Back to the Basics: metering

At the very beginning of my career, my sweet husband asked me what is the very first thing I would need to start my business. Looking back, I think it’s kind of funny I answered this way, but I told him “a light meter”. When I first started, I planned to use a Hasselblad, and there was no such thing as metering in-camera. Because I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a correct exposure without one, that’s what I told him I’d need. Well, that awesome hubby of mine secretly contacted my amazing mentor Doug Box (I was working for him at the time) and asked him to help him pick out a great light meter. Doug helped him out and my Sekonic light meter was my very first Christmas gift from Harry as my husband and it’s the meter I still use today.

Now I know there are hot debates about the proper way to meter. I am not even going to begin to address the debate! I witnessed two grown men get totally twisted into the adult equivalent of the classic elementary school “It is so,” “It is not” never-ending argument at a convention once. So while I know some will not agree with my method, that is okay. They have something that works better for them. I’m just going to share how I do it and if you like it, you can do it! (And of course, as always, here’s my disclaimer.   I’m not an expert at all. . . I’m just sharing something I learned along the way that currently works for me and that I hope can help someone.)

Here’s how it all goes down:

• I pull out my trusty Sekonic, set it to either my sunlight, flash, or sync mode and make sure I have my ISO set to what my camera’s ISO is at
• I extend the dome completely out so that it looks like a little half-sphere raised at the top
• I set up my lighting (reflectors, natural light only, strobes, whatever to how I want them for the image
• I point the meter to where I will be using my camera (this is usually where the “uh-huh/na-uh” debate usually begins)
• I take my reading
• I set my camera’s shutter speed and f/stop to what my meter told me or make adjustments based on what I want for the image

What I am doing is an incident meter reading. I am reading the light falling onto the subject, not the light reflected off of my subject back to my meter (which would be spot metering). Some photographers use the method of metering in-camera. I have tried this a few times, but don’t use it regularly enough to feel confident writing about it. I found this basic (and in plain English which is great!) article about metering in-camera on The Pioneer Woman’s blog. (If you haven’t checked out her blog before, you must! I have used something from every section – cooking to photography – and she is too funny for words! And she lives really close to me – amazing! I’m praying someday I get to meet her.)

I hope this helps any of you who are struggling with metering or getting a correct exposure! Feel free to leave any questions in the comments section.