[Gunfitr]

O.K.

Let me run this up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.

A camera has a useable range of tones it can capture. Depending upon whether you are using film, digital, or chromes, the latitude varies, but any tone within that latitude is useable and is neither overexposed or underexposed.

You can use a light meter and theoretically, it gives you a base exposure, ie the theoretical proper exposure for capturing the widest ranges of tones in an image.

So lets say I meter my lights at f8 and plop a model down in front of my camera. Theoretically, if I set my camera to F8 and the meter says f8, I have set the "optimum" exposure.

But f8 isn't the only tone that camera will record. It will record highlights up to the point of overexposure, and it will record shadow detail down to the point of underexposure.

The "range" between a highlight burning out and a shadow going completely black is your "latitude".

My argument with "meter freaks" is they act like (some not all) that you then don't take your subject into account at all.

If I want to, I can have the lights set at f8, and assuming I have three stops of latitude, I can set the camera at f5.6. This will have an effect on the subject. The subject will be "brighter" than if I shot her at f8. However, it will still be within the latitude of the camera to capture. So long as I don't burn out any highlights, there is nothing "wrong" with shooting the photo at f5.6.

If I want, I can stop down to f11 (leaving the lights at f8) The subject will now be darker than when shot at f8. So long as I don't block up my shadows, I am within latitude of the camera to capture the image.

You might say "well, why would you want to do that". Well, because, in most cases, I am not just metering a single light on a single subject at a single spot.

I might want a highlight at 5.6 on the left side of the face, middle tones acroos the center of the subject, and dark shadows on the right. If the camera has 3 stops of lattitude, all three areas will capture, and yet only one of the three areas will meter at f8.

I have neither overexposed/underexposed any part of the image.

I might want to shoot a dramatic shot with a grid on a light and put the light right on the models face. I might meter at f8 but set the camera to 5.6 so that the face is "very bright" in relation to all the other tones in the image and I might want my shadows and fall off to be very dark.

In a studio, where you can control the light, any light from any direction that is within latitude, is neither overexposed or underexposed, if it is within the capture latitude of my device.

I can control the lights to any degree I want so long as I stay within the latitude of the capture device.

Outside, in many cases, the available light is many stops outside the latitude of my capture device.

I can therefore place my subject in a shadow, and sacrifice the highlights in the background for the amount of light I want on the subject.

Metering gets you close, and then from there you have the right and ability to control highlights, shadows and the subject within the latitude.

The subject then effects my choices. If I shoot a grey mouse on a grey blanket under flat lit conditions, I may be able to shoot the shot with several different f stops as I will still be within the range and latitude and am neither sacraficing higlights or shadows because the light falling on the subject is a very narrow latitude.

On the other hand, if I put a black shirt and a white sweater on a model who is fair skinned, I may find that I have to make the choice of sacraficing the detail in the black shirt to get the light I want on the model's skin where I want it. I might end up sacraficing the highligts on the white sweater for detail in the black shirt.

I understand and I am not arguing the point that the meter gives you the base theoretical exposure that may be "optimum" but YOU have control over tones in an image as long as they are within the latitude of the film and and you control the light to avoid highlight burnout and blocking up the shadow areas.

There are two styles of black and white figure photography that are posted here on a regular basis. One is dark, moody and somber and the other is the more blown out style.

In fact, it is a well known fact that you can "overexpose" black and white....which is actually a misnomer....you are recording light within the latitude of the film, but above middle grey, for the effect it has on the subjects skin tones.

When you do this, you are exposing the film above the meter reading, but within the latitude of the film.

It's a choice you have available.

Being a slave to one and only one meter reading is what I object to.

Perhaps we are saying the same thing.

I might agree that metering the lights at F8 gives you the theorectical reading to provide the greatest and most accurate range of tones in an image. But I might want to skew the balance (but within the latitude) by either opening the aperature or closing it down....in which case I am not shooting what the meter tells me.

In very low light (available light conditions) where the light is very flat, I can set the the camera one to two stops away from the meter reading and get better shots than using the meter setting.

I understand the difference between using a reflected reading and an ambient reading, but once you have your ambient reading, you can still "deviate" as the case may be.

Theorectically, if you meter at f8 on a white background, you background should be white, but we all pump more light on the background. Why do we do that?

Mark