And another thing, light meters don't work on perceptual values. If something in main light is considered black by you then anything in shadow which is darker will likely be blacker which means what you consider black in main light isn't black at all. Its dark grey. But that takes precisely zero account of the fact that your eye is constantly adjusting its aperture as you scan the scene from main light to shadow areas.
If what you meter in shade or main light gives a reading then it ain't black becasue black wouldn't give a reading. So you are taking a perceptual view of what you see and trying to match it with what a light meter sees which isn't perceptual at all.
Thats where a light meter wins every time becasue it gives you an actual luminance reading, not affected by your perception, and converts it to an exposure value. And thats why the zone system works so well. It allows you to convert the luminance reading to a target perceptual print tone by placing it on a specific zone in the negative and subsequently to the print value. But only if you have done your dev and print calibration properly othewise you are wasting your time with the zone system.
If what you meter in shade or main light gives a reading then it ain't black becasue black wouldn't give a reading. So you are taking a perceptual view of what you see and trying to match it with what a light meter sees which isn't perceptual at all.
Thats where a light meter wins every time becasue it gives you an actual luminance reading, not affected by your perception, and converts it to an exposure value. And thats why the zone system works so well. It allows you to convert the luminance reading to a target perceptual print tone by placing it on a specific zone in the negative and subsequently to the print value. But only if you have done your dev and print calibration properly othewise you are wasting your time with the zone system.
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