Have you ever been curious about how to meter correctly for film photography? The solutions are included within this short movie.

Metering is one of the topics that you will get more familiar with as you progress deeper into film photography. Learning how to meter diverse scenarios and working with either the built-in meter on your camera or a handheld light meter might be frightening or difficult, but it is to your advantage to understand how to do so. In the video we are featuring today, which was created by Matt Day from Ohio, he collaborates with The Darkroom Photo Lab to provide us with the essential information we require to take film photographs that are properly exposed.

 

 

 

 

Metering is an essential part of photography, despite the fact that it may be somewhat technical. It is certain that you will obtain the optimum exposure possible for the scene that you are photographing if you do it the right way. Metering does include severalnumber of considerations, however, including the type of meter that is being used and whether or not the meter is being used to measure the highlights or the shadows. Are you starting to get lost in this? You should find the video that follows to be helpful in better understanding things.

 

When it comes to metering a scene, Matt emphasized the need of learning and comprehend how the light is being interpreted by your light meter. Different meters and metering methods accomplish this task in their own unique ways. Spot meters, for instance, read the amount of light emanating from a particular region of the subject, whereas incident light meters measure the amount of light that is falling on the subject itself. The built-in light meter of your camera, on the other hand, most likely makes use of a mechanism that takes an average of the light entering into the viewfinder of the camera.

The significance of using the meter to determine the appropriate exposure, for example, for backlit portraits. Because it measures the light from from behind the subject, the built-in light meter of a camera tendsa tendency to generate a shadow of the subject. You will be able to measure the amount of light that is falling in front of your subject if you use a portable meter. However, if you do not have one, you may set the exposure by moving in close to your subject until it fills the viewfinder, taking a reading with the built-in meter on your camera, and then adjusting the exposure. The next step is to recompose the scene while maintaining the initial reading on the meter until the illumination shifts.

Because color-negative film takes overexposure better than underexposure, you are free to overexpose your photo while working with color-negative film. This allows you to capture more detail in the image. When shooting with slide film, however, it is absolutely essential to obtain the meter reading as close to perfect as possible. Are you unsure whether or not the metering is correct? You always have the option of bracketing your photo, which entails shooting with the reading that you have, followed by taking a shot that is one stop overexposed and another one that is one stop underexposed.

Experimenting with getting one reading from the light meter for the highlights and another for the shadows is something you may do if you are not photographing a subject that is being illuminated from the rear and if your scene has distinct shadow and highlight sections. It is all up to individual choice and the overall appearance that one is striving for, as demonstrated by Matt’s research.

This article is more of a public service announcement than a lesson because it focuses on grading and metering film systems. However, it is a problem that I notice a lot of people having (including myself! ), so I believe it is important to bring it up and remind others to be careful about it.

Kodak Gold 200 was metered in-camera in the shadows for this comparison of several metering methods used in film photography on Shoot It With Film.

An Overview of Rating and Metering with Some Examples

To begin, what exactly are the meanings of rating and metering?

Rating refers to the ISO that you should have your camera or light meter set to when shooting a specific film material. In order to give the film a rating of 400, you must first set the ISO on your light meter to 400.

The complete process of assessing the light before taking an image and selecting the right aperture and shutter speed settings for your camera is referred to as metering. Metering is done in your camera. You may accomplish this using a light meter that is handheld or with the light meter that is built into your camera.

On the website Shoot It With Film, a comparison of the various metering methods used in film photography

You may get Kodak Portra 160VC on eBay, which has a rating of 100 and can be metered in-camera in the highlights.

So, What’s the Deal with That?

The following scenario will play out: somebody online will ask other users how they evaluate their video for a specific stock. (This refers to the ISO setting that they choose to use on their camera for a specific film.) You will, within a few minutes, get a dozen comments describing how individuals go about accomplishing this task due to the incredibly helpful nature of the film community.

“I have never rated my Fuji 400h higher than a 100.” alternatively “Portraits ought to be graded at box speed,” etc.

And despite this, when we discuss it in this manner, we fail to take into account an essential piece of data: how manner in which the photographer measures the light.

It would be the same as asking someone what temperature to set the oven to in order to bake cookies without also asking how long to bake them for. If you know one piece of information, you should know the answer to the other piece of information.

In the end, rating and metering are both working toward the same goal as a method to get there. This “end” refers to the settings for your aperture and shutter speed.

It is necessary to understand both the metering and rating of an image toorder to have a complete understanding of how it was taken on film. Only then will you have a complete picture of how the image was captured.

On the website Shoot It With Film, a comparison of the various metering methods used in film photography

Kodak Portra 400 with an exposure rating of 400, angled 45 degrees to the ground, with the bulb turned out, and in the shadows
Get your hands on a copy of the Shoot It With Film magazine while you still can!

The Complexity of Film Metering and Its Many Variables

Regrettably, figuring out how someone metered their video is not as as easy as it would sound like it would be. When it comes to metering, there are a great number of distinct elements to consider.

You have the option of using either a light meter that is portable or one that is built into the camera. You have the option of metering in the highlights, the shadows, with the bulb in, or out. You have the option of using incident metering or reflected metering, but either choice will have a significant impact on your settings.

Even the angle at which you hold your meter might create variable readings, making metering an even more elusive art form than it already was.

Sekonic L-358 portable light meter with the bulb in against the bulb out Comparing Different Metering Methods in Film Photography on Shoot It With Film The bulb in and bulb out light meter

Related: How to Save Money While Shooting Film: Money-Saving Tips for Photographers of Film

Testing Different Metering Scenarios
I wanted to explore how modifying a few key factors can vary the setting outputs so that I could understand how drastically different the metering results may be in a specific circumstance.

The Preparation for the Shot

In order to collect some information, I started working while taking my son outside on a day that just so happened to be cloudy.

It was toward the end of the afternoon, and the clouds cast a dull appearance on the light. It seemed like there wasn’t much of a difference between the light on the side of his face that was facing the sun and the light on the side of his face that was facing away from the sun, so I was interested about what the readings might indicate.

I positioned him on the sidewalk so that he would be looking north, even though thethe fact that the sun was towards the southwest. As a result of the sun setting behind him and moving toward his left side, I was aware that the left side of his face would be more lighted than the right side.

The Metering Test Carried Out Using a Portable Light Meter

With my portable Sekonic L-358 light meter (you can find the L-358 at KEH Camera or on eBay), I set the ISO to 400 for one test and 200 for the second test, and I maintained the aperture setting at f/2.2 throughout both tests. The readout from the meter would tell me the necessary shuttspeed shuttershutter speed that was necessary.

I opted to continuously set the bulb of my light meter around 45 degrees from the ground at his chin because there are almost an endless number of methods to measure light. In addition, I measured light in the following ways:

On the left side of his face, which was the brighter side or in the highlights, he had a bulb-in (retracted) lip.
On the right side of his face, which is the darker side / in the shadows, he has a bulb-in.
highlights that have a bulb-out effect (are prolonged)
In the shadows, there is a bulb-out.
The following are the findings, with the reading for the shutter speed shown in red for metering in the shadows and in green for metering in the highlights.

Examining the Differences Between My Handheld Light Meter and the One Built Into My Camera

The next step that I performed was to use the reflecting light from the grass to calibrate the light meter that is built into my camera. This is how I normally measure, so naturally I was intrigued to see how it stacked up!

In shady areas, I usually meter for the grass or another object that has a comparable range of tones between light and dark. (Think of it as metering off of a gray card, only that you’ll be utilizing nature as your gray card.)

Because winter has just ended, our grass has a very brownish-yellow color, which makes it appear much paler than it normally would. I compensated for that by increasing the exposure by one stop compared to the reading that the meter gave me.

metering for highlights – a comparison of the many metering methods used in film photography on the website shootitwithfilm.com

Kodak Tri-X 400 with an ISO rating of 400 and exposure metering done in-camera for the highlights

Even though it was cloudy, I located a position that, when the sun was out, would have been in the shade (behind a tree), and I used that reading for my meter. At an ISO of 400, I was able to get a shutter speed of 1600, but at an ISO of 200, I was only able to achieve 800.

And because the grass is lighter than usual, I would most likely compensate for this by overexposing the image by one stop, shooting at a shutter speed of 800 for ISO 400 and shooting at a shutter speed of 400 for ISO 200.

My in-camera meter reading was somewhere between bulb-in and bulb-out in the shadows, as you can see in this specific instance. This made me pleased since I felt like it reaffirmed why I liked the convenience of an in-camera meter for most scenarios.

Film photography of newborns – a comparison of several metering techniques for use in film photography on the website Shoot It With Film

Kodak Portra 400 with an exposure rating of 400, angled at 45 degrees to the ground with the bulb facing inward, and shot in the shadows

Why This Makes the Question About the Ratings so Difficult

It was intriguing to learn that rating a film at 400 and metering bulb-out in the shadows would result in somewhat more light being let in compared to rating the picture at 200 and metering bulb-in in the shadows.

If someone were to insist that rating their film at 200 is the sole acceptable option, however, they run the risk of allowing in LESS light than someone who rates their picture at 400, depending on how the two individuals measure the amount of light entering the frame.

And none of this even takes into consideration the myriad of ways in which different individuals hold their meters (45 degrees to the ground vs perpendicular to the ground). Or if the sun is shining and creating more contrast between the highlights and the shadows.

As a result of all of this, when you discuss different techniques to score your movie, be sure that you get the whole picture. In addition to that, this demonstrates how your experience with shooting may be very different from that of another person.

In the end, I talked my husband into filming me using the meter when we were outside on a bright day so that you could see how I’m metering for these readings. (Trying to portray a whole image like I’m preaching if you know what I mean.)

I was also interested in seeing how the readings would change on a day with clear skies… and oh my goodness, the readings were very different.

The difference between the highlights with the bulb in and with the bulb out was the most obvious. This goes to show you that simply talking about metering without discussing HOW your meter works is about as ineffective as not talking about metering at all.

In-camera metering yielded a result of 1/90 of a second for an ISO setting of 400.

I am well aware that this interpretation is strange…

You may blame those strange statistics on my Nikon n80. However, this is somewhat comparable to using a bulb-in effect in the shadows.

You might not agree with this piece of advise, but I’m going to give it to you nonetheless if you’re just starting in the world of filmmaking: shoot ALL the film ALL the ways.

Experimenting with a variety of techniques is the only way you’ll be able to determine how you prefer to rate and meter the film you’re working on. How YOU shoot will determine the outcome (not how the famous photographer you follow shoots). It depends depend on whether or not you want your images to be subdued with pastel hues or have a lot of contrast with bright colors.

And after you’ve achieved the look you want, don’t beat yourself up if you decide to rate your Fuji 400h at 400, even though your neighbor insists that rating it at 100 is the ONE oonly ONLYONLY correct setting to use. You’ll get to where you need to be through a process of trial and error.

Metering is the one thing that determines whether or not your film photography is successful; however, if you visit any film group on Facebook, it won’t be long before you see someone saying that proper metering technique doesn’t matter; all you need to do is overexpose as much as possible, and you’ll be fine. Metering is the one thing that determines whether or not your film photography is successful.

When you see people publishing images on social media that appear to be in good shape while they assert that using correct metering is for the birds, how could this possibly be harmful?

The Importance of Metering When Taking Photographs with Film

The process of measuring involves a lot of different steps. Because there are so many, we devote the majority of our time to discussing metering in both our seminars and our coaching sessions with The Film Photographer’s Workshop. It is the basis of all photography, and if one does not have a sufficient understanding of it, it will be challenging to take consistently excellent photographs regardless of the lighting.

Read one of Ansel Adams’s books, which you can get on Amazon, if you haven’t done so already. This will give you an idea of how crucial metering was for him to be able to do what he accomplished over the course of his lifetime.

For the sake of time, I’m simply going to discuss one area of metering—how to appropriately set a light meter—where I notice the majority of our students struggle the most.

When they begin to alter how they go about doing this, it may have a significant impact on their photographs. The purpose of accurate metering is to provide results that are constant regardless of the lighting conditions, as well as a film negative that contains the optimal amount of data for high-quality printing or digital manipulation, should either of those options become necessary.

It is essential to point out that I take care to avoid overexposing my photographs, with the exception of when I’m working with Fuji 400h (Amazon) film, in which case I meter just one stop overexposed and occasionally at the box speed.

All of the photographs that you will find on this page were taken with a Portra 160 (Amazon) or a Portra 400 (Amazon) film and a meter set at box speed. When overexposed, Portra produces images that are highly orange and yellow, and skin tones just do not look well. I never overexpose Kodak films.

Adjusting the Position of Your Light Meter

The position in which you hold your light meter in a scene can have a significant impact on the final product.

When I am observing our kids while they are measuring, the very first thing that I observe is that a good number of them will hold their meters in a variety of positions and at a variety of angles from one shot to the next without following any kind of pattern or plan. At the most recent session, we participated in an activity in which we measured a face while it was exposed to strong direct sunlight. Without anybody moving, we obtained F stops of 11, 5.6, 4, and 16 in the same location.

Because of this, it is of the utmost importance to establish a system for holding your meter and to adhere to it regardless of the scenario, since this will allow you to accurately predict what you will see once the film has been developed.

There are a lot of people who say that shooting film is terrifying because you can’t immediately see what you’ve done, but if you have a process and you’ve rehearsed it hundreds of times, you’ll actually know what you’re going to get out of it.

Because I want to meter properly for shadows so that I don’t have muddy or black shadows (this is NOT overexposing, it’s spot metering), I generally hold my meter at a 45-degree angle pointing toward the ground or the dark part of my scene. This is because I want to meter properly for shadows so that I don’t have muddy or black shadows.

I hold it at a downward angle of 45 degrees so that I can prevent an excessive amount of light from reaching my bulb and deceiving it into giving me a reading that I do not want.

Bulb In vs. Bulb Out

In addition to that, I shoot bulb out. Because doing so may alter my outcome by as much as two stops, I do not remove my bulb (also written as bulb in). The instruction booklet for the meter discusses the function of both the bulb in and the bulb out buttons. When photographing three-dimensional things, use the bulb-out setting, and use the bulb-in setting when photographing flat subjects.

These three photographs show an example of how I meter for shadows at a 45-degree angle with the light bulb turned off; the process is exactly the same in all three different types of illumination.

Metering for Scenes with Lots of Light

I have put in the time to train and conduct experiments, and as a result, I am aware of the specific portion of the picture that has to have its metering adjusted.

If my subject is located in an excessively bright location, for instance, I will always meter the highlights and shadows to determine whether or not I need to adjust the exposure to an average value.

When I was shooting for a magazine in Hawaii on a very brilliant evening with the sun behind my subject, I needed to take an average reading from the meter. This situation is a fantastic example of why it’s important to do so. Because the readings for the front of my subject and her back were so drastically different from one another, I decided to take an average of the two and shoot in the middle of the two.

If I had just metered for the shadows in front of her, I would have lost too much of the backdrop. On the other hand, if I had held my light meter in a position that let too much sunlight to fall on it, I may have captured her face with a bit too much contrast. I also made use of a reflector in order to fill in the light on her face in order to make her stand out more clearly from the background and to ensure that the image would print properly.

The readings from the front and rear meters were averaged to create the first image below, which also makes use of a reflector.

The next two pictures had their exposures carefully adjusted for the shadows so that I wouldn’t miss any of the stunning rock detail. Additionally, in order to keep the highlights in the best possible condition. Both of them made use of a reflector.

I also took readings of the highlights in those photographs in order to better understand the circumstances in which I was working and to ensure that the highlights were preserved. I was able to meter for shadows without losing any of the details since the sun was at a low enough angle, and a reflector also assisted in keeping the shadows looking lovely.

Metering For Dark Scenes

When I am photographing, regardless of the type of lighting present or the ambient conditions, I always utilize the same approach. The following are three instances of the same technique: the first was taken at a wedding during the day, the second was taken at a wedding with artificial lighting, and the third was taken with careful attention paid to the shadows in a setting with very little light.

 

Adjusting the Metering for Highlights and Shadows

There are instances when I want to meter for highlights, but even when I do so, I want to make sure that the resulting shot is well balanced. Again, I’ll take an average reading of at least a couple of different areas, this time making sure that the metering for my subject’s face or any other region of their body that I want to be highlighted is accurate.

If I want to take a picture of a silhouette, all I have to do is point the meter at the sky and take the reading for the sky.

To review: 1. Ensure that you hold your meter in exactly the same manner each and every time you take a picture. Figure out what brings you the outcomes you desire, and then make it your primary focus when you practice. Start by metering in the shadow beneath your subject’s chin (or, if you are shooting a black suit next to a white dress, meter for the suit). Point your camera at an angle of 45 degrees toward the shadows, taking care not to have too much direct sunlight or bright light on your bulb.

2. When taking readings from your meter in settings with significantly contrasting light, take readings from both the highlights and the shadows.

3. PRACTICE! When it comes to photography, there is no secret recipe for anything. Getting plenty of experience is the best way to hone your skills and become an expert. Make sure that you conduct your own experiments rather than simply asking other people to show you their work, because you have no way of knowing how the film is being processed in their lab, how it has been edited (by the lab or by them), what kind of lens they are employing, or anything else of the sort. The appearance of the final image is the result of a large number of different factors being combined.

4. Avoid overexposing yourself without consideration. If you continue to do this, you won’t discover what your movie is truly capable of achieving. It’s possible that you’re seeing color shifting, which the lab may be correcting for you without your knowledge, or it might just be that you don’t truly see yourself. I notice a lot of people with Oompa Loompa skin tones posting in Facebook groups; be sure you don’t become one of them! Acquaint yourself with a variety of films by comparing their exposures, and when you are first beginning to explore with a film—yes, even Fuji—you should always begin by using the film’s box speed. The phrase “film is light hungry” is somewhat deceiving in this context. Although in order for film to appear its best it requires excellent quality light, this does not mean that it must be overexposed.

 

5. You should put your faith in the meter if it is in good working order and has provided you with accurate readings in the past. It is possible for our eyes to mislead us into believing that there is more light than there actually is; but, the meter should be accurate in all circumstances, unless it is faulty, of course.

Even while this is a very minor aspect of the metering approach, it is still a highly significant one. If you have been having trouble getting scans that appear the same every time, I guarantee that if you work on this, you will start to notice a change!