Podcast #76 – Conversation with David Ziser – Choosing the right aperture
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Podcast #76 – Conversation with David Ziser – Choosing the right aperture
February 26, 2010 – 8:42 am | One Comment

This week I sat down with David Ziser to discuss a handful of topics including how to choose the right aperture for a particular shot, determining the depth of field for a particular shot, when …

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Important Note:
Due to our hosting company, BlueHost.com, not having redundant drives or even backups, during a recent hard drive failure all of the images in the articles here have been lost. The originals are available and are being re-edited and uploaded as fast as I can. I apologize for the inconvenience. -Kerry

Home » Lighting Tips, Videos

Video: How to use a Light Meter

Submitted by KerryG on June 25, 2009 – 8:07 pm15 Comments

With the recent articles we have done on portrait lighting and the use of light meters we have had a bunch of requests to do an actual demonstration of how to use a meter in an actual real-world environment. Light meters aren’t difficult to use or understand once you have had a chance to see how they work and the “mystery” about them is removed.

In this video Kerry demonstrates using a simple light meter in a product shoot.

How to use a light meter from Kerry Garrison on Vimeo.

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About the Author: Kerry Garrison is a wedding, portrait, and product photographer living in southern California. With 10 years of experience shooting products and 3 years of experience in the wedding industry, Kerry brings a good deal of technical know-how and can explain topics in easy-to-understand terms. Kerry's work can be found at http://kerrygarrison.com and on Facebook at http://facebook.com/KerryGarrison

15 Comments »

  • Tom says:
    June 25, 2009 at 11:49 pm

    Very informative, thankyou!

    It would be great to show a 'meter as read' photo to compare.

  • kgarrison says:
    June 25, 2009 at 11:55 pm

    In the case of the subject being shot, a black phone on a black shelf, the “camera meter” reading of two stops underexposed would have basically created a black image with a sliver of white where the wall is shown.

    In an upcoming article we will show how to use a light meter for portraits which is much more complex and will build up the lighting one step at a time.

  • kgarrison says:
    June 26, 2009 at 12:02 am

    Something is wonky with the video, there is a section that repeats a couple of times. I am rebuilding the video and uploading it again to see if it will fix itself. Sorry for the inconvenience.

  • Kev says:
    June 26, 2009 at 7:13 am

    is it me or some parts of this video are repeating?

  • Kev says:
    June 26, 2009 at 7:15 am

    sorry about the earlier post…i didn't see the rest of the comments!

  • roger says:
    June 26, 2009 at 8:22 am

    deja vu?!

  • kgarrison says:
    June 26, 2009 at 8:24 am

    Video has been fixed.

  • kgarrison says:
    June 26, 2009 at 8:32 am

    No, it was just a glitch in the matrix

  • Paul M. says:
    June 29, 2009 at 10:36 am

    Thanks for doing this. YES! I am looking forward to more. I wonder how to take an outdoor ambient reading and then adding an off-camera flash and getting a reading so that the fill looks natural.

  • Gary Green says:
    June 29, 2009 at 10:51 am

    Were you using an image stabilized lens at 1/30 sec? …That was a great example of camera metering gone wrong. Thanks!

  • JP says:
    June 30, 2009 at 12:17 am

    Great little tutorial! Very useful!

  • bikerbob1 says:
    July 15, 2009 at 2:59 pm

    Kerry thanks for the video on how to use a light meter,I wasnt sure on how to use one but your video was simple and to the point.Thanks again—bob—

  • billpagejr says:
    July 15, 2009 at 4:41 pm

    Thanks I listen to your podcasts all the time on my iPhone
    Ligtmeter video was short and sweet.Very informative.Thanks again.
    Bill

  • iramrolon says:
    September 7, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    Thanks, Well done

  • Iram Rolon says:
    September 7, 2009 at 8:41 pm

    Thanks, Well done

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