Light Meter

[Guido Hesse]

What about a spotmeter?
Isn't that used to measure the dynamics of the area which is going to be photographed? Wouldn't that be a helpfull tool as well?
Negative film now having a range of 10 - 12 stops, so you need to have quite high contrast between lights and shadows for the image to look crisp?
How would that be translated to digital photography?
And how would it be measured with Gary's new toy?

Regards
Guido

 

[Cav]

To take an incident reading you point the meter at the light as it falls on the subject. The rule about pointing the meter at the camera appears in all sorts of books but it's basically wrong.

I'd argue that it is basically right.

The examples you give are all well and good and choosing what is important to expose correctly is true whatever type of metering you use.

But I still maintain that in general an incident light reading should be taken from where the light falls on the subject from the viewpoint of the camera position. Where there are extremes of contrast multiple readings might be appropriate.

 

[Tony. B]

Sorry Mousey, you've got it wrong. If you take a meter reading from the back of your hand you'll underexpose by around a stop. You need to take a little of your own advice and have another read of "The Practical Zone System". The grass is a far nearer approximation, used intelligently. No offence intended!

garyi
As a qualified professional I still use a Gossen meter although it's a lot more modern, will measure flash and has a viewfinder for spot readings. Most pro's still use hand held meters because they allow far more control.

However, I'm sort of in two minds here. The metering systems on digital cameras are really quite accurate now and I think I would advise that you let the camera do its own thing. If in doubt auto bracket your exposure. You'll pretty soon recognise situations where you need to overide the camera.

As regards the Zone System I'd advise you not to go there, as it's not for the faint-hearted. If you get too bogged down with technicalities you'll spend all your time worrying whether you've got it right and not concentrating your efforts on creating great images. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti the Zone System. Its been part of my professional life for almost forty years. But it can get very complicated. If you want to see the most superb images using this technique take a look at the work of Ansel Adams.

Sorry Vuk, got to agree with others about where to point the meter for incident readings. Back towards the camera making sure that light from the main source still hits the dome (or what ever). I've used this method all my working life with perfect results. However, as you know, all light readings need to be interpreted intelligently which generally comes with practice. Or in my case, a belt round the ear from my boss when I was fifteen years old.

Regards to all,
Tony.B