As I write this, we’re finishing up our 38-city KNOW education tour. At each stop, we run a little test.
One of us holds up a light meter and asks the audience, “Does anyone know what this is?”
Without fail, most of our attendees do know what the device is called – and a simple definition of what it does.
Then we follow up with a different set of questions…
“Does anyone know what a stop of light is?”
“Does anyone know how this can be used to tell deeper stories?”
“Has anyone actually used one of these things recently?”
Across the nation, the answer to these follow up questions is almost always the same.
Um… No… Well… Maybe… Uh…
Usually this gets a good laugh with the crowd, but we don’t hold the unfamiliarity with light meters against our attendees. After all, nearly all digital cameras have built in light meters that offer basic functions.
In addition, our DSLR cameras now give us a great idea of our picture live, so we can get a basic feel for the image. A live image and a built in light meter will help with the majority of work the average student will take on.
I’ll be honest, our team here discounted what light meters could add to story for a long time. A light meter is one of those things we are familiar with intellectually, but that most of us don’t really know how to use effectively.
We want to change that.
Since we’ve started embracing light meters (in the right situations), we’ve been blown away with what they allow us to accomplish.
So we were excited to team up with Sekonic to produce this 14-minute tutorial on the basics of a light meter and how we use it in the field. Check it out below.
What you’ll learn in the video tutorial above:
- The 4 aspects of shooting where a light meter will really shine.
- What a stop of light is – and what happens when we increase or decrease it.
- How Aperture, ISO, and Shutter Speed relate to stops of light (and each other).
- Specific examples (from the field) on why this matters.
- The benefits of isolating specific light sources (think interview ratios).
- Saving time by scouting potential location light quickly and correctly.
The stillmotion team has gone from ignoring light meters – to integrating them into several of our routine processes we do on a daily basis around the globe.
Light meters are not only alive…
They are an essential part of our team!
What about you?
Have you used light meters recently in any of your work?
How have you utilized one to add to the stories you tell?
Let us know in the comments below!
Awsome… I learned photography went it was still film. since swtiching to digital. I still use a light meter.
Nice video but very frustrating that I can’t go back and forth to re-listen to parts or sentences I might have missed. You have to watch the entire video all over again to get one word. There are no controls but play and pause. Also, the speeds & f-stops you are trying to explain go by way to fast. I would be helpful to actually show on the screen the model of Sekonic light meter you are using not just quickly talk about it. Some of us like to take notes. Good info but I’d like to actually understand the product you’re talking about. Thanks!
I had the same issue. Seems odd you didn’t get a response to your post given the attention to detail regarding storytelling and education here.
If you right-click and choose to watch on Vimeo, you’ll be able to do what you want.
Guys,
These are our vimeo settings, we can look into the control settings but we didn’t realize or intend to turn them off. Sorry for the trouble, we will look into it.
P.
When using a light meter to scout locations, how do you know how much one light source will add to the scene? If you know that you need to add two stops of light after you have made your setting in camera, how is the lighting source determine?
Is it by the measuring the footcandles present and then knowing the footcandles of each lighting source?
Should you have lighting equipment when scouting a location?
You said that when using the dome on the lightmeter you still adjusted your exposure for skin tone. I thought this was only required when using the light meter in reflective mode without the diffuser dome and when reading off the skin. I also noticed the decimal was missing on the f1.4 when you did your first calculations this could cause some confusion.
Thank you very much for the helpful tutorial. Two questions:
a. Do you always use nets to reduce light? Can we have the same result with dimable lights?
b. How can we use older lightmeters from the moment that they can not calculate the reaction of different sensors (1 ccd, 3 ccd, APC-S, fullframe ect.)?
Thank’s
Great video Patrick -you guys always pack in an impressive amount of information. I never thought to use a light meter for consistency’s sake!
Van, I can chime in a bit here. Yes, you can use a dimmer too, but there are different trade offs. For starters, not all light sources are dimmable (the sun, some HMI’s, practicals, etc.). Second, dimmers often introduce a color cast. The more you dim a tungsten source, the warmer the color temp, causing it to be more orange. Fluorescent and HMI sources tend to shift towards magenta when dimmed. Third, sometimes you don’t want to dim the entire light source. Perhaps a part of the set or talent that is closer to the light is a bit hot so you can net the light falling on just that person/thing.
Of course, it takes time to set up nets, so very often, a dimmer does the trick just fine when the above factors aren’t an issue!
Not sure if I follow your second question. The size of the sensor has no bearing on metering. If a scene calls for 1/30, ISO 320, f/2.8, that applies equally to APS-C, full frame, CMOS, CCD.
Hope this helps!
Thank you very much Oliver
Do you use a light meter for weddings?
We do sometimes for scouting at weddings – being able to get a better sense of the range inside and outside, getting readings of the natural key light through windows. On the actual shoot day though we would focus on being present and moving as quickly as possible to stay in front of the story.
P.
Thanks for the post guys! That was extremely helpful. It really added to what you had taught at KNOW. I now feel equiped to pick one up and start working with it.
Awesome. Please do let us know how it goes and how it helps you.
P.
Awesome post. Seems like a lot of the new information you are sharing deals with cinematic language. How to speak to your audience using lens choice, light, and camera movement. Each one of these things say something and by us knowing exactly what they are saying, we can speak to our audience more strongly and tell deeper stories.
Thanks Kyle. We are really working together to make our posts as valuable as possible both now and in the future. We are glad to hear you are enjoying them :)
P.
Have you tried any of the light meter iPhone apps?
hmm no we haven’t. if you have had a good experience with one we would love to hear which it is and to try it out
P.