Light Meters

light Meters

There are three different types of meter that are used in
interior photography: a light meter, a flash meter and a
colour meter. The first two are essential equipment and
sometimes come in combined form, while the latter is
optional, for critical work.
Light meters
A light meter is necessary for measuring the ‘natural’
available light in an interior before any supplementary
photographic lighting is added. Since this is often treated as
the dominant light source for the most natural appearance
of a room, its correct measurement is of fundamental
importance.
A hand-held meter can measure light in two ways. It can
either record a direct reflected reading, which measures the
quantity of light reflected off the subject (its brightness or
luminance); or it can record an incident reading to measure
the amount of light falling on the subject. Incident readings
are more consistent as they are not affected by the reflectivity
of the materials onto which the light is falling. However,
whether reflected or incident readings are taken, an average
brightness must be deduced from the whole of the subject
area. While a spot meter, which measures reflected light with
a 1° angle of measurement, is useful for determining the
variations in light level across an interior, the centre-weighted
metering system in a 35 mm SLR camera is useful for
deducing a working average from several different readings
across the picture area.
Whichever type of light meter is chosen, experience of it
is the best way of achieving consistent results. If you are used
to ‘reading’ the metering system of a 35 mm SLR camera,
then this is probably your best choice. If not, incident
readings on a hand-held meter are equally effective.