Hi. I'm curious about the relative contrast measured from model lights compared to strobe lighting. If I compose a model using model lights, and use a spot meter to determine the contrast (f-stop range) between the most important shadow and the most important highlight, will that same contrast be maintained when the strobes are fired?
Hi. I'm curious about the relative contrast measured from model lights compared to strobe lighting. If I compose a model using model lights, and use a spot meter to determine the contrast (f-stop range) between the most important shadow and the most important highlight, will that same contrast be maintained when the strobes are fired?
Hi. I'm curious about the relative contrast measured from model lights compared to strobe lighting. If I compose a model using model lights, and use a spot meter to determine the contrast (f-stop range) between the most important shadow and the most important highlight, will that same contrast be maintained when the strobes are fired?
Modelling lights are there to enable you to judge direction and spot bad reflections. They are not a reliable indication of contrast ratio - for this you need to meter the scene with a flash meter in just the same way you need to meter a scene outdoors.
Bests,
David.
www.dsallen.de
................. I prefer hot lights over strobes because what you see is what you get.
One thing that bugs me about Hot Lights is the bugs that land on the bulb (some are hot enough to fry bacon) and cook. Even in the winter, sleeping bugs wake up, because of the heat, and land on the bulbs. Iki-poo
Thanks everyone for your comments. Several people have mentioned flash meters. I use a flash meter, but what does that measure?, the flash intensity. It gives me a middle grey value. It doesn't tell me how black the black is or how white the white is. It doesn't give me the contrast range of the scene. But through trial and lots of error, I now use a flash meter to determine an exposure and then I give two more stops more exposure to ensure I have lots of detail in the black. But, quite often my highlights need lots of tricks to print because they are too hot. I want more control over the contrast then trial and error and I'm tired of water baths, masking and flashing to control the highlights. Are polaroids or a digital camera my only way out?? BTW, I am shooting a 4x5 with Tri-x film @120ASA. I do like hot lights, but they take more finagling to control, in my limited experience.
Thanks everyone for your comments. Several people have mentioned flash meters. I use a flash meter, but what does that measure?, the flash intensity. It gives me a middle grey value. It doesn't tell me how black the black is or how white the white is. It doesn't give me the contrast range of the scene. But through trial and lots of error, I now use a flash meter to determine an exposure and then I give two more stops more exposure to ensure I have lots of detail in the black. But, quite often my highlights need lots of tricks to print because they are too hot. I want more control over the contrast then trial and error and I'm tired of water baths, masking and flashing to control the highlights. Are polaroids or a digital camera my only way out?? BTW, I am shooting a 4x5 with Tri-x film @120ASA. I do like hot lights, but they take more finagling to control, in my limited experience.
You need to learn how to use your flash meter. You absolutely can determine contrast with one, if you use it right. If you have an incident meter, you take a reading off your main light, with the dome facing the camera. If you have other lights in your setup, you shield the incident dome from the other lights with your hand and your body. If you have only one light, the reading from the incident reading is of course your correct exposure. If you have multiple lights, you take readings from your main to determine base exposure, your fill light to determine contrast ratio, and any additional lights to determine their effect on what they're pointed at. I won't go into it at length here, as there are entire books devoted to explaining determining and setting lighting ratios.
A incident meter can work, but it's a ballpark solution - you have to take into account the reflectivity of the surfaces being lit. A flash spot meter would give you much more precision.
I'm thinking back to the commercial film days, where we used a lot of polaroid on set, for every format from 35 to 8x10. Hey, that stuff was expensive and generated a ton of goopy toxic trash, and I (and many others) prided ourselves on not just running sheet after sheet of polaroid during setup.
Even so, after years of client shooting, there was always a surprise. Hard kicker light for hair and cheekbones, holding some shadow detail, or getting a pure white cyc background... they all took tweaks based on the subject, props, setting, etc. I did find that spot metering was often pretty essential before the first 'roid. Even if it was just a 200mm lens on an SLR set to "spot".
A incident meter can work, but it's a ballpark solution - you have to take into account the reflectivity of the surfaces being lit. A flash spot meter would give you much more precision.
I'm thinking back to the commercial film days, where we used a lot of polaroid on set, for every format from 35 to 8x10. Hey, that stuff was expensive and generated a ton of goopy toxic trash, and I (and many others) prided ourselves on not just running sheet after sheet of polaroid during setup.
Even so, after years of client shooting, there was always a surprise. Hard kicker light for hair and cheekbones, holding some shadow detail, or getting a pure white cyc background... they all took tweaks based on the subject, props, setting, etc. I did find that spot metering was often pretty essential before the first 'roid. Even if it was just a 200mm lens on an SLR set to "spot".
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