SO for the past few years i have been into photography and plan on studying journalism in college. Now heres the problem. Over all these years i havent really learned any new shooting techniques to make my photos better or easier to shoot in bad conditions etc. Right now i shoot mostly on manual constantly adjusting the shutter speed and aperature and ISO to the lighting. Thats no problem i have been doin this for a while. There is this gray area however, that i dont know how to shoot, meaning things like, metering, histograms, exposure compensation,flash compensation, white balance etc. These are the things i would like to know how to do more often. I always see photographers pointing the camera somewhere else to meter a shot then back to the subject. I would like to know how exactly i do this and the point of it. I assume this is spot metering and i would like to know more about other types of metering as well as when to use them. If a subjects heavily backlit how would i properly expose the background and foreground in the same picture. I am completely lost when it comes to these things besides basic exposing in manual. I am asking for some major help! ALso the other parts of the grey area include exposure compesation in the camera functions, as well as flash compensation. I would like to know how to use these and when as well. Thanks in advance!


Gear:


1D MK III, 50 1.8, canon rebel XT, 18-55, 70-200 2.8L, Gitzo reporter tripod, sigma 500 DG ST super flash.