Photography tips-How to use a light meter

http://www.nobsphotosuccess.com/
Working with a photographic light meter.
More at: www.nobsphotosuccess.com

Category:

Education

Tags:

• photoshop
• tutorial
• photography
• tips
• adobe
• media
• visual
• arts
• performing

[markymark240682]

alright! what's up with these guys. a two stop difference between f/8 and f/2.8. 2.8 - 4 - 5.6 - 8. am i getting something wrong here. it's three stops.

[nobsphotosuccess]

obvioulsy they failed math! bad drugs and beer....:)

[markymark240682]

Actually it's exactly the other way around! The closer you put your light the softer the gradient between highlight and shadows will become. I guess he mixed that up.

[nobsphotosuccess]

ok smarty pants, your right, technically speaking. But he's also right.Sorta. He shoulda used dif words to explain what he was saying. He means the darkness of the shadow, and is calling that the 'transfer'. In a sense, it works.

But, as you explained, transfer is the gradation from any one of the three tones (shadow, true or specular being the only three tones their are in a general lighting sense) to the other. To get technical. Rob

[nobsphotosuccess]

Take that soft box and walk 2oo feet away, and it becomes much smaller, therefor more pointed and creating harder edges on the shadows or wherever the three tones meet.

Cool? Not too confusing is it......and very simple when you think of light as three tones. By the way, there are three ways light is affected:

*distance

*source

*angle

That's it!

[nobsphotosuccess]

Same thing happens in the studio. Large softabox vs small spot light or small metal reflector. Different effects on the shadows.

This effects is being affected by the light source. Another way we can affect the egde transfer is by the distance the light is from the subject. Take a softbox, bring it in very, very close to the subject. It becomes like a large sky, oui non??

[Mark622111]

This is for you experts....lets say I have my F stop correct for my main subject. If I take the shot my subject should have the correct aperature per my meter reading. Why can't I break the rules and play around with the background / secondary light for affect? I've been told photography is an art. I'm trying to learn so if my approach is just stupied I'd like to know / learn. I'm no expert on using light fixtures & meters as I'm a newby so I don't want to come across as argumentative (sp?)

[Mark622111]

Funny watching you experts pick the video apart...but for us new to photography and wanting to learn the basics I thought it was pretty good. I'd rather learn from those that can make it simple vs those that want to make it so full of math it scares me off. Once I/we learn the basics I'm sure we can move up to the advanced math just like you guys/girls. You had to start somewhere too...unless you were just born experts.

[CetteBelleChevelure]

This video is great! I learned more from the goofs than I would have learned from reading an entire manual on the subject. Thanks guys!!

[mblackmagico]

a 3:1 ratio means that your main light is 3 times brighter than your fill light. If your main light is reading f/8 and your fill is reading f/4 then your main light is actually 4 times brighter than your fill light and so your ratio is 4:1.

[equinedesigns]

love the backdrop. what is it called and where can I find it. thanks.

the best meter vid I have seen.explained clearly. thank you so much!!!

[charlie0742001]

Thanks for the great video!

[bretlucas]

A point about edge transfer. If you move your main light source away from your subject the shadow edge transfer becomes harder as the relative size of your light source becomes smaller. I'm sure that's what you meant to say. Great tip on pointing your meter at the primary light source. Many don't get the reasons behind this. Thanks for the tut.