How to meter for shop fronts at night?

zowno

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Jun 27, 2018
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Melbourne
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I've been trying to take some photos of lit up shop fronts at night and phone booths and similar. I'm just not sure how to best meter for these situations? Do I spot meter the shop windows or is the meter confused by the light sources?
 

guangong

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Sep 10, 2009
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Ditto the Jiffy. There are also other calculators and tables available in many manuals on photography. For the most part any difference in lighting from one window to another can be handled by films exposure latitude.
 

tezzasmall

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Dec 29, 2013
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Southend on Sea Essex UK
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zowno said:
I've been trying to take some photos of lit up shop fronts at night and phone booths and similar. I'm just not sure how to best meter for these situations? Do I spot meter the shop windows or is the meter confused by the light sources?
Click to expand...

Over the years, since I was a teenager doing a night time course in the 1970's, I have always relied on what ever exposure meter was in each of my cameras. This has changed from the most basic needle in the view finder, to the one metering cell on the lens perimeter, through to TTL metering on my 35mm film cameras, to multizone metering on my digital.

So, in my view, let your camera meter advise you and do as I did before digital and shoot a print C41 film and you should be fine. Just remember, ideally you need to take a tripod.

Terry S
 
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