I
4. METERING AND EXPOSURE..
I
’ve taught over 450 photography workshops from 1999 to this writing,
and I’ve found that the attendees often want to see how I meter for my
lighting. While I’ve owned several light meters over the years, including the
proven Minolta and Sekonic flash meters, I rarely use them and instead rely
more on histograms, experience, and my knowledge of the 90 percent rule,
the angle of incidence/angle of reflection rule, the Inverse Square Law, and
the Sunny 16 Rule.
When I am conducting my photography workshops, I’m often asked to
elaborate on why I prefer the above-mentioned options, and the first thing I
mention is that I’ve been in almost forty countries, served in the U.S. Army
as an active-duty soldier during Desert Storm, the Rwanda Refugee Crisis,
the Haiti invasion, etc., and have yet to run into anyone with the skin color
of 18 percent gray. Eighteen percent gray is the industry standard
for light measurement in camera meters, incident light meters, re-
flective light meters, flash meters, photofinishing analyzers, and just
about anything photographic that measures light.
When I do use a light meter, I consider it a starting point. Then
I evaluate the skin tone (reflectance) of my subject and make the
proper adjustment. If my subject has a darker skin tone, I will open up my
aperture^1 / 3 stop to allow for the increased absorption of light for darker skin
tones. If my subject has a lighter skin tone, then I stop down^1 / 3 stop to de-
crease the amount of light coming into the camera lens due to the fact my
subject’s lighter skin will absorb less light while reflecting more light.
These modifications are also based on the fact that the most light meters,
specifically flash meters, are based on light falling on your subject (incident104 LIGHTING FOR GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHYIn almost forty countries, I have
yet to run into anyone with the
skin color of 18 percent gray.