Learning Event 2:
DESCRIBE LIGHT METERS
1. A light meter is accurate under many types of lighting conditions. Vision,
alone, might not allow the cameraman to gauge the lighting. Resultant exposure
could vary remarkably between individuals.
Poor lighting can ruin even the
most common or easy camera angle or shot. The intensity of a single small area
cannot contrast too greatly from overall intensity.
This contrast could be
very obvious to the audience.
a. During the early part of the 1930's, science placed light meters in the
hands of photographers.
This light meter, also called exposure meter, or
photoelectric exposure, measures light intensity or brightness.
The meter
measures the intensity of light falling on an object or subject or reflected by
that object or subject.
b. Light strikes the light-sensitive surface of the meter. That surface
reacts to light by generating a current. The current is in proportion to the
light; the greater the light the greater the current.
c. The "meter" is simply a galvanometer, i.e., an instrument for detecting
small electric current.
The galvanometer movement causes a needle or light
value indicator to deflect across the face of the meter scale (fig 4-19).
Figure 4-19.
Types of light meters
2. Types of readings.
Reflected light readings are measurements of the
intensity of the light reflected from a scene or object and generally are more
accurate than incident light readings, except when the prevailing light is low
level (fig 4-20).
a. Use the
near-object position when certain details are to be emphasized
and surrounding
light is in definite contrast to that reflected from the
pertinent area.
Hold meter near object or portion of the scene or object to be
emphasized. Be
careful not to cast a shadow on the object while a reflected
light reading is
being taken.
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