This is as much about technique as it is about equipment, hence the reason for not placing this in the "Equipment" forum.

I was doing a bit of thinking (yeah, I know, not a good idea) over the weekend, which prompted me to ask this question -

How do you determine your exposure? I'm interested in hearing from both studio photographers and those that work using ambient light. Do you use a separate handheld meter (if so, incident or reflected?) or do you use your cameras meter? And how do you determine your exposure?

- Thorsten.

Hi ,

Keep this thinking lark up Mate , your coming up with some great subjects!

For me i use to rely on the Cameras Metering system , which for the most part worked apart from when the model was wearing a reflective item of clothing..

I use to take several shots with the camera and adjusting the Apeture and speed as i went along to get my exposure as i wanted too.

The Histrogram certainly helped but as i said once you got to something like all white or all black you would have to do some more fine tuneing.

Then i got my self a Lightmeter and everything changed, and I cursed my self for not getting one sooner.....

For those that dont have one , i suggest to get one , you can with one reading get your exposure perfect..well least for me anyway.

I usualy do incident reading myself but id be curious to know why id need reflective?

I use a Home Studio Flash setup and take my readings from the flash when fired. if i didnt have a Light meter id begin with a 1/125 f8 starting point and then work it from there if i was outside for example..

PB

Hi Thorsten

I see no replies as yet, so here is the way I will be metering from now on, when my light meter arrives lol.

 I will take an incident light reading with my light meter in front of the middle of the subject with the white dome pointing back to where you will be taking the picture from; I think this is the correct way? Then set up the white balance and middle gray (vis gray card) with fine tuning of exposure with the middle tone via the histogram?

This will be the process for studio and landscapes.

Any advice or faults in this method please advise? Or am I way in a tangent.lol  

Thanks Martin

When I started using medium format for wedding which didn't have a meter I started using a light meter, it was a minolta which I could use in the studio also, I only use incident for measurement, never felt the need for reflective, though I has its plus side in certain lighting conditions,

when working at weddings, press, sports etc, I usually use manual mode,

I use the meter in the studio and at weddings, but use the camera meter for my press work, much faster and because I have been doing this for too many years, I know when I need to over or under expose the subject when the case arises. the advent of the digital camera has made it easier to check the image, but I think in many cases it has made people lazy, remember that Digital doesnt have the same latitude as film, so its very important to be on the money in terms of exposure, for important work a light/flash meter should be used.

In the Studio, I always check the readings for each change, there are different views as to whether its best to point the meter at the light source or the camera, I think it depends on the meter and camera, as cameras don't alway have the true aperture reading,

As a general rule I meter for the main light and then the fill if one is being used, then I take an overall reading and take it from there, also remember rules are made to be broken depending on the effect you are looking for, if I then add a kicker light, I always meter towards the light source. remember to have the meter as close to the model as possible, as holding the meter 6 inches away from the model in the studio will render her under exposed.

A tip for sports togs who use the camera's meter is to turn to manual and meter of the grass as this gives a decent starting point, although If its a sunny day the camera will get fooled.

Over all this system works for me, but I'm sure others do it differently.

tim

Depends entirely on the application.

In the studio, I obviously use my flash (incident) meter.

When shooting in ambient light, I tend to use a combination of spot metering from my camera (reflective - just to get a specific reading for highlights) in conjunction with an ambient light meter reading from the hand held incident light meter.

When balancing flash with ambient, I generally use my camera for the ambient light meter reading and the hand held meter for flash. Although, the Sekonic meter gives a handy little percentage result which lets you know how much ambient light is effecting the meter's reading after a flash - VERY useful

Remember, an incident light meter measures the light falling on a subject, not light reflected from it.

Imagine this scenario. I have a large softbox and the model VERY close to it, so as the light is VERY soft. It wouldn't be unusual to have a 1 even 2 stop difference between the lit side and the shadow side. If you place your meter in the middle pointing back at the camera - you get blown highlights, because you are now metering for the light falling on the centre of the face - not the lit side.

A lot depends on the position of the lights, the distance, the size of the light source etc. Your method is not "fool proof" and depending on how you light your model, you'll have scenarios which it simply won't work for. You're safer holding the meter on the brightest spot on the subject and pointing the dome at the light source NOT the camera. As it's the light hitting the subject that you want to measure.

All my stuff is outside so i try and find something neutral in colour such as shaded grass or a rock and even the blue in the sky (if available).  I will then compensate for any large differences in the scene with ND's etc.  I have started to look at the histograms in the camera too but I don't always rely on them.  i tend to find with landscapes that bracketting is the safest bet too.

Mike

I was wondering if anyone was going to bring this up, because that's what actually prompted me to start this post in the first place. I had been reading this article about flash fall off and it made me wonder how many people blindly follow the exposure readings they get using their chosen method and how many. Camera and meter manufacturers would have you believe that there is nothing to think about, when in fact nothign could be further from the truth.

I tend to use incident metering 90% of the time because at least then I'm not trying to second guess the camera. There are a lot of people that will tell you that you need to point the incident dome at the camera to get a correct reading and then you will have those that argue that this is wrong, and that you should point it at the principle light source. Neither are absolutely right or wrong as much depends on the specifics of the lighting for any given situation.

- Thorsten.

P.S. I'll see if I can do a bit more "thinking" and come up with another "interesting" topic. I'd like to see the forums being used more as a discussion and learning resource because it's a bit quiet here at times.

P.S. I'll see if I can do a bit more "thinking" and come up with another "interesting" topic. I'd like to see the forums being used more as a discussion and learning resource because it's a bit quiet here at times.

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I will look foward to it !

good topic again, keep them coming!!

martin