Tom, phew i thought maybe i had upset you or that my tone didn't come across the way i intended. Nah...don't be silly, Tom...your post didn't sound like you were talking down to me. :) you are a very nice person and a gentleman, and you were just trying to help me 'cause i said i feel like i'm groping in the dark when it comes to spot metering. anyway, no...we don't have a hand meter yet. i use spot metering on my digital cam, and kemal meters the same way. i ran into some problems over the summer when i was metering differently. when i went back to spot metering, my images started looking more the way i wanted. tom, i believe with my cam it meters a rectangular area. Simon/Tom...i'm not sure what the percentage is with my cam either. it doesn't say in my manual. i might have to dig a bit on the web to find that info. Simon, i don't have a gray card. i probably need to do that. thanks for the advice. :) now if i could only get composition down...sigh. dunno why that's so damn hard for me! oh well. thanks so much again, Tom, for taking the time to help me by posting those pictures and sharing your expertise. and thank you, too, Simon! :)