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Why
do we need a handheld incident/flash meter?
(Just look at the images
below for some great examples) |
| Incident. vs. Reflected Metering |
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benefits of using light metering: |
| Our
assignment: A china manufacturing company
has hired us to photograph their newest line of dishes for their
catalogue and web site. They're offering this new design in three
different colors: black, white, and gray.
They have given us a pure
white plate, a pure black plate, and a gray plate to photograph
for them. We used the meter built into our camera for our exposure
settings, and we ended up with the three photos in the "Reflected
Metering" column (on the right, below). Aargghhh! Our client
was not happy with our images.
Then we used a handheld incident meter, and then
used the meter to determine our camera settings. Voila! Magnificent
and ACCURATE images! Notice, also, the ugly, washed-out colors
(in the fruit on the plates) we get with reflected metering,
and compare it with the faithful and accurate colors we get when
we use a handheld meter. |
| Incident
Metering |
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Reflected
Metering |
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Because incident metering reads the intensity
of light falling upon the subject, it provides readings
that will create accurate and consistent rendition of
the subject's tonality, color and contrasts regardless of
reflectance, background color or brightness or subject textures.
Subjects that appear lighter than middle gray to your eye will
appear lighter in the finished image. Subjects that are darker
than middle gray will appear darker.
Colors will be rendered
accurately and highlight and shadow areas will fall naturally
into place. Neat, huh?
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First, be aware
that all meters built in to all cameras are reflection
meters! Because reflected metering reads the intensity of
light reflecting off of the subject, they are easily fooled
by variances in tonality, color, contrast, background brightness,
surface textures and shape. What
you see is often not at all what you get. Tey don t take into account
any other factors in the scene. They are merciless in recording
all things as a medium tone.
Reflected measurements of any single tone area, for instance,
will result in a neutral gray rendition of that object. Subjects
(like a white cat) that appear lighter than gray will reflect
excess light and cause them to record darker than they appear.
Subjects (like a black cat) that are darker than gray will reflect
less light and result in an exposure that renders it lighter
in other words, a gray cat instead of a black one. |
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Results when using a handheld meter for exposure
settings |
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Results
when using a camera's built-in meter for exposure settings |
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White Plate
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Gray Plate
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Black Plate
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So, do you see now why I emphatically
recommend acquiring a decent flash/ambient meter to all my beloved
customers? Photography isn't so terribly difficult, but you need
a basic understanding of just a few concepts on how to get great
results - and that's why I go to such great lengths to explain
things on my web site and on eBay - to help you understand it.
ALL meters built-into cameras are set to return settings keyed
to18% gray. Why? Read this.
I want you to get fabulous images - not just to sell you
stuff. If that makes me weird or different, then so be it. Also,
I dont sell meters, so I can't be trying to "sell"
you anything. All I'm trying to do is to help you make the best
pictures and/or videos you possibly can. |
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| What's "18%
gray," you might ask? Well, the scientific gurus have determined
that the average reflectance of the average scene is 18% gray (some
of the latest research indicates it might actually be 14% gray, but
that's just splitting hairs). Why a "normal" scene reflects 18% gray
might be fodder for physicists to discuss, for our purposes, just
accept it. And anyway, every meter in every camera is keyed to 18%
gray. That's just the way it is. And, for this discussion, we'll
speak of black and white photography (because it's easier to
understand), but pretty much the same problems occur in color
photography too, and the same solutions also result in us getting
perfect color prints, slides, and negatives.
Now, IF the scene you're photographing IS a perfect
18% gray, wonderful; you'll get a great exposure. But in real life,
some things are white, and some things are black, and some things
varying shades of gray. So if we were to take a picture of a
snow-covered field, and let our camera's meter set our exposure for
us, the print will come back with the white snow reproduced as gray.
On the other hand, if we were to take a picture of a big pile of
jet-black coal, and let our camera's meter set our exposure for us,
the print will come back with the black coal reproduced as gray.
Why? Because ALL meters are keyed to reproduce 18% gray! Hmmm. Why?
Because MOST scenes reflect 18% gray, and so that's as close as the
scientists can get to a thinking camera. It's better than a dumb
camera, but it usually results in acceptable results for most of the
snapshooter's pictures.
What can we do to assure that WE get proper
exposures for OUR pictures? There's two ways: one, and the best
solution, is to get a good handheld exposure meter; and two, is to
learn how to "trick" our built-in "dumb" reflection meters into
setting the correct exposure for us whenever we're photographing a
challenging scene. |
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Text and photos: ©RMorgan, Adam
Publishing, A. Morgan
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