important skin tones. The problem arises from the
meter’s function, which is to average all of the brightness
values that it sees to produce a generally acceptable expo-
sure. Essentially, the in-camera meter wants to turn every-
thing it sees into 18-percent gray, which is dark even for
well suntanned or dark-skinned people. If using the in-
camera meter, take a meter reading from an 18-percent
gray card held in front of the subject. The card should be
large enough to fill most of the frame. If using a handheld
reflected-light meter, do the same thing—take a reading
from an 18-percent gray card or a surface that approxi-
mates 18-percent reflectance.
Incident Light Meter.The preferred type of meter
for all types of portraiture is the handheld incident light
meter. This meter does not measure thereflectance of the
subjectsbut determines theamount of light falling on the
scene.In use, stand where you want your subjects to be,
point the hemisphere (dome) of the meter directly at the
camera lens, and take a reading. This type of meter yields
extremely consistent results, because it is less likely to be
influenced by highly reflective or light-absorbing surfaces.
(Note:If metering a backlit scene with direct light falling
on the subject, shield the meter’s dome from the back-
light. The backlight will influence the exposure reading
and your priority should be the frontal planes of the face.)
Incident Flashmeter.The ultimate incident meter is
the handheld incident flashmeter, which also reads am-
bient light. There are a number of models available, but
they all allow you to meter both the ambient light and
the flash output at the subject position.
The problem is that you either need to have an assis-
tant trip the strobe for you while you hold the meter, or
have the subject hold the meter while you trip the strobe
to get a reading. You can also attach a PC cord to the
meter and trigger the strobe that way, but PC cords can
be problematic—particularly when there are children
running around.
One solution is to fire the strobe remotely with a wire-
less triggering device. These devices use transmitters and
receivers to send signals to and from the flash or flashes
that are part of the system. There are several types of
wireless triggering devices. Optical slaves work with
bursts of light, such as that from a single electronic flash.
The other lights, equipped with optical receivers, sense
the pulse of the electronic flash and fire at literally the
same time. Radio slaves send radio signals in either ana-
log or digital form. Digital systems can be used almost
anywhere and they aren’t adversely affected by local radio
transmissions. For a completely wireless setup you can
use a separate wireless transmitter for the handheld cam-
era meter. This allows you the ultimate freedom in cord-
less metering, since you can meter the ambient and flash
exposures from the camera position without the need of
an assistant or PC cord. The unit wirelessly fires the flash
(or multiple flashes) in a similar manner to the transmit-
ter on the camera.
In order to minimize the number of cords traversing
the set—a danger not only to small children but harried
photographers—many photographers opt for the wire-
less triggering of all their studio lights.DIGITAL CONSIDERATIONS 23Large digital files can be made to resemble fine artwork in pro-
grams like Corel Painter. This image by Deanna Urs was worked
extensively in Painter with various brushes and techniques, soften-
ing and blending some areas, intensifying others. The result is very
much like a fine oil painting. When printed large and framed in a
gold ornate frame, the result is impressive. Equally impressive is a
close inspection of the details of this image.