18 TUESDAY
FEBRUARY 5, 2008
Basic
camera
metering
By David Smeaton
As far as photography
goes, I understand most ba-
sic concepts. However, I still
struggle with metering and
how to use it. I don’t know
which metering method is
best for getting the most out
of my photos. — Paul, Seoul
Metering is a side of pho-
tography that is often ig-
nored by enthusiasts.
Many people prefer to
concentrate on shutter and
aperture, letting the cam-
era control metering.
However, this can be a
problem because we rely on
metering to tell us that
light readings are accurate.
Metering is where the
camera reads the scene and
judges the lighting condi-
tions. It measures the light
and tells you the best val-
ues to use when working
out your exposure.
Obviously, metering is
one of the camera’s most
important functions. A lot
of photographers struggle
to meter shots properly.
They tend to overexpose or
underexpose photos too of-
ten.
When metering, there
are three systems that can
be used to best estimate
light settings: matrix (mul-
ti-segment metering), spot
metering, center-weighted
metering.
Matrix metering is the
most commonly
method. It combines the
measurements from all of
used
the zones in your camera’s
sensor range.
One of the problems with
matrix metering is that it
overcompensates in ex-
treme conditions.
When most of the scene
is bright and the subject
is dark, matrix metering
will underexpose your
subject because it’s com-
pensating for the
brighter areas.
Spot metering is the
technique I use the most.
This is where you literally
use a single spot to meter
your photo. The spot is usu-
ally the center of the frame,
or one of the AF points that
your camera uses for focus-
ing.
If your subject is a per-
son, use specific AF points
to focus on his or her face.
That same AF point will be
the point your camera uses
to meter the shot. This
gives a very controlled re-
sult and precise meter
reading. It’s possible for the
background to still be un-
der- or overexposed, but
your subject will be perfect.
Spot metering is also
very useful when you need
to meter mid-tones. Set the
metering point on a nice
mid-tone area, and your
shot should be very evenly
exposed.
The final method is cen-
ter-weighted metering.
This is a good happy medi-
um between matrix and
spot metering.
Center-weighted uses
the entire zone, just like
matrix metering, but gives
more importance to the
large zone in the center of
the shot to meter the light,
and gives you the appropri-
ate exposure. Center-
weighted can be handy
when you are in a tricky
lighting situation and re-
quire metering from a big-
ger zone.
All metering methods
are useful, and each has its
benefit in different lighting
environments.
The important thing is
learning to use these meth-
ods to your advantage, and
to always get well-exposed
photographs.
Happy shooting.
Send David a message at
davidsmeaton@gmail.com
or visit his website at www.-
davidsmeaton.com. If you
want to be a part of the
weekly Photo Challenge,
join the “Seoul Photo Club”
group at flickr (flickr.-
com/groups/seoulphoto-
club).
PHOTO CHALLENGE — B&W — In central
Seoul, near Myeong-dong, a man protests
for immigration reform.
Billy Gomez (www.flickr.com/photos/billygomez)
Do migrant workers deserve respect?
Van had been working for a
year and was liked by his female
boss, male manager and other
coworkers. His being able to put
himself at the disposal of his su-
periors pleased them, making
him believe that he had earned
their respect.
But time eventually proved
his perception to be seriously
wrong when he got two power-
ful slaps on the face from his
manager in December 2006.
The reason: ignoring the man-
ager’s orders to attend to some-
thing. But the truth was that
Van was already busy with
work assigned to him when the
order came, and he simply
could not pay attention to two
equally important tasks at the
same time.
“My female boss had also giv-
en me empty promises on high-
er wages many times to oblige
me into working as long as she
and the manager wanted,” ex-
plained Van, who was used to
working 16 hours a day on aver-
age on many occasions for a
mere 1.3 million won ($1,400)
per month. He has, after two
Contracts and culture in Korea
Over the years, I have come
to the conclusion that a
Western-style contract is best
for any sort of international
business relationship or trans-
action. An unambiguous, de-
tailed contract is the best way
to ensure a great working rela-
tionship with your employer
anywhere, but it’s especially
important when there are lan-
guage and cultural barriers be-
tween parties.
Ideally a formal description of
reciprocal duties and responsi-
bilities, the primary purpose of a
written employment contract is
to ensure the transfer of services
and that money runs smoothly,
minimizing the likelihood of dis-
putes. I can’t wait for the day
when the concept of using the
contract as a conflict-prevention
tool enters the understanding of
Korean employers.
If you are a migrant worker
— such as an ESL teacher or a
factory laborer — your employ-
ment contract may very well
not be desirable. In Korea, an
employment contract is drafted
by the employer, and most em-
ployees are either not in a posi-
tion to negotiate the terms or
unaware that they should ne-
gotiate. The drafting of these
agreements is usually left up to
employers, who often have lim-
ited awareness of their respon-
sibilities under Korean law.
The result, of course, is pre-
COMMUNITY
Lairam Vapual on
Migrant Worker Issues
years of service, finally come to
understand that his selfless con-
tribution and faithfulness to his
company could not earn him the
respect of his bosses.
Sam was too stunned to de-
fend himself or be angry when
his Korean coworker suddenly
and unexpectedly hit him twice
on the back with a bat while he
was concentrating on his work
in July 2007. Taken aback and
not knowing how to respond, he
simply felt humiliated.
The reason for the beating,
the coworker claimed, was that
he wanted Sam to work faster.
Though the beating itself was
not hard, it was psychologically
embarrassing enough to force
Sam to leave the company im-
mediately for good.
“I don’t want to work at a
place where I’m not treated like
a human being,” said Sam, a
soft speaking Asian.
Richard and Robert, both
Lucy Johnson
on Law
dictable. Korean contracts for
migrant labor are riddled with
ambiguous language, omis-
sions, errors and illegal claus-
es. The conflicts that arise from
them keep Korea’s overbur-
dened labor boards and civil
courts very busy all year round,
with the state footing the bill in
most instances.
Contracts usually reflect the
culture of the country from
whence they originate, and
many of the problems faced by
migrant workers stem from the
fact that there are many unfa-
miliar things which form part of
the Korean working relation-
ships, which are taken as a giv-
en by the employer. In Korea
and other Confucian cultures,
the employer generally has a
much greater degree of involve-
ment in the life of the employee.
Far more details are worked
out between the parties orally
than in a Western business rela-
tionship. Generally speaking,
these details are dictated orally by
the employer rather than being a
true negotiation. Absolute obedi-
ence is expected by the employer,
who, in the traditional Confucian
model, also has absolute, pater-
nalistic responsibility over the
employee. Under such circum-
from an Asian country, had been
offering one-tenth of their
monthly wages to a religious
service run by a Korean couple
whom they and their comrades
respectfully called Samonim
and Moksanim. Samonim al-
ways kept herself busy looking
for jobs for the hard manual la-
borers and helping to solve their
various problems.
Outwardly everything
seemed to be fine and going
well. But the help the beloved
Samonim rendered to the labor-
ers in the name of religion did
not come without some strings
attached and vested interests.
In addition to the monthly
tithes, regular attendance at
services was also required.
Defying the order could eventu-
ally result in the loss of their
jobs. This obliged each member
at the service to pay what they
called the “one-tenth tax” not
out of a sense of gratitude nor a
feeling of gratefulness to
Samonim, but out of fear of be-
ing fired from their respective
companies with which she
wielded unbelievable influence.
stances, an employ-
ment contract consti-
tutes the formalization
of this Confucian rela-
tionship with all that
that implies.
With foreigners, how-
ever, the Confucian mod-
el breaks down. Absolute
obedience is still expect-
ed, of course, but the re-
sponsibility side of the
social equations is not
generally thought to ap-
ply to non-Koreans, as
the cultural concept of
foreigner in Korea is
literally “outsider”:
one to whom normal
mores do not apply.
This is an accident
of history, as for-
eigners were
generally occu-
pying military
or the agents
of aggressive
empires cov-
eting Korean
territory.
This has caused a peculiar
dichotomy to emerge in the na-
tional psychology which means
that a different set of social and
cultural mores apply to foreign-
ers. This dichotomy can creep
into the working relationship. In
addition, few foreigners can tol-
erate the levels of paternalism
present in normal Korean em-
ployment relationships.
No one ever questioned how
much money was collected
every month and how, where,
when and for what it was spent.
But the “one-tenth tax” collec-
tion finally came to a stop after
one and a half years when the
beloved couple moved to the
United States in early 2007.
Gone with the pair were the
money that had been accumu-
lated and both the material and
spiritual services.
However instead of feeling
abandoned the laborers ex-
pressed their heartfelt gratitude
at being set free from paying the
“taxes.”
“We’d had to pay the taxes
every month, you know,” re-
counted Robert with a sense of
relief.
Experiences have shown that
migrant workers have not been
treated and recognized as hu-
man beings on many occasions.
The inconvenient and sad truth
about migrant workers,
whether we want to accept it or
not, is that there is a general
misperception of them and we
let ourselves indulge in what
The potential for
conflict or discomfort on both
sides — even where substan-
tial goodwill exists between the
parties — will be very high
with this kind of agreement
unless both the employer and
employee are aware of how
their respective cultures affect
Expat living is a page dedicated
to the issues that affect expats'
daily lives. It is your page,
where you can share stories about
your life in Korea. Send story
ideas to Matthew Lamers
at mattlamers@heraldm.com
Amnesty International secre-
tary-general Irene Khan called
“a huge hypocrisy involved in
dealing with the issue of (illegal)
migration in (South) Asia.”
The Bangladesh-born official
added, “The sending and receiv-
ing countries do not acknowl-
edge the migrants’ fundamental
rights — although they benefit
from it. The countries are even
reporting contradictory statis-
tics about the number of illegal
migrants. But the large number
of people on the move can be
considered assets, not liabili-
ties.”
In its report in October 2005,
the Global Commission on
International Migration said,
“The nearly 200 million mi-
grants around the world con-
tribute over $2 trillion to the
countries where they work and
send about $240 billion home
yearly, a significant engine of
growth for the global economy.”
With an increase in the num-
ber of the laborers over the
years, the amount of money peo-
ple on the move contribute
every year to both their respec-
the way they approach the re-
lationship, underscoring the
need for clarity, and detail in
their working arrangements.
This basically means writing
it down, Western style.
Lucy Johnson has an MA in
tive host countries and back
home is undoubtedly also in-
creasing.
That, of course, includes all
migrant workers in South
Korea. But it is very regretful to
see that most migrant workers
have too often suffered physical,
verbal, psychological and finan-
cial abuse at workplaces and
even in a religious environment.
“Countries are urged to use
factual knowledge about the
positive impact that migration
has to fight the xenophobia
about migrants,” added GCIM,
launched by former U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Anan
and a number of governments.
Now the real and moral ques-
tion is not whether migrant
workers deserve respect, but
rather how and in what ways
we can give migrant workers
the long overdue respect they
truly deserve.
The writer is a foreign resi-
dent in Gyeonggi Province. His
e-mail is indochina777@ya-
hoo.com — Ed.
international law from Han-
dong International Law School
in Pohang. Nothing in this col-
umn should be interpreted as le-
gal advice. You can comment on
this article at www.scottish-
boomerang.com. The opinions
expressed here are her own. —
Ed.