Photographic Lighting Essential Skills

Page 59

essential skills: photographic lighting

Interpreting the meter reading The information given by the light meter after taking a reading is referred to as the ‘meterindicated exposure’ (MIE). This is a guide to exposure only. The light meter should not be perceived as having any intelligence or creative sensibilities. The light meter cannot distinguish between tones or subjects of interest or disinterest to the photographer. It is up to the photographer to decide on the most appropriate exposure to achieve the result required. A photographer with a different idea and outcome may choose to vary the exposure. It is the photographer’s ability to interpret and vary the meter-indicated exposure to suit the mood and communication of the image that separates their creative abilities from others. If light or dark tones dominate, the indicated exposure will be greatly influenced by these dominant tones. Using the MIE will expose these dominant dark or light tones as mid-tones. Minority light and mid-tones will be overexposed or underexposed. If you consider interest and visual impact within a photograph is created by the use of lighting and subject contrast (amongst many other things) the chances of all the elements within the frame being mid-tones are remote. The information, mood and communication of the final image can be altered through adjusting exposure from MIE.

Indian market (average tones) MIE

Average tones A subject of average reflectance (mid-tone) is placed with equal dark and light tones. All three tones are lit equally by the same diffuse light source. A reflected reading of the mid-tones will give correct exposure. An exposure using the reflected reading of the dark tone will render it gray and overexpose the mid and light tones. An exposure using the reflected reading of the light tone will render it gray and underexpose the mid and dark tones. An incident reading will give ‘correct’ exposure regardless of which tone it is held in front of because it measures the light falling on the subject, not the light reflected from it. The intensity of the light source is constant but the reflected light from the three tones varies (see page 40, Hand-held light meters).

46


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook

Articles inside

Introduction

25min
pages 197-214

Changing the weather in post-production

4min
pages 187-189

Composite lighting

3min
pages 190-196

Creative post-production

2min
pages 185-186

Illusion of movement

1min
page 184

Lighting ratios

8min
pages 170-173

Introduction

3min
pages 181-183

On location

4min
pages 174-180

Working with studio lights

7min
pages 166-169

Mixed light sources

1min
page 165

Light sources

4min
pages 162-164

Health and safety

1min
page 161

Studio lighting

1min
page 160

A black and white digital workfl ow

5min
pages 154-158

Perfecting the system

1min
page 153

Calibration tests

1min
pages 151-152

Introduction

1min
page 159

Operating the system

5min
pages 148-150

The zones

2min
pages 146-147

Contrast control

1min
page 145

Zone placement

2min
page 144

Double exposures

1min
page 137

High dynamic range

5min
pages 138-142

Slow-sync fl ash

1min
page 136

Introduction

1min
page 143

Fill fl ash

2min
page 133

Flash as a key light

2min
pages 134-135

Diffusion and bounce

1min
page 132

Flash as the primary light source

2min
page 131

Fill

1min
page 124

Refl ectors

1min
page 125

Flash

1min
page 126

Filter factors

3min
pages 117-122

Guide numbers

3min
pages 129-130

Introduction

1min
page 123

Filters for lenses

9min
pages 111-116

Color accuracy in camera

4min
pages 106-110

Color accuracy on screen

1min
page 104

Introduction

2min
page 103

Cross-processing effect

1min
page 99

Color profi les

1min
page 105

Latitude

1min
page 97

Pushing and pulling fi lm

1min
page 98

Limitations of fi lm capture

2min
page 96

Noise

2min
pages 94-95

Image characteristics

2min
page 93

Introduction

3min
pages 89-90

Choosing a capture medium

2min
page 91

Summary of exposure compensation

2min
pages 85-88

Raw format exposure considerations

13min
pages 64-74

Contrast

6min
pages 75-79

Exposure compensation

6min
pages 80-84

Interpreting the meter reading

8min
pages 59-63

Intensity and duration

6min
pages 49-52

Color

16min
pages 34-46

Hand-held light meters

2min
page 53

Taking a hand-held meter reading

5min
pages 54-56

Introduction

3min
pages 47-48

TTL light meters

3min
pages 57-58

Contrast

2min
pages 32-33

Direction

1min
page 31

Quality

2min
pages 29-30

Research and resources

1min
page 17

Introduction

2min
pages 23-24

Independent learning

2min
page 16

Visual Diary

0
page 18

Source

3min
pages 25-26

Intensity

2min
pages 27-28

Research, presentation and storage

1min
pages 20-22

Process and progress

1min
page 15
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.