Mary P

Had two babies to photograph today and usually use the sunlight that comes in the windows, but today was dark and dreary. I have two 3x3 softboxes. Camera set on AV, wide open for very shallow DOF. Why in the world couldn't I get enough light? Turned the lights off, on, changed the ISO from 400 to 3200. Tried everything and then tried it backwards. Finally just shot with the lights and with ISO at a whopping 3200. Just looked at my shutter speed which was 1/1250s. I missed something. Sure seems like the shutter should have slowed down and let more light in. I really had to lighten my pictures....

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

I know I sound like a broken record, but if you are going to do this kind of work, an incident light meter will be your best friend. Your problems aside, you have a beautiful image there.

It is rather obvious that if your camera went to 1/1250, you had no need to bump the ISO to 3200.

Mary P

Yes, I just realized when I posted this that the shutter was really fast. But no matter how I set the camera, the pictures always looked dark. I guess you are right. I'll have to get a meter. It just seems that when it's in aperature priority, the shutter should know what to do...

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

Well, modern DSLRs are can be amazing in some environments, but for portrait work, where we want to actually get X amount of light on one side and Y amount on another side, the meter is much easier to use to get accurate results.
The manufacturers would have you believe their cameras are good at everything - they are not. We need to use the tools that work best for the specific application.

GeoffHD Loc: Essex UK

Looks like the little fellow got a bit cheesed off before falling asleep, LOL.. but seriously get your self a grey card ( 18% Grey ) set the camera ISO to 100 and to manual mode, take a reading of the card and use that setting.
Also focus on the eyes even if they are closed.

RichieC Loc: Adirondacks

% of frame that is white was throwing your in camera meter off. It was probably trying to properly expose the entire frame. Set your camera to spot metering, or move camera in till the little guy mostly fills your screen, make note of the readings and switch to manual and replicate the settings when you pull back out.

While a hand held meter does this by its nature, (holding the meter right in front of your subject when poping your lighting or existing ambient light), the meters in the camera are a huge part of and cameras ability to properly expose any image. I think Nikon/Canon/Etc., would have issue with saying their in camera meters don't work well, their job is pretty simple after all. It's just returning what it "sees", it's up to you to show it what you want. And in fact a hand held won't help much if you don't use it right, but no argument about what one can do!

What a hand held meter can do that your camera can't easily is figure out what individual light source(s) are emitting, so you can figure out an adjustment to solve a problem or to set up. It is a valuable tool in a professionals portrait gear.

Roy Hakala Loc: Red Wing, MN

I just took a number of outdoor shots with plenty of light and they were all very dark... Until I realised I had accidentally bumped the exposure compensat dial down by two Ev.

A couple of times over the years, something just seemed off and I used the camera menu to "clear all camera settings." this wipes out any oddball thing that I might have programmed in, by accident or not, and then gives me a fresh start.

chauncey Loc: Rochester, Mi

I disagree with the need for a meter...as a fair number of newer DSLRs have a live view mode that can show a histrogram on that LCD screen.
Put that camera in manual mode>set the needed SS and f/stop, then adjust the ISO to push, but not touch, that histogram to the right side.
Also...if your in a studio setting, shooting tethered is a very viable method to adjust your lighting on the fly. Kind of an instant gratification sort of thing.

Mary P

Oh man! I forgot all about that! Was taught about that a couple of years ago when doing senior photos. Thank you!



:oops:

Mary P

Interesting. I didn't think of that either. I just need to keep learning about this complicated little machine.

Mary P

Yes, I could use the histogram better. I do use it in ps all the time. Tethering, forget it! I'm all over the place, standing on the kitchen table and shooting down sometimes. Don't want to wake those babies up! :)

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

You evidently misunderstand how to use a histogram. Yes, it can show us the distribution of brightness, but not where it is. It is very difficult to set lighting ratios (whether by lights or window light of outdoors in natural light) unless you can measure individual areas accurately - the camera meters cannot do this. Yes, you can spot meter areas, but then you have to evaluate whether that area is white or black or neutral and adjust accordingly. Something the incident meter does by design.

Your advice to move the histogram to the right is usually correct, but not always. It is a bit of a general statement.

Live view is no help for this. The histogram is useful, but if you REALLY want to be a portrait photographer, you will invest in an incident/flash meter.

As I have said before, it all depends on how good you want to be. If you think the camera meter is all you need, by all means stick with it and keep shooting multiple images - something is bound to work. If you use a meter, you can get it right with the first shot.

Suggesting shooting tethered as a solution is correct in that you can see the result, but you will be shooting/checking/shooting/checking/shooting/checking while the person with the meter is on to the next pose or client.
When accuracy is important and time is money, a meter pays for itself.

ajabba Loc: Oklahoma

So, in your opinion, what is the best meter for the money?

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

There are several, but my experience is with the Sekonic brand and for the money the 358 seems to give the best performance for the $. Sekonic has two higher end models, the 758 and 478, but those have features for advance operation and unless you were thinking of adding Pocket wizards to your equipment, not worth the extra money.

digicamking Loc: Raleigh, NC

Right On Captain C. I heartily agree with all he has said. I have used meters for 45 years and never had to take more than a meter reading to get the right exposures.