 BetterPhoto Member |
Light Metering for Proper Exposure I took some pictures over the weekend in a dog show event. The developed pictures have mixed emotions. I religiously followed the lightmeter reading with a 400 ASA film. The venue is a multipurpose hall, about the size of a warehouse, with natural lights coming in from the west and the east section and the inside is lit up with fluorescent lights. Is my light meter being deceived every time I try to shoot a subject with my camera facing the west or the east? Or is it the matter of mixed lighting conditions coming from the sun's rays and the fluorescent lights? What would be your suggestion to make a more decent exposure? Equipment: Pentax 35mm SLR Spotmatic, 50mm Macro Lens
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Jon Close |
By "mixed emotions", do you mean that your pictures had odd color casts to them? This is a common problem in mixed lighting situations like the one you described. While our eyes and brain compensate for different lighting, film is pretty rigid in how it reacts. Most color slide and print film is balanced for daylight. Electronic flashes also emulate daylight. Incandescent tungsten lights (common household light bulbs) and candles cast a "warmer", more yellow light. (1) Using a flash will give correct colors to your subject, but the background will still have the "warm" coloring from the ambient light. This normally isn't offensive. (2) Without a flash, use an 80A (blueish colored) filter. (3) Without flash, use special "Tungsten" balanced film. (4) With no flash and no filter, the color can be corrected by the printer. Flourescent lights will lend a greenish cast to color photos. (1) Using a flash will give correct colors on your subject, but the background will still have the unnatural green cast. (2) without flash, use an FL-D (pinkish) colored filter, (3) with no flash and no filter, the color can be corrected when making prints. Note that these suggestions work only if the lighting is uniformily flourescent or tungsten. If some of your scene is lit by one type and another is lit differently, then you can only correct certain portions of the scene with computer manipulation of the image. Color balance problems can be avoided completely if you shoot Black & White film.
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