Where should I place the light meter for incident metering?

you can do both.

you can meter the light, in center line where it falls on the subject. this will give you the correct reading for this light without blown out highlights.

you can meter the scene, in line with the camera. this will give you the information of the overall brightness. i would suggest to do so if multiple lights are used.

tip: meter your lights seperately, each on its own, create the look you want and than measure the whole scene.

A-Marc said:

you can do both.

you can meter the light, in center line where it falls on the subject. this will give you the correct reading for this light without blown out highlights.

you can meter the scene, in line with the camera. this will give you the information of the overall brightness. i would suggest to do so if multiple lights are used.

tip: meter your lights seperately, each on its own, create the look you want and than measure the whole scene.

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Thank you! Is it ok to use the average function?

The goal of an incident meter is to measure the light falling on the subject that the camera will see. So you want to hold the light in front of the subject and pointing back toward the camera. The dome is used for most subjects, but the flat disc is used for flat subjects like paintings that won't get illuminated by side light. FWIW

tclune said:

The goal of an incident meter is to measure the light falling on the subject that the camera will see. So you want to hold the light in front of the subject and pointing back toward the camera. The dome is used for most subjects, but the flat disc is used for flat subjects like paintings that won't get illuminated by side light. FWIW

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if one measures one light in a big studio, with the dome raised, the light "the camera will see" it is likely that the reading is off. the meter will also take the dark areas of the scene into account and will tell you to higher the output of the flash to even out the exposure. This might result in a way to bright flash light and blown out highlights.

if metering one light, its smart to "spot" meter only the light hitting the subject. This light is there to affect the subject. It might affect other things like background and props, but its purpose is to correct illuminate the subject.

if you have multiple lights, you could "meter what the camera will see" and get reading what will work. the downside to do so is that you wont be able to reproduce the lightning, cause you wont be able to dial in the same power of the lights.

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tclune said:

The goal of an incident meter is to measure the light falling on the subject that the camera will see. So you want to hold the light in front of the subject and pointing back toward the camera. The dome is used for most subjects, but the flat disc is used for flat subjects like paintings that won't get illuminated by side light. FWIW

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That makes sense. I have this one:

A-Marc said:

tclune said:

The goal of an incident meter is to measure the light falling on the subject that the camera will see. So you want to hold the light in front of the subject and pointing back toward the camera. The dome is used for most subjects, but the flat disc is used for flat subjects like paintings that won't get illuminated by side light. FWIW

Click to expand...

if one measures one light in a big studio, with the dome raised, the light "the camera will see" it is likely that the reading is off. the meter will also take the dark areas of the scene into account and will tell you to higher the output of the flash to even out the exposure. This might result in a way to bright flash light and blown out highlights.

if metering one light, its smart to "spot" meter only the light hitting the subject. This light is there to affect the subject. It might affect other things like background and props, but its purpose is to correct illuminate the subject.

if you have multiple lights, you could "meter what the camera will see" and get reading what will work. the downside to do so is that you wont be able to reproduce the lightning, cause you wont be able to dial in the same power of the lights.

Click to expand...

With the meter pointing at the camera I got something like this:






Only 12 pixels were blown out in the RAW file. But the jpg looks a bit on the edge.

put the light on one side and repeat your test. take a model with normal scale and place the light quite close to the subject. perform your test again.

your test does work for your now. thats a good thing. please consider the light size in relation to subject size. atm you scales the subject down and have a huge light, this acts like a huge umbrella for real size portrait. the light has loads of wrap around and a great bounce around the room. thats why your metering works. i am not sayin that is wrong. there are circumstances when you want to be more precise whit your light and you want to meter ratios.









if you fill the room up with light, raise the dome and take a reading under the chin pointing to the camera and you will be good. nothing wrong with that.





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A-Marc said:

put the light on one side and repeat your test. take a model with normal scale and place the light quite close to the subject. perform your test again.

your test does work for your now. thats a good thing. please consider the light size in relation to subject size. atm you scales the subject down and have a huge light, this acts like a huge umbrella for real size portrait. the light has loads of wrap around and a great bounce around the room. thats why your metering works. i am not sayin that is wrong. there are circumstances when you want to be more precise whit your light and you want to meter ratios.





if you fill the room up with light, raise the dome and take a reading under the chin pointing to the camera and you will be good. nothing wrong with that.

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Using a small light source:


Dome in UP position, pointing at the camera (the light source is at the right of the bear). It's a bit too bright.


Dome DOWN, pointing at the camera. It looks messed up.


Dome UP, pointing at the light source. It' s very close to what I saw with my eyes (dim lighting).

your shutter speeds are slow, so i assume you are meassuring ambient light. am i right ?

A-Marc said:

your shutter speeds are slow, so i assume you are meassuring ambient light. am i right ?

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Yes. I have a flash unit but I don't know how to use it properly.

Supisiche said:

A-Marc said:

your shutter speeds are slow, so i assume you are meassuring ambient light. am i right ?

Click to expand...

Yes. I have a flash unit but I don't know how to use it properly.

Click to expand...

the flash unit has the benefit to adjust power and its light output is very high compared to ambient. this allows you to shoot faster shutter speed (below camera sync) and have a low ISO. the downside is that you cant see what its doing. the modeling lamp of the studio units can give a approximate, but test shots and or measuring is needed.

if you use ambient, there are quite powerful led units you can adjust ouput power. thats a good thing. if you use the living room lamp, you cant adjust power. only thing you can do is to play with the distance.

(1)-grab your biggest teddy bear you have, place one light on the left side (like in your diagram from the first post). place it as close as possible to the bear, light just sitting outside of the frame. take a reading towards the light with the dome inside. adjust ss and take a shot

(2)-leave the setting like it is, now take a reading towards the camera with the dome extended. adjust ss take a shot.

(3)- go back to setting (1), take a reading towards the light dome inside, adjust ss. take a second light and place it right side of the camera with a greater distance to the subject. take a second reading towards the camera dome extended. now adjust the distance from the second light till your metering is the same as in (1). this will take some time till you find the correct distance.

This, exactly. However unless you've some very particular application the time spent messing about with a meter can perfectly well be spent on a test shot or two.