Photographing car with a light meter?

[LeDave]

I have a shoot coming up with my friend and his Audi RS5. What do you guys think about using a light meter in ambient mode to take the photos? I have tried it on people for portraits and it works great but never tried it on a car before.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Not sure the same portrait principles apply ......the illumination area for portraits is much smaller(face generally) and you are looking for
average ambient and/or reflected light to set any local illumination and/or fill light.

For cars would be guided by your exposure compensation, shutter speed and in camera histogram with exposure set based
on any particular Car Highlights to avoid blowing them out and raise the shadows in post processing if needed.

You dont indicate if the shoot is inside or outside night or daytime. Based on outside daytime the above would apply, for inside
with mixed lighting, a meter may well be required to evaluate average and/or directional lighting before setting camera and/or
strobe/flash variables.

 

[Brownie]

I have a shoot coming up with my friend and his Audi RS5. What do you guys think about using a light meter in ambient mode to take the photos? I have tried it on people for portraits and it works great but never tried it on a car before.

If it were me, I'd use a camera to take the photo.

In all seriousness, I do a LOT of car photography.

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If you're shooting ambient light outdoors you should be fine with the camera's meter. Take a flash and set it up for fill, it can make a lot of difference on very bright days. I would try a couple different settings on the camera depending on light. If the car is evenly lit and you have a bright sky and a dark surface, then spot meter to take the sky and ground out of the metering equation.

Of course you can use a separate meter if you want. Film is free these days, shoot some of each and see which you like better.

 

[Landshark99]

With a non moving object you can just bracket exposures as well, but either the camera meter or handheld will be fine. If you are concerned about too many highlights, shoot the car right after sunset or just before sunrise and the sky becomes a big soft box

 

[liggy]

Next time I do a car shoot I'm going to use a CPL. Metering hasn't really been an issue in the past IIRC.
Mmmm... RS5. Lovely sleeper of a car.

 

[Tinopener]

Hi all
Being quite new at this photography lark .. What does a light meter do and how does it help the photographer ... PS sorry it seems a silly question

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

The meter measures reflected ambient light(in stops of light) in the absence of other lighting and thereby
provides illumination information to enhance or limit your subject exposure by adjusting your cameras
settings accordingly.

In scenarios wherein you are using strobes or flashlights to illuminate your subject, either outdoors or more
often in a studio environment, this is where the meter really comes into its own by being able to "measure" the
reflected background light from your subject or background and then based on your light source arrangement
be able to set the power of your light sources in sequence to achieve the overall subject look/illumination and
exposure you want to achieve. Often for multi light source shooting the camera is first set to eliminate the
ambient reflected light on your subject and achieve a black screen before imposing the light from your light
sources at appropriate powers to achieve a wholly artificially illuminated appearance.

As you can gather from the above it takes a good bit of practice to become proficient but essentially is a process
wherein you add/or subtract light meter values from the various light sources to achieve the desired subject or
background look.

These days many photographers do not use light meters but instead use their experience and camera settings to
achieve the subject/background look they want....the technology built into cameras(exposure meters etc) these days
can help to do this.

 

[Brownie]

Hi all
Being quite new at this photography lark .. What does a light meter do and how does it help the photographer ... PS sorry it seems a silly question

Not silly at all. In simple terms:

Your camera has a light (exposure) meter built into it. There's no need for an external one.

External meters are simple to use. Not difficult to master at all.

What is difficult to master is the light. The meter can tell you what your exposure settings 'should' be. The photographer has to determine what look they're going after. This requires a departure from the meter's suggested settings.

It was more important to understand the use and applicaiton during the film days, when the settings had to be correct. Nowadays images are free and you can experiment by shooting several shots.