How relevant are light meters?

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How relevant are light meters?

I know that the light meter in my camera is quite complicated and that it takes a number of readings across the entire scene. I know I can check the histogram to make sure that I’m not clipping at either end of the scale. I appreciate that this is a distribution of light and I may well want a bulk of the readings to be at one end or another.

I understand that the camera is reading the light reflected off the surface rather than the light falling on the surface. Does this make a huge difference to exposure readings that the camera is making?
I understand that constantly re metering a scene for each shot can produce variations due to light variations changing and that a meter would give a fixed point to reference from.

With all that being said the only time I can think of using a light meter would be for studio portraiture where lighting ratios are important (do people still use lighting ratios or measure difference in light across a face?) or for a fixed outdoor shot such as a portrait or a wedding. Even then is it worth the extra hassle?

I had read the thread about which direction to point a light meter and felt I should keep this seperate as its not quite that specific.

Thoughts appreciated?
 
It's probably fair to say that the main use for an incident meter in the studio is for still life, rather than portraiture - we tend to push the capabilities of the sensor to the limit, i.e. we tend to use hard lighting and this is far more demanding than for the average portrait.

With portraiture, I don't know how many people actually work to ratios, but I certainly don't - my mantra is that if it looks right, it is right. This has largely changed with improvements to digital dynamic range; back in the days when all pros shot on tranny film, with a very limited range, we needed to worry about ratios much more than we do today.

Having said that, to a very large extent experience can replace tools; often, I don't need to use a meter at all. It seems to me that a lot of people who should use meters don't, and a lot of people who perhaps don't need to use them do, possibly for reassurance. The short answer is probably that everyone who takes lighting seriously should have a meter available for when they need it, but that they need to be aware that a meter is just one of many tools - it provides data, that is then used to make decisions. It doesn't make the decisions itself.
 
Thanks for the responce Gary. Lightmeters seem to be a bit of six of one and half a dozen of the other. I would have thought they'd be a good tool for building an understanding of lighting but something you would use less later on.
 
Blasted said:
I would have thought they'd be a good tool for building an understanding of lighting but something you would use less later on.
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That's what I found. When I first got some studio lighting I used a light meter every time I used the lights, it did wonders for helping me learn. Now I rarely use it as I know what works and can get things pretty close without measuring, after that it's just minor tweets and the light meter isn't really helping me. I should point out that I only use the lights for personnel use at home taking photos of family.
 
I was watching a Youtube vid and the guy there used it for balancing ambient with fill. He used it to get the flash 30% of the ambient as anything more makes it look like you have used flash. It seemed quite good to me.
 
I prefer to use my eyes when I'm setting up images. Lightmeters can be useful to get you in the right ballpark, however I don't think anyone should just blindly use them.

Also if you get to know your studio lighting kit, you'll know what the results are likely to be before you take a shot.
 
I used a lightmeter a lot when I was learning to light at University, but in the ensuing years on the job I have barely touched them. Garry's advice posted above is sound.

I've not really met anyone that works to ratios, that seems (to me anyway) to be a bit of an instructional crutch. If you take a methodical approach to lighting you will soon develop an eye for such things anyway.
 
I use my meter a lot in the studio. They are an incredibly useful tool for getting a setup in the right ball park and tbh I think it looks so much more professional then chimping away in front of clients
 
chimping my favourite word in photography lol
 
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