how should you meter this setup

AshleyC

AshleyC

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how much would metering be affected by a light on the background?

The setup would be a couple of lights on the model and one on the backdrop to give a nice circle of light there.

If you hold a light meter up to the face and ping the flashses, thats only going to read the light from the front lights isnt it? Any light bouncing off the background to the camera isnt going to be picked up on by the meter?

Using the little sekonic 308s should you be sliding the dome off and taking a reading by pointing it at the backdrop to get a more accurate read?
 
OK I could be wrong here but
If the lights are the same, they'll have the same measurement of Kelvin, so it shouldn't make a difference as you can only set the camera to one light setting if you have different light sources of different Kelvin.
 
The important light source is the one that falls on the subject's face, so needs to be metered from that position towards the camera/main light. You then need to adjust the light on the background for the effect you want - too much may spill on the subject or cause flare/wrap.
That's how I do it anyway, others may differ but it works for me.
 
david357 said:
The important light source is the one that falls on the subject's face, so needs to be metered from that position towards the camera/main light. You then need to adjust the light on the background for the effect you want - too much may spill on the subject or cause flare/wrap.
That's how I do it anyway, others may differ but it works for me.
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As above. The lighting on the main subject need to be right and although there is always a degree of artistic interpretation involved, that's the bit that needs to be metered.

The light on the background is for effect, just turning up the power of the light will increase the sized of the area that appears to be lit, as well as making it appear brighter, so the whole thing is subjective and is more about what you want to achieve than about a meter reading.
OK I could be wrong here but
If the lights are the same, they'll have the same measurement of Kelvin, so it shouldn't make a difference as you can only set the camera to one light setting if you have different light sources of different Kelvin.
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Lord Kelvin was concerned about the colour of light, what we're talking about here is the intensity, not the colour.
 
cheers for the replies peeps, doesnt sound like it will muck things up too much. :thumbs:
 
david357 said:
The important light source is the one that falls on the subject's face, so needs to be metered from that position towards the camera
Click to expand...

One thing i always wonder about this, and their seems to be varying views as to should the meter be pointed towards the light source or camera, my own view is the same as yourself and Garry's, however, when you meter from subject pointing towards the camera, when your doing a shoot, a lot of the time you or your subject will be moving around ie from side to side in varying positions, isn't this then going to make a big difference to the original metering, as presumably you don't want to be getting the meter out every time you move a couple of feet to the left or right, i hope i'm making sense here, lol.
 
TG. said:
One thing i always wonder about this, and their seems to be varying views as to should the meter be pointed towards the light source or camera, my own view is the same as yourself and Garry's, however, when you meter from subject pointing towards the camera, when your doing a shoot, a lot of the time you or your subject will be moving around ie from side to side in varying positions, isn't this then going to make a big difference to the original metering, as presumably you don't want to be getting the meter out every time you move a couple of feet to the left or right, i hope i'm making sense here, lol.
Click to expand...

Yes, though that's more of a lighting problem than an exposure or metering issue as such. You need big soft lights for more even exposure over a larger area, and move them back a bit to minimise inverse square law fall-off as much as possible.

Any kind of 'character' lighting with stronger shadows and hair lights etc dictates a static subject, or at least one that you can direct and control. There was a good thread on this the other day.
 
HoppyUK said:
Yes, though that's more of a lighting problem than an exposure or metering issue as such. You need big soft lights for more even exposure over a larger area, and move them back a bit to minimise inverse square law fall-off as much as possible.

Any kind of 'character' lighting with stronger shadows and hair lights etc dictates a static subject, or at least one that you can direct and control. There was a good thread on this the other day.
Click to expand...

Thanks Richard, could you please link to the other thread.
 
It depends how you are metering. Holding it by the subject is an incident meter reading as opposed to spot metering where your meter takes a reading through a scope pointed at the area. Most of the time it is better to use incident because it takes into consideration more factors and you can move it around to different areas of your shot. and in a studio you can because you ate close to the subject . but if you are shooting landscapes you would need a spot meter. The sekonic 758 has both options.
 
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