| Author | Thread |
|
|
04/12/2005 07:27:55 AM · #1 |
Hi there! One of there days I readed a thread and someone said that in doing portrais a liht meter is the best, and he didn't relly on camera metering for it.
I've never worked with it so if anybody coould share their experiense...
What models are the best, especially the low price ones :)
And how to use them?
I'm having some weddings to shoot in the summer so lots of portraits will happen.
HELP PLEASE. Much appreciatted.
|
|
|
|
04/12/2005 09:25:37 AM · #2 |
| Light meters are very helpful for metering flash/strobes that are running in a manual mode. The Sekonic L-358 is a great inexpensive choice of meters. |
|
|
|
04/12/2005 09:39:50 AM · #3 |
| How does one use a light meter? |
|
|
|
04/12/2005 09:40:42 AM · #4 |
A light meter is a must if you want to be able to control the ratio of the light in portraits. The meter in a camera even a TTL ca only read one source. To read a 2 to 1 ratio lets say you need to read the light from the main and set the key to 1 stop less. Only reading one source, the meter in the camera or the TTL will take all the light and read it as one source. When shooting outside portraits with or with out a fill flash your camera only reads one source. If you meter the high key and the low key and average them you will get what your camers sees. If you want to make your portrait snappy you can set the exposure for either high or low key. I have been shooting slide film most of my life with that you only have a 1/3 stop latitude. Digital gives you so much more but it will be an average exposure. In short a hand held meter is âI thinkâ the best way to meter any shot.
|
|
|
|
04/12/2005 09:52:37 AM · #5 |
Originally posted by gibun:
How does one use a light meter? |
A light meter can be used in two ways, incident and reflective. Incident is reading the light from the source, reflective is reading the light that reflects from the subject. A cameras meter is reflective. A white on white subject will read different from a black on black subject even with the same light source. But an incident reading will be the same, it reads the light hitting the subject not the light reflected. You ser the meter to the ASA or ISO of the film or what you have set your digital camera, when you take the reading the meter will tell you what shutter speed and F-Stop to set. I recommend a book âPHOTOGRAPHYâ by Barbara London and John Upton this is the book I used when I was teaching photography at a local collage. The library of congress number for this is (ISBN 0-673-52223-7).
|
|
|
|
04/13/2005 10:40:44 AM · #6 |
light meters are pretty easy to master.
go to ebay to find a nice meter for you budget.
I am a fan of seconic, but there are tons of manufactures out there.
you can spen alot of money on a very nice electronic meter that reads both spot, and ambient light.
you can buy, ( and what I recamend), a manuel meter for under $100 used that is just fine.
if you go manuel, make sure that there are diffusion discs that come with it or you just wasted some money.
Message edited by author 2005-04-13 10:41:05.
|
|
|
|
04/13/2005 12:05:08 PM · #7 |
Ok... seem pretty easy... But I did't cath how to use it... I saw some at a local store that where much more expensive although second hand, but I'll try to do some net search. Any other thoughts?
|
|
|
|
04/13/2005 12:19:21 PM · #8 |
|
|
|
04/13/2005 12:37:46 PM · #9 |
Thank's gwphoto. Great help
|
|
|
|
04/13/2005 05:28:03 PM · #10 |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 09/16/2025 05:24:51 PM EDT.
