Metering in grey winter light

Every winter the same thing happens: flat grey sky, the meter says everything is fine, and the negatives come out thin with no shadow detail at all.

What works for me now is simple. On overcast days I meter for the shadows I care about and then give one extra stop. Film forgives overexposure far more than underexposure, and a slightly dense negative scans much better than a thin one.

The other trick is to look for any direction in the light — a wet street, a lit shop window — and build the frame around it.