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Thread: Incident metering advice

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    739

    Incident metering advice

    Hey all,

    Excuse the "noob" questions but I've learned a lot from you guys already and so I don't feel too awkward asking this question!

    So, incident metering. I've done some experimentation with it and haven't had terrible results but really wanted to find out if there is more to simply pointing my incident meter towards the camera from my subject? I've generally been spot metering everything, which I guess is fine but have been wondering lately if I'm able to get "better"/quicker/more accurate/different results from incident metering. I've read a few tutorials and pages on the internet about incident metering and they seem to go little further than "point the meter at the camera from your subject". Perhaps I'm expecting it to be more complicated than that but anyway, if anyone has any links, book recommendations or any advice, then I'd be very grateful! I've got and read (many times) Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure and I've got and read (many times) Jeff Wignall's Exposure Photo Workshop as well as various documents on Luminous Landscape. All fine and informative but not quite what I'm looking for, which I guess is more tuition on actually using my light meters.

    Thanks again!

  2. #2

    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    2,588

    Re: Incident metering advice

    Quote Originally Posted by welly View Post
    Hey all,

    Excuse the "noob" questions but I've learned a lot from you guys already and so I don't feel too awkward asking this question!

    So, incident metering. I've done some experimentation with it and haven't had terrible results but really wanted to find out if there is more to simply pointing my incident meter towards the camera from my subject? I've generally been spot metering everything, which I guess is fine but have been wondering lately if I'm able to get "better"/quicker/more accurate/different results from incident metering. I've read a few tutorials and pages on the internet about incident metering and they seem to go little further than "point the meter at the camera from your subject". Perhaps I'm expecting it to be more complicated than that but anyway, if anyone has any links, book recommendations or any advice, then I'd be very grateful! I've got and read (many times) Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure and I've got and read (many times) Jeff Wignall's Exposure Photo Workshop as well as various documents on Luminous Landscape. All fine and informative but not quite what I'm looking for, which I guess is more tuition on actually using my light meters.

    Thanks again!
    It isn't more complicated than that, really.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula
    Posts
    5,808

    Re: Incident metering advice

    I doubt another book is going to teach you anything new. Why not tell us what meter you are using, wha type of images and film, and what the resulting images look like... maybe we can help you figure out what isn't working well for you. Incident metering is really quite straight-forward.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Pacifica, CA
    Posts
    1,710

    Re: Incident metering advice

    The book "Beyond the Zone System" by Phil Davis, commonly referred to here by the acronymn BTZS, explains the art of evaluating exposure with incident meters.

    Many forum members here have extensive experience with BTZS (and carry on the tradition of Phil Davis), they report genuine success. So I would recommend it - because it is well understood and actively supported.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Beaverton, OR
    Posts
    653

    Re: Incident metering advice

    Exposure manual 3rd edition or better is good too - http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/...l/author/dunn/

    Not just limited to incident metering, great info about why you might choose to meter one way or another.
    You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. ~ Mark Twain

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