#2 Class Notes Flashmeter and White Balance

The primary lecture last evening was about basic flash meter function and calibration. Two brands that we looked at Sekonic and Gossen the DigiPro F is the model thatPF has for you to use.

The Flash meter, or any meter, is just a measuring device, no different than a yard stick or a 12 inch ruler. What is important, is knowing what an inch is. To know when you use your meter that the information can be interpreted in photographic terms. Specifically about your camera sensor (or film) and your specific meter device and the processing software (or processing procedure for film) that you follow. The concept here is to control as many of the variables as you can, so that the variables you cannot control, when metered will give you predictable results that will allow you to translate the ideas in your minds eye to the page or to the screen.

Meter Calibration part 1-
The process is fairly simple, photograph a scene with a gray card and a color chart. We will use "copy style flat lighting", the more controllable the better, overcast days or open shade if you are using available light. Ideally you will want to shoot on a tripod to keep the image consistent. Because this is a studio lighting class, we will talk about aperture as the variable, because as we discussed class #1 that is the primary camera control to use with flash photography. It should be noted that if we were using available daylight or hot lights, we could also use the shutter speed as a variable.
To continue, we will want to set the light distance and or power setting to get an even light on our subject and to establish at our first ISO, of 200 an aperture of f/5.6 I suggest 5.6 as on most lenses it is in the middle of the aperture scale. (Note, some zoom lenses may require a smaller aperture as the 5.6 is near the top end. Adjust accordingly.)
We will then make "bracket" exposures of 1/3 (or 1/2) stops in each direction. I suggest 2 2/3 (2 1/2 stops) both under and over. We will then look at these frames in Light Room or Photo shop using the eye dropper tool and the information palette to determine which exposure most closely matches the reference numbers for the Gray Card and or the Color Chart - Gray squares. Here is a link (Click on ColorChecker RGB Summaries, Spreadsheets and Lab TIFF File) for information about the MacBeth Color Checker and related chart on RGB Coordinates.

This will be continued in the next class notes.

Here are the links about Dynamic Range: simplified zone system and dynamic range.

We also discussed White Balance, The Kelvin Color of light and how to calibrate for that in the studio.

We also looked at some web sites featuring photographers:

Annie Leibovitz and Sean Connery follow the Links : the notes here are to notice that they are shooting in daylight (pretty bright daylight) an assistant is using a white diffuser over Sir Sean's head and the dock he is sitting on, to drop the daylight exposure down. An assistant to the left is holding an umbrella soft light lighting the subject with a consistent and controllable light. In the final shot you see that the "balance" of those to two sources, the strobe and the daylight "look real", not over lit. Also notice that the assistant with the light is holding the light on a pole, to follow the action.

We also looked at Annie Leibovitz Profoto 8 & TIME 10 Questions

We watched Ovation TV David LaChapelle and Todd Hido

The notes here are that the photographer searches for the right location, the right light, and sometimes both are not always exotic or far away. Second that photography has a work ethic. That you may not have a lot of photographs for every effort made. Finally, that photography books are like movies they have a narrative and a flow.

We also took a look at some of my work and discussed the lighting approach in those images.