Not many would argue that light is the most important element when it comes to composing great photographs. It’s surprising then that when looking for information on which Fujifilm camera settings to use, it’s rare that metering mode (or photometry) gets a mention. The main focus (pardon the pun) is usually on the exposure triangle i.e. shutter speed, aperture and ISO.

Fujifilm Photometry Options

Fujifilm cameras offer 4 photometry options, other brands contain similar settings although they maybe named slightly differently. I’ve ordered these in how frequently I use them, with Multi being the one I use most:

MULTI

I generally have my camera on this setting most of the time while I’m out shooting and if it’s an overcast day all day then I rarely move away from this. The camera splits the scene up into 256 separate zones, this enables it to recognise differences throughout the image. For instance you may have a small part of the image which is brightly lit, but you don’t want that to affect the whole image. It does this by referencing a database and then makes a metering decision based on composition, colour and brightness across the image.

SPOT

I’m always looking to use this setting on a bright sunny day where there are plenty of shadows in order to create interesting contrasty images. By default spot metering will take a reading from only 2% of the total frame area in the centre of the image, however you can enable a setting in Fujifilm cameras called ‘Interlock Spot AE and Focus Area’ which will use the focus point to meter, which is useful if the subject is off centre. Spot metering can be handy when you’re shooting a subject with light behind them and you want to ensure they are exposed correctly, you may also wish to do the opposite of this and expose for the light behind them and create a silhouette.

CENTRE WEIGHTED

For this setting the camera takes a reading for the whole frame much like the Average setting (below), but bases more emphasis on the centre of the image, assuming this is where the main subject is. This isn’t something I’ve used very often due to the fact that the subject is rarely right in the centre in street photography.

AVERAGE

This setting takes a reading across the whole frame and gives equal average weighting to each area. This is a setting I’d least use as Multi does a better job of reading the kind of scenes that street photography requires, however Average is useful if you want to get similar exposure of multiple shots for instance with landscape photography.

Using Metering Modes in Street Photography

The image below left was taken using Multi metering. I exposed for the highlights behind the subject by positioning the focus point there to try and create a silhouette. You can see that the dark areas to the left and right are still slightly exposed, albeit darker than the rest of the image.

The image above right was taken using Spot metering. Again, I exposed for the highlights by positioning the focus point in that area. However this time, the dark areas to the left and right of the image are almost completely black as is the subject. This creates a much heavier contrast which maybe suitable for some images. However in this case I think the image on the left using Multi is more aesthetically pleasing.

Another example of using Spot metering and Multi metering is below. On the left I exposed for the female subject by positioning the focus area on her and you can see the details on the back of her coat, despite the bright light behind her.

Again, under the same lighting conditions, the image below right was taken with Multi metering and the subjects appear dark and under exposed, this is due to the light behind them and the Multi metering not knowing which part of the image it needs to properly expose..

Conclusion

When using the correct Fujifilm metering mode, it can make a big difference to your images especially when the lighting conditions are unpredictable, I’ve started to use spot metering a lot more recently to try and incorporate more contrast in my photographs, especially when there is good light which can make them appear more interesting. However use Spot metering with caution as it’s not appropriate for all conditions and can cause some unwanted side effects when used incorrectly.