful tool correctly and effectively. The Confused Photographer's Guide to On-Camera Spotmetering does just that! It is simple, easy-to-follow, and uses a common-sense teaching approach to the material. With more than seventy full-page illustrations, it is designed to get the beginner and the intermediate photographer started in a couple of days. I assume that you have a camera with a built-in spotmetering (partial metering) feature. I also assume that you have a ninth grade education and are willing to learn. To facilitate your learning process, I have included a two page cheat sheets for each of the following cameras: Canon EOS 10D Digital Slr, Canon EOS 20D Digital Slr, Canon EOS 3, Canon EOS A2/A2E, Canon EOS Elan 2E, Canon EOS Elan 7E, Canon EOS Rebel 2000, Canon EOS Rebel Ti/300V, Canon PowerShot G3 Digital, Canon PowerShot G5 Digital, Minolta Maxxum 5, Minolta Maxxum 7, Minolta Maxxum 9, Minolta Maxxum StSi, Nikon CoolPix 990 Digital, Nikon CoolPix 995 Digital, Nikon CoolPix 4500 Digital, Nikon CoolPix 5700 Digital, Nikon Coolpix 5000 Digital, Nikon Coolpix 8700 Digital, Nikon D70 Digital Slr, Nikon F4, Nikon F5, Nikon F100, Nikon N50, Nikon N55, Nikon N60, Nikon N6006, Nikon N65, Nikon N70, Nikon N75, Nikon N80, Nikon N8008s, Nikon N90/N90s, Pentax *ist, Pentax *ist-D Digital SLR, Pentax 645N Medium Format, Pentax MZ-S, Pentax PZ-1P, Pentax ZX-5N, and Sony DSC-F717 Digital. If your camera is not listed here, you will still be able to learn the technique and apply it successfully.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 Great Book May 18, 2008
As a guide for using your in camera spot-meter I think this book is great. The illustrations are easy to understand and well explained. Spot-metering can be tricky, but this book takes all the guess work out of it. If you follow the illustrations carefully, you will enjoy and improve your photography. The main thing here is practice, practice and more practice. You have to be patient and visualize in your minds eye want you want and follow the techniques. Even though the book uses for instruction purposes slide film, once you learn and practice, I believe you will improve a great deal even if your camera has all the bells and whistles. The camera meter is just a tool, you have to decide what you want and that involves good technique. Happy shooting to all!
Great Book June 5, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Until I had this book one takes photographs that the camera takes. After reading this book you can be in control. The Author gives a very detailed and easy to understand explanation of why some photographs don't turn out the way we expect them to and tells you how to manipulate the new electronic exposure meters built in to today's cameras.
I recommend this book to all budding photographers. That's the only way to pay tribute to this book and author.
One of the best photo buys I ever made.... May 9, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
After reading this book, I feel as though a veil has been lifted. I always wondered why my photos, although looking good, just lacked a certain "something". My camera, a Rebel Ti, does not have spot metering. Now I am able to understand how to do spot metering with a partial metering system.
I never thought about "tonal" quality as it applies to a photograph. Now I can look at the computer generated settings and make the necessary manual adjustments to take tone into account.
Very good purchase.
 An excellent beginer's guide to understanding exposure January 15, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have read this book withing two days.
I am somewhat experienced at taking pictures but this method is easy to follow and remember.
After reading this book I went out during the night to take a picture of a bridge in the city of Warsaw. The picture was perfectly exposed and it did not need any adjustments from its raw settings.
Some people might find that this is sometimes too easy or repetitious but I suppose this is what is needed to get the points accross.
One last word about the excellent tips at the end of the book and the appendices. I really appreciated the tips on how to photograph silhouette of a person, see through cloth lit from behind or fireworks.
I truelly recommend this book if you want to see the light with exposure.
If you never shoot on "manual" this book is for you January 14, 2007
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book covers in details all one will ever need to know in order to get the correct exposure from the camera. Don't get confused by the title, it's not how to use the spotmeter, it's rather how to evaluate tones and make manual corrections (override the meter reading)to get the proper exposure. Those that don't have the spotmeter (like Canon Rebels), can use the partial metering, just zoom all the way through, to narrow the angle.
Yes this book is oversimplified, as some readers have already stated, so even the second graders would be able to read and understand it :) There are too many explanation and repetition, author even assumes that you have a hard time to make a division by 2 :)
On the other hand I've found analogies (like FedEx and Train examples)very helpful. The book really does what it promises to, to help the reader to understand how to get the correct exposure. No matter what you level is, you will definitely understand the concept, author makes it extremely simple.
I would highly recommend this book for beginners, or those that never shoot on fully manual. For people that understand the 18% gray and know how to override camera settings, there is nothing new.
Compared to other Bahman Farzad book "The Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and the Simplified Zone System". Those books are 98% the same. The later is some what expended version of the "The Confused Photographer's Guide to On-Camera Spotmetering". I would recommend against buying both of those books no need for that. I think the later book (the extended one) is a better choice, as it also has a new and updated edition available on February 2007.
Compared to "Understanding Exposure" by Peterson. Peterson book doesn't go into much details, I felt like author tries to stay away from complex subjects, it's excellent book never the less, but not for beginners. Those books can't be compered directly, since they cater for different audience. For those that never used fully manual, I would recommend to start with Farzad book and then progress to Peterson book.
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