why are my pictures underexposed while shooting in Manual?

[Skwaz]

Center and spot weighted can get tricky. For example, if the man was off to the side, center or spot metering would read the bright area on the grass, making the man darker. Try it, but give exposure comp a try too. In manual, it won't change settings but it will change what the meter says. But since you are shooting manual, you could just recognize the scene as a problem and adjust your settings to let your meter fall slightly to the + side. Then you don't need to worry about messing with meter modes or exposure comp and possibly forgetting them for the next shot.

Hope I’m right but spot metering will follow the focus point and meter on that no matter where in the focus zone , centre is as it says and matrix the whole frame

 

[nickt]

Hope I’m right but spot metering will follow the focus point and meter on that no matter where in the focus zone , centre is as it says and matrix the whole frame

Yes, you are right. I wasn't thinking it that deep above, just assuming focus at the center.

 

[Deanie]

Center and spot weighted can get tricky. For example, if the man was off to the side, center or spot metering would read the bright area on the grass, making the man darker. Try it, but give exposure comp a try too. In manual, it won't change settings but it will change what the meter says. But since you are shooting manual, you could just recognize the scene as a problem and adjust your settings to let your meter fall slightly to the + side. Then you don't need to worry about messing with meter modes or exposure comp and possibly forgetting them for the next shot.

nickt, thank you so much. Good thoughts! I did exactly what you said about letting the meter fall slightly to the plus side and it worked great.

 

[spb_stan]

Another option when dealing with a subject that is backlit is to use fill flash to balance the exposure of the background and the flash exposed and metered foreground. TTL BL mode of flash when using Matrix metering allows two entirely separate metering systems to be used, the one in the camera and the only the flash uses(using the same camera meter sensor for read by the flash). That way the matrix metering of the camera measures the entire scene with bias towards the center to expose the whole scene well and the flash metering using spot metering for the subject and setting the flash power output to bring the backlit subject up to the same exposure as the background. Using full manual exposure is recommended with flash, so you can make sure the camera metering is a stop or so under exposed so the flash firing only has to add a little more light to expose the subject well.
Flash is very useful for taming harsh mid-day sun shadows that are so unattractive for faces.
Nikon TTL BL(balanced flash) is a very nice system for good exposure with backlit subjects