[Al_Nowak]

Originally Posted by Ferrell

Let's say you have a light directly left and one directly right of the subject (eg.90 degrees) and then a third fill light in front of the subject, above camera.

Normally I would meter each one alone (the others are off) maybe f11 from the sides and f8 from the front, for example. Then I turn them all on and meter toward the camera.

Here's my problem with your situation as described. The side lights are lighting only half of the face, each a separate side. But if you put the meter in front of the face with the dome pointing at the camera, it's getting light from both side lights simultaneously. I think I'd meter with a flag to kill the light from one side of the meter, assuming the side lights are equal. Again, the magic is to get the meter into an equivalent situation to what the face is getting.

The "correct" way is the way that gives you the proper exposure. I'm not much for rules, whatever works for an individual is okay with me. But you do have to keep track of the details to insure that you are actually measuring what you think you are measuring.

I prefer metering with the whole setup on, but different strokes...