Zone Metering Portrait w/ Studio Flash

[Pawlowski6132]

So...how do you incorporate the zone system of metering into your portrait photography? Just use a reflective measurement off of face (shadow and highlight) using meter with sync connection?

Plus overall incident measurement?

Hmmmmm.

[Ben Syverson]

If you're using strobe in-studio, the ambient light is negligible.

For me, a DSLR is more useful than a spot meter, as you can see the entire image. Once you get a feel for how the histogram relates to the negative, you can chimp large format. Just remember your bellows compensation -- if you don't have time to measure it, assume it's 1 stop for wider portraits and 2 stops for tighter shots.

[ki6mf]

if you use a Sekonic 758 DR ( i don't know about other models) the memory option works with spot meter reading. You can read your highlights and shadows like you would for incident or flash settings. The other subjective question is what zone do you want the skin tone in. This can also affect if you use longer development times to increase skin tones as a highlight tone.

[Frank Petronio]

You found the hole in the Zone System, at least for most practical users.

There are spot meters that read flash (Minolta used to make one) but few people used them. Most professional photographers used incident readings from a domed light meter aimed at the camera lens, plus a few Polaroids and experience. Nowadays you can add a DSLR to the mix.

It's one of those inconsistencies of practice that seems widespread throughout photography. I'm not saying you can't apply spot metering and the Zone System to flash photography -- I'm just observing that few people do it, even though they may run off with their wooden field camera and religiously follow the Zone System when they shoot landscapes.

[Mark Barendt]

When I do studio work all the contrast and exposure control is done with the lighting. All the creative work is done with the posing and lighting.

The mid-tone is the reference point and measured with an incident meter.

The camera planted on a tripod, or kept in a very small "box" and is preset for exposure to get the exact DOF planned and those settings are never changed during a shoot.

The film and developer and development times were tested and picked long before I ever knew the subject.

Where the tones will fall is a given in a studio, not a variable.

One of the big advantages of studio work is that it allows a fixed back end process for every shot.

To be blunt, a "proper" studio process is like a factory production line. Having to burn or dodge or adjust film development after a studio shoot means I messed up.