Light meters - basics

MindofMel

MindofMel

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Mel
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Hi all,

via youtube i have got my head around operation etc and difference between incident and reflective but I am just trying to visualise them being used on location..

hypothetically - you have a model and one light setup and your in a living room lets say.. and you want everything to be exposed but also the light to not over expose on the model's face... you take one light reading under the chin of the model... but this gives you a reading which would underexpose the background? - so do you then attempt to use an average exposure of the reading from the model and the background? :thinking:

sorry for the noob question.
 
I like to get the background half a stop underexposed compared to the subject on standard portraits but there are no set rules and as mike says meter for the subject they are the focus of your image.
 
mike weeks said:
No,

model is priority and you expose for them - background has to do with what is available.
Click to expand...

Yes. If the background isn't how you want it, then change the background and/or light, not the exposure for the main exposure.

If light is 2m from model and background 2m further back it will be 1 stop under or half the light. It often looks better with a slightly darker background so is not an issue.

Mike
Click to expand...

It's much more than that - two stops darker. Inverse Square Law, double the distance, one quarter the brightness.

To OP, basically, with studio lights and flash guns the light falls off very rapidly over quite short distances. Don't try to fight it by juggling the exposure, but use it to your advantage - it allows a lot of flexibility in allowing you to light different elements, like the background, differently and independently of the main subject.
 
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