Exposure Compensation v. Spot Metering

Hope you read this comment rather than the excellent technical knowledge displayed by others .... I use neither but rather center weighted average ... on the other hand I avoid sunsets/rises where the sun in naked in frame as it is impossible to record a light source and the subject it is illuminating [ without special technique beyond both of us I suspect]
So my simple policy is to either organize the sun behind something solid like a tree truck, building etc or diffused and reduced by being behind some cloud.
So often we see great spludges of burnt out white where people try to do the impossible spoiling otherwise what could have been great photos.
This basic fact applies to all light sources .... light sources should be used but not seen.

An alternative which I used a long time ago with my Nikon 5700 bridge camera using 'pattern' metering and A mode
is to capture the light source when it is partly hidden
At 0604
http://i65.tinypic.com/e8tt1g.jpg
At 0611 Much too late :(
http://i66.tinypic.com/o0xk0p.jpg
But at 0609 with the first shot captured I hid the sun
http://i67.tinypic.com/25uk45v.jpg
As a beginner I suggest one should trust one's equipment, these days it is terriffic ... I do after 60 years of messing with cameras :)

After being so sure of myself I am confunded by Fellippes' https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/fo...hread51268.htm which suggests to me that if you have the camera [his a D7000 ] and the right situation a modern camera can perform better than the 2002 design I was using for the photos in the previous post :(
So while I think my approach is right it is worth going to the link and reading the EXIF info it carries to see an exception to what I was suggesting :) Maybe with my newer camera I will approach the subject differently as a result of seeing Fellippes' shot.

edit
The crux of the matter is while he used spot metering on what did he take his readings and on what did he and why he choose the final exposure. I tried Spot years ago and made a hash of it and now rely on experience to adjust away from what center weighted gives me. The other interesting aspect is the Depth of Field while using a 450mm lens :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jcuknz

After being so sure of myself I am confunded by Fellippes' https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/fo...hread51268.htm which suggests to me that if you have the camera [his a D7000 ] and the right situation a modern camera can perform better than the 2002 design I was using for the photos in the previous post :(

---

John -I went back and looked at the metadata on Felipe's shot that you are referring to; he is shooting 100% manual, so we don't know how he determined his exposure, all we can see is that he nailed his shot.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GrumpyDiver

John -I went back and looked at the metadata on Felipe's shot that you are referring to; he is shooting 100% manual, so we don't know how he determined his exposure, all we can see is that he nailed his shot.

---

It is the sort of shot I would probably use a HDR technique but certainly not to get the so call "HDR" look.

I would not even mention that HDR had been used...(I am not sneaky I just think it is irrelevant how I produce an image):)