{"id":19164,"date":"2014-02-03T17:51:20","date_gmt":"2014-02-03T21:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=19164"},"modified":"2020-06-12T23:03:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-13T03:03:01","slug":"using-light-meter-manual-flash-ambient-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/using-light-meter-manual-flash-ambient-light\/","title":{"rendered":"A first-steps guide to using a light meter with manual flash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/models\/elle-olins\/NV1_2299-2295.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"599\" \/><\/p>\n<h1>A\u00a0guide to using a light\u00a0meter with manual flash &amp; ambient light<\/h1>\n<p>A question posted on the <a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/forum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tangents forum<\/a>\u00a0was on the topic of exactly how to use a light meter to get to correct settings for manual flash. This article covers that first tentative step in what exactly you should do with this brand-new light-meter in your hand. It will help you cope with that initial &#8220;what now?&#8221; moment.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>How exactly would you have used the flash meter (with the strobe in manual mode) to arrive at the correct settings to illuminate the model properly without changing your in-camera settings? Values entered into the flash meter?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It is much easier than you think, so let&#8217;s take it step-by-step:<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Let&#8217;s say you have this specific scenario as an example:<br \/>\nFor example, let&#8217;s say\u00a0you need <strong>f\/3.5 <\/strong>\u00a0for your background exposure to be correct, and that you&#8217;re adding flash to your subject (with a softbox perhaps), so that your subject and background are both equally well exposed. (Keep in mind that this is not a fill-flash scenario.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>You position your speedlight and sofbox and then set your flash output to something, anything &#8211; let&#8217;s say 1\/2 power. You might have no real idea of the amount of flash power because the softbox&#8217;s diffusion eating up light. In other words, you can&#8217;t rely on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/tutorial-how-to-use-the-guide-number-of-your-flash\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">using the guide number of your flash<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Now set your light-meter to the same ISO that you are using in your camera.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Okay, you&#8217;re all set up now. The next step is to hold the light-meter where your subject is going to stand. Now trigger the flash while pointing the flash meter at the light source. Ooops! You just got <strong>f\/7.1<\/strong> (for example) \u2026 which would be way too much light. You need <strong>f3.5<\/strong> and therefore need to pull the flash exposure down.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>But how much do you need to pull the flash exposure down? Two stops. But, if you&#8217;re not familiar in counting in third-stop values, then look at your camera, and <a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/shifting-exposure-settings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">count the clicks on your lens&#8217;s aperture control<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Set your lens to <strong>f\/3.5<\/strong> and count the clicks until you get to <strong>f\/7.1<br \/>\n<\/strong>Remember to set it back to f\/3.5 though! That&#8217;s your correct\u00a0exposure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Yup, 6 clicks. In other words, six 1\/3-stop clicks \u2026 which is 2 stops of exposure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Now you go to your flash, and dial down the manual flash output by 2 stops. In this example you had randomly let the flash output be 1\/2 of full manual output. So you now simply dial down the flash by 2 stops, or 6 clicks. So your flash should now be at 1\/8 of full power. Two stops.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Do another test shot to confirm, and voila! Perfect. You&#8217;ve nailed it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Now, if for some reason the flash&#8217;s output isn&#8217;t quite that linear, and you&#8217;re off by 1\/3 stop or so, then just shrug and dial your flash up (or down) by one click, until you get correct flash exposure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Done!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s really that simple. But it will need your fingers on the buttons and the light meter in your other hand to try this out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>A\u00a0litte bit of homework<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why did I not mention the shutter speed in this explanation?<\/li>\n<li>Why did we not change the ISO in the example?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Photo gear (or equivalents) used in this photo session<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Nikon D4<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/nikon-70-200mm-f2-8-vr-ii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\/ \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/canon-ef-70-200mm-f2-8-ii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Canon EF 70-200mm f\/2.8L IS II<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/westcott-rapidbox-26-octa-softbox\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Westcott Rapidbox &#8211; 26&#8243; Octa Softbox<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/manfrotto-1004bac-tall-light-stand\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Manfrotto 1004BAC<\/a>\u00a0 &#8211; taller, heavier light-stand<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/nikon-sb-910-speedlight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikon SB-910 Speedlight<\/a>\u00a0 \/ \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/canon-600ex-rt-speedlite\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/nikon-sd-9-battery-pack\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikon SD-9 battery pack<\/a>\u00a0 \/ \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/recommends\/canon-cp-e4-battery-pack\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Canon CP-E4 battery pack<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Related articles<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/photography-composition-lower-is-better-perspective\/\">Photography composition \u2013 get down lower for a better perspective<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/using-off-camera-flash-photo-shoot\/\">Using off-camera flash on a photo shoot<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/tutorial-how-to-use-the-guide-number-of-your-flash\/\">tutorial: How to use the Guide Number of your flash<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/shifting-exposure-settings\/\">Exposure metering \u2013 Shifting exposure settings<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/review-westcott-rapid-box-26-octa-softbox\/\">review: Westcott Rapid Box \u2013 26&#8243; Octa Softbox<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A\u00a0guide to using a light\u00a0meter with manual flash &amp; ambient light A question posted on the Tangents forum\u00a0was on the topic of exactly how to use a light meter to get to correct settings for manual flash. This article covers that first tentative step in what exactly you should do with this brand-new light-meter in&nbsp;<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/using-light-meter-manual-flash-ambient-light\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read more inside&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[514,14,15,110],"tags":[635,634],"yst_prominent_words":[1835,10115,3783,3764,10119,10118,10117,1416,10111,8740,2927,5791,9178,1417,10106,5797,1152,10116,10104,1392],"class_list":{"0":"post-19164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-elle","8":"category-exposure-metering","9":"category-flash-photography","10":"category-off-camera-flash","11":"tag-metering-flash-exposure","12":"tag-using-a-light-meter","13":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19164"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48963,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19164\/revisions\/48963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19164"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=19164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}