Metering off green grass

[chopperward]

I’ve been reading Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson and he says that to meter off green grass you should take the reading at -2/3.

I’ve just read an article online (http://www.jonbrockphotography.com/s...358_25097.html) and the chap reckons metering off green grass you don’t have to make any adjustments. The only reason I can think why he says keep it at 0 (middle of meter reader) metering is that he mentions ‘sunlit grass.’ In the Bryan Peterson book he doesn’t mention sunlit, just green.

Would be interesting to see if people on here use green grass and what reading they take from it.

[Photo-John]

I learned that trick years ago. It was a slide metering trick for outdoor photographers and I don't think it was limited to green grass. I use green tree leaves, grass, whatever. I make an under-exposure or over-exposure judgement call based on how dark of a green I think it is. But it's proved pretty accurate - even for slide film, which is very touchy. Now that my cameras all have histograms and displays with clipping warnings I am not as anal about my metering. But I have found that foliage is a pretty good substitue for a gray card. :thumbsup:

[chopperward]

Thanks Photo-John.

So for dark greens you would under-expose and for bright green you would over-expose?

Basically same rule of thumb as black and white.

Sure the histogram will prove to be a handy tool.