Even if you don’t use a handheld light meter, it’s still important to know if your camera’s built-in meter is measuring light correctly and delivering the best exposures possible. Remember, the goal of a calibrated meter is to produce images that are so well exposed that no tweaking or processing is necessary before going straight to proofs.

Fortunately, knowing how your meter is performing (and fixing it if it’s not quite right), is really easy.

You’ll need a manufactured neutral gray target. The best I’ve found are collapsible and sold (in various sizes) by Lastolite (the EZBalance, www.lastolite.com) and BalanceSmarter (www.balancesmarter.com). The only difference between the two is that the BalanceSmarter product has a target printed on both the white and gray sides so your auto focus can easily lock on either. At last look, Lastolite’s product target was only printed on the gray side. That’s fine for this test because gray will produce an easier to read result.

Begin by setting the target against a wall or attaching it to a light stand, making certain the light falling on it looks as even as possible. Mounting your camera to a tripod might make this easier but is not necessary. It won’t matter if the final image shows motion blur, we’re only interested in the overall exposure.

With the camera set to either Aperture Priority (Av) or Shutter Priority (Tv), and without any supplementary Exposure Compensation, fill the frame with the target and make an exposure.

Select the image and find the version of the Info image that shows the Histogram. The histogram is merely a representation of the spread of pixels over the various tones that make up an image but it can also indicate over or under exposure. Ideally, when you look at the histogram of a photo of a gray target, you’ll see the primary spike of tones dead center in the graph.

Often, the histogram will be skewed to left or right of center. Left of center means the images will be underexposed, right of center indicates overexposure. This is just a guess because no manufacturer would ever admit it, but from what I’ve seen in the numerous cameras I’ve purchased, cameras exhibiting slight underexposure are more apt to pass Quality Control because slight underexposure is easier to correct. Should your spike not be centered, here’s what to do:

If the spike is left of center, use Exposure Compensation and move the compensation indicator one mark to the right. Take another picture and evaluate the histogram. If it’s still left of center, try moving the indicator one more mark to the right, until the spike is as close to center as possible. Do this in reverse if the spike is right of center. The closer you can get to center, the better your automatic exposures will be. When you find the magic spot, leave it there (this camera required a plus exposure of two clicks right, or +2/3 stop to center the spike), and shoot automatic mode images with confidence. For many cameras, Exposure Compensation also works in Program mode, although that mode is very imprecise compared to Av or Tv.

It may be somewhat hard to believe that your precision camera would be off, but they do tend to drift, and for many reasons. It’s a good idea to repeat this test often.

If you’re like many women who specialize in family portraiture, and who draw from your neighborhood for clientele, here’s a terrific idea for a Halloween promotion.

Since families should be thinking about portraits for Christmas holiday cards or gifts but typically don’t until the last possible moment, create a small, one-sided promo flyer to advertise your services. Be sure to tell them to book early to avoid the rush (you might even offer a small discount if they book within the next week). Rather than printing a batch on your home printer, take a finished piece to a Kinko’s or Office Max and have them run as many color copies as you think you might need. Copies made this way are much cheaper than if you do them yourself.

At your favorite discount store, buy full size candy bars, as many as you think you’ll need for the traffic at your house. Tape or rubber band the flyer around the bars, with the blank side out, and give them away to the little urchins when they come a’beggin’.

The payoff will happen when the kids get home and their candy is checked by the parents, who will see the blank paper wrap and naturally want to see what it is. Voila! Targeted advertising for about a dollar per family.

Far and away, the most important accessory in the studio (even in available light situations) is your handheld light meter. Even more important is the ability to read it properly and know how the numbers affect your images.

F-stops are symmetrical and mathematical measurements of light. If we begin with an aperture of f8, for example, “opening up” the lens by one stop, to f5.6, will double the amount of light reaching the sensor. Conversely, “stopping down” the lens one stop, to f 11, will cut the amount of light reaching the sensor by half.

When we power the light to a “whole” stop – f2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 or 22 – we’ll only see a zero next to the f-stop number and we’ll know that if we set the camera’s aperture to that number, f5.6 in this case, the exposure will be right on the money.

Digital camera apertures can be set in thirds of stops, which gives you the opportunity to be extremely accurate when powering your lights for a particular effect. They are shown on your light meter as an extra number just to the right of the primary f-stop number, such as this reading, f5.6.6. This reading means that the light falling on the subject is 6/10s of a stop stronger (brighter) than f5.6 itself. If you ignore that extra .6 you will overexpose your images, something you definitely don’t want to do.

So, to be more accurate, you should set your camera to f7.1 (which is actually f5.6 +7/10s of a stop more). To be completely accurate, and get the most correct exposure, either move the key light slightly closer to the subject, move the subject slightly closer to the key, or power the key light up, slightly, to a light meter reading of f5.6.7 (f7.1 on the camera). If your meter is calibrated your exposures will be right on the money.

While you are probably aware of the whole stop numbers, you may not understand the new, 1/3 stop numbers and how to translate those easily from your light meter to your camera. Here’s a chart that shows the correlation:

If the meter says: f2.8 f2.8.3 f2.8.7 f4 f4.3 f4.7 f5.6 f5.6.3 f5.6.7 f8

Set the camera to: f2.8 f3.2 f3.5 f4 f4.5 f5 f5.6 f6.3 f7.1 f8

f8.3 f8.7 f11 f11.3 f11.7 f16 f16.3 f16.7 f22

f9 f10 f11 f13 f14 f16 f18 f20 f22

When working outdoors, you won’t have the control over tenths of f-stops as you would in the studio. When that happens, if the reading is +1/10th over a target f-stop, set the aperture to the lower value. In other words, if the meter reads f8.1 set the camera’s aperture to f8. If the reading is, say, f8.2, set the aperture to the next highest value, f9. In either case, the files as they are will be close enough to go straight to proofs and easy to tweak to a more perfect exposure with Photoshop.

Entire books have been written about this topic, and it’s akin to opening a can of worms. I have only a few words to say about it, but I hope you’ll read them with an open mind. Your workflow, and the amount of time you spend on your workflow, may depend on how these few words impact you.

When you shoot RAW, you create the digital counterpart to a film negative. All the information available to the camera is stored in those files but they cannot be used “as is” and must be “processed” before they can be printed, with generic software such as Photoshop or with software created by the camera’s manufacturer. For most applications, the maker’s software is better because it has been engineered for files created by a specific brand of camera. Software like Photoshop, even though it does a good job, must be generic enough to process files from every manufacturer and so can only work with those factors shared by all cameras.

On the other hand, jpegs have been programmed, by you and how you set the camera, to process themselves as they are shot and loaded onto the card. Once that’s done your options are limited.

Does that mean jpegs are bad? Absolutely not. Control your exposure and lighting parameters and jpegs will do a wonderful job for you without any extra work. I don’t allow photographers to shoot RAW in any of my workshops. Once they see that they can control the shoot and the light to very close tolerances they become True Believers (well, some of them, anyway).

Regardless, while RAW files contain more information and exposure latitude than Jpegs, they also require additional work from you, and that’s the bottom line. Here’s an easy workaround option. If you think a shoot will give you trouble or you don’t think you can control the situation, shoot both RAW and large jpegs at the same time. When you load the files onto your computer take a look at the jpegs first. If you’re shots are on the money burn everything to a disc for backup and work with just the jpegs. You have the RAW files if you need them. Note that shooting both formats will fill a card much more rapidly.

The beauty of shooting controlled jpegs is that you can take the files straight to proofs, without any additional processing time, and make minor tweaks later, after prints are ordered and money is on the table.

Can you tell the difference? This image was shot as both RAW and .jpg. The RAW file was processed “as is,” without any additional tweaking; the jpeg is straight out of the camera. Tight control over the exposure is the key to successful jpegs.

Christopher Grey

A question that’s come up frequently in my workshops and classes is, “What Color Space should I be shooting in?” The answer is, “It depends on what you’re shooting for.” That’s not an artful dodge, it’s the truth in digital terms.

Your camera will offer at least two choices, Adobe RGB (1998) and sRGB. Both are viable but there are differences you should be aware of. Adobe RGB (1998), which we’ll simply call “RGB” from now on, is a large color space (also called a “gamut”) able to record more colors than sRGB, a smaller space able to record fewer colors. At first blush you’d think that RGB would be the way to go, right? Isn’t it better to have more colors than less? It is, if you’re work is being produced for mechanical reproduction, like a book. When a book is produced, images appearing in it are converted to yet another color space, CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key {Black}), that’s even smaller than sRGB. It’s necessary for a CMYK reproduction to have as much color as possible at its disposal before conversion, so that the smaller space will “see” as much color as it can.

A graph of the three color spaces and the range of colors they can reproduce. Adobe RGB(1998) is the largest, sRGB fits inside it. The smallest is the CMYK color space.

The sRGB color space is used for images that will be sent to a lab for printing as 8×10s, 5×7s, whatever. The printers used by the labs are sRGB devices themselves, incapable of seeing the entire RGB gamut, much less reproducing it. The machine may not even recognize an RGB file, and an operator will have to manually convert the images to sRGB before sending the order back through the printer. Some labs charge extra for this service.

The Internet is also an sRGB device. Images posted on the web should be sRGB images or they will look flat and slightly off-color.

Unless you have one of a very select (and expensive) group of monitors built for the RGB color space, you won’t be able to see the extra colors anyway. Your monitor is an sRGB device and can’t see beyond those colors, even if you shoot files in RGB.

The bottom line is there’s nothing wrong with the sRGB space and, if you shoot to have your pictures hung on walls or framed on mantles, sRGB is the space to use.

Christopher Grey

If there’s one thing you can count on for the Holidays it’s that there will be an abundance of student-driven ballets, plays and shows. Even if you don’t have a child enrolled in extracurricular dance, music or drama classes you may be pressed into service to photograph an event.

I was recently asked to photograph The Nutcracker, a holiday ballet favorite that sees at least one annual production in many, many cities. I love photographing dancers, even amateurs, so it was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. As with any location shoot, there are problems and situations that must be considered if you’re to get the best possible images. Perhaps my experience will save you some grief and make your job easier.

The first thing you need to critically evaluate is the lighting. When the curtain goes up, take a long look at the stage to check for any “dead” spots, areas that are not evenly lit. Most student-driven productions are presented in borrowed auditoriums, often in local schools. Contemporary school auditoriums are usually well equipped, lighting-wise, and that’s a plus, but productions are lit for effect, not for photographers. You’ll need to determine if there are areas to avoid.

If you have the opportunity to Custom White Balance under the production lighting, do so. If not, the Incandescent setting should be fine. Believe it or not, Auto White Balance is not a viable setting in this case, as Auto will attempt to neutralize colored lights when they dominate the scene, such as an overly blue “night” scene. The Lighting Director will not be happy with you.

Use the highest ISO setting your camera will give you without excessive noise. This is especially true for dance, obviously, as you’ll need to stop action. If you have an older camera, you might want to rent or borrow a newer model. Today’s cameras handle high ISO speeds better than ever before.

Be sure to set the motor drive function for the fastest possible burst rate and for automatic focus tracking. On my Canons, that would be AI Servo. Other manufacturers have different names but the function does basically the same thing by locking on to a moving object and tracking it as long as the shutter or thumb-focus buttons are depressed.

You will be shooting on the fly, especially if you are not familiar with the show. Shoot bursts of frames, rather than single shots, and capture the action as a sequence you can edit for maximum effect. You’ll also get more sales opportunities. This sequence of three was edited from a burst of seven frames.

When shooting dance, there is a peak in almost every motion. It’s the point where positive motion stops for a split second before becoming negative motion and where the dancer’s posture is perfect. Be aware of it, but shoot a burst that begins before the peak and ends after it. This allows you to follow the motion, panning the camera if necessary, so that you can track the dancer rather than trying to coordinate your finger with the peak.

Since you’ll be shooting with a large aperture (to get the fastest possible shutter speed), make the most of it by including scenery or another dancer in front of or behind the target dancer. The focus falloff adds depth to the image and accentuates your primary dancer.

Unless you’ve been hired to simply document the production, you’ll want more than just photographs of the principal actors. You’re on the job, after all, and you’ll want to increase the sales opportunities as much as possible. Spend time in each scene photographing the extras. Single out as many participants as possible and shoot individual images of them. When you make the images available for purchase (these were marketed through a web portal), you may be surprised how many of these you’ll sell. While it’s good to have at least one overall shot of the stage and production, as well as the principals, these are money shots, too.

When you’re initially contacted to do the job, be sure to ask if there’s a dress rehearsal. The rehearsal is a great opportunity to scout the theater for shooting locations and sight lines, to make note of what seat(s) you’d like reserved or just to familiarize yourself with the production. During rehearsal you will probably be able to move anywhere in the theater, even during the performance, (something that’s definitely frowned upon during an actual show). Keep your eye open for special moments that occur between cast members – each is another sales opportunity.

If there’s any subject that deserves to be overshot, it’s theater. Plan on filling several cards and spending extra time editing. It’s worth it.

Although Auto White Balance will do an acceptable job in many circumstances, it is possible that dominant colors in the frame can skew it to produce an off-color image. It’s the most important argument for using Custom White Balance whenever possible. In the first image Auto White Balance saw the red background and thought it needed to neutralize it by adding cyan to the mix. The model’s skin tones were not enough to average the tones.

After CWB, the camera no longer cares what the colors are because it’s read and recorded the actual color of the light and will not make any shot-to-shot adjustments.

One of the most valuable of all the Menu items, using Custom White Balance (aka Custom WB or CWB) will permit you to neutralize whatever light you’re working under, changing the colors that make up that light, whatever they may have been, to clean, non-biased colors.

Light is not a constant color, except to our eyes and brain. Humans have the cerebral ability to white balance on the fly, interpreting whatever color we see to be neutral, based on our ability to see something we know to be a certain color (white, for instance) and balancing all other colors against that reference. The Custom White Balance function of the camera does exactly the same thing, except that the camera can leave us with a physical record, a print, of a situation that has been neutrally balanced.

To do this effectively you will need to meter and photograph a neutral gray or white card under the light conditions you’re working with. If you’re working under studio strobes, you will also need to use a calibrated flash meter to accurately measure the strength of the light. Either way, it’s important to purchase a neutral target (see How to Calibrate Your Meter for information). Typewriter paper, tablecloths, bridal gowns, or other objects contain chemicals or bluing agents that make them look neutral, but they will not white balance properly because of that chemistry. A commercially available 18% gray target will produce the most accurate white balance.

Every manufacturer has a slightly different way to CWB, and you’ll need to review your camera’s instruction manual to learn the correct way to do it. Any of my Canon books or field guides will show Canon shooters how, step-by-step, with pictures and clear instructional text.

Also check your instruction manual to know how much of the frame you will have to fill to get a correct measurement. I think you should always err on the side of caution and fill the entire frame.

It won’t matter if the picture you make of the gray or white card has an off-color cast. Telling the camera that you want it to neutralize that tone will effectively change the color balance of any additional images. You can prove it by shooting another image of the target, but with the data from the first image used for Custom White Balance. The new shot will show a color neutral target.

Telling the camera that you want to use this balance is effectively telling the camera to neutralize the color it saw in the first image.

If you use studio strobes for lighting, and your images are consistently too light or too dark, it’s probably not your fault. It’s entirely possible that your light meter and your camera are not on the same page. I know that sounds improbable; after all, they are both precision instruments. But, while all manufacturers produce equipment to close tolerances, it’s possible for a meter and camera to both “pass” their respective Quality Control tests but not be in agreement with each other. Fortunately, it’s really easy to discover if the two machines are out of sync, and it’s really easy to fix the problem.

You will need a neutral gray or white target. You can find collapsible targets from BalanceSmarter.com and Lastolite.com, both of which are gray on one side, white on the other. The difference between the two is that the BalanceSmarter product has printed lines on both sides, to make it easier for your camera’s auto focus to lock on to it. These products are invaluable for Custom White Balance as well and are available in several sizes.

For this exercise we’ll use a gray surface, which will allow us to use the camera’s histogram to judge the accuracy of the meter.

Begin by mounting the gray target on a light stand, and aiming a strobe at it. You will get a more even light by setting the strobe at least seven feet away from the target and using a softbox or umbrella to spread the light even more. Check the exposure with the light meter and move the target slightly forward or back, if necessary, until the exposure is a perfect whole f-stop, like f8 or f11, or a perfect third of a stop (f+.03 or f+.07). Check the top and bottom and both sides of the target as well, to make sure the exposure is even across the surface, no more than 1/10 stop off in either direction.

Fill the frame with the target (you can turn off auto focus if you can’t get close enough with your lens) and take a picture. I try to just shoot the center portion. Be sure your shadow does not fall on the target. Also, be sure to set the ISO on the meter to the same value as the camera. If your meter and camera are speaking the same language, your camera’s histogram will show a spike right in the middle, which is exactly where you want it.

All good flash meters allow you to make adjustments, in tenths of a stop, in how they read the light. If the spike in your first image is left or right of center, you’ll need to make an adjustment to the meter, basically tricking the meter into reading the light stronger or weaker than it did before. All meters will make adjustments differently, depending on the manufacturer. Consult the meter’s instruction manual to determine how to do it for your equipment.

Regardless of how it’s done, all you need to do is adjust the meter until the reading it gives you produces a histogram spike that’s in the middle of the graph. You’ll need to adjust the target toward or away from the light each time you make an adjustment, so that the reading the adjusted meter gives you is the same as the reading you started with. In other words, don’t make any changes to the aperture of the camera, just adjust the target position.

Once calibrated, your meter will measure light that’s perfectly tuned for your camera. If you use more than one camera, repeat this exercise for your other gear. It’s possible that your other camera(s) will require a different adjustment or none at all. If that’s the case, a marked piece of white tape or a white label on the bottom of the camera will remind you how to reset the meter. My Sekonic, for example, offers two different calibration methods, one of which is invisible. The other shows the adjustment on the meter’s screen every time it’s turned on. This is the one to use if you have more than one camera in play because you’ll immediately know if the adjustment is correct for the machine in your hand.

I love to travel. Even though it’s become a much larger pain in the backside than ever before, each trip I make presents innumerable opportunities for photographs. Because I’m in terra incognita, I look at everything with more intensity and curiosity than anything I might see in my own backyard. Over the years I’ve developed a sort of repertoire of techniques that I draw upon, and I’d like to share some of them with you. For photographers, travel is more of an adventure than a vacation. My camera is always with me when I travel because I consider photography such an integral part of my psyche that I just can’t leave it behind. Taking pictures is just too much fun.

When photographing people, watch for the “moment.” Interaction within a group, large or small, indigenous or tourist, will tell the tale much better than a static shot of people looking at your camera. Try to be unobtrusive. Keep the camera to your eye, making exposures as opportunities present themselves. Above all, avoid the urge to “chimp” your images, looking at the LCD after each picture to see what you got. It’s distracting to the subjects, onlookers, and you. Besides, you might miss something.

Isolate your subject. Use a telephoto and a large aperture (200mm and f2.8 in this case) to put emphasis on the subject by making the background out of focus. If the subject is lit, try to position yourself so the background is at least partially in shadow. Doing so will lend additional emphasis to the subject. Photo 2

Pan the camera. Following action and using a slow shutter speed (1/5 second here, but shutter speed should be chosen for the speed of the action) results in a blurred image with some portion recognizably in focus. To pan the camera successfully, find the subject and start panning before tripping the shutter. Note the location of the part of the image you want to remain important and its place in the viewfinder. Keep it there for the duration of the entire pan. It’s also a good idea to pan past the end of the exposure, as you’ll avoid stopping the camera movement too soon.

If you’re working in a basic, automatic camera mode, your built-in flash may pop up. Switch to Tv (Shutter Priority) and set the shutter speed you want. This shot would be just a snapshot if the flash had gone off. 

Wait for the peak of the action. When any object moves back and forth there will be a short time at each end of the arc where some action freezes. Situations like this require a shutter speed fast enough to catch the peak but slow enough to allow faster movement to blur. This hula dancer was photographed under stage light at 1/15 second, f3.5, ISO 400. The Tungsten (Incandescent) white balance preset was also used, along with Continuous Shooting, to increase the chance for a successful image. It’s almost impossible to nail something like this with just one shot.

Watch where you’re going. Whether you’re shooting just to document your trip or to fill your stock files, pay attention to the country you’re driving through and be sure to stop when the scene looks “right” (and it’s safe to do so, of course). As an aside, color is always more saturated after a rain.

Wait for Sweet Light whenever you can, or make sure you’re just out with your camera. At the Magic Hour just before and immediately after sunset colors are warm and rich, and not seen at any other time of the day. First light of dawn is also beautiful, but usually not so intense.

Look down. Great compositions are not always found at eye level. This plant was slightly off the path, but moving the camera closer to it and pointing the lens down in an atypical manner revealed this unusual view.

Isolate details. Much as you would with people, get close to the subject with a longer focal length lens and use an aperture large enough to gently blur the background.

Use local architecture to frame areas of interest. If the exposure had been made for the buildings the resulting overexposure of the landscape would have made a rather ugly picture. The landscape by itself would have been just as dull, given the early morning haze. As it is, the building’s old facades and retrofittings add a sense of interest and antiquity to a very tranquil scene.

Use shadows to your advantage. Since few people like to see people they don’t know in their travel photos (but tourists are everywhere) use building shadows to silhouette your fellow travelers and add visual interest to your shots beyond simple documentation of your location. Also, try to keep your fellow travelers’ backs to you. That makes them even more anonymous.

Anonymous people add interest to patterned compositions. Architecture, and the repetition of detail, presents many opportunities to record line and form and you should certainly take advantage of that whenever possible. Images of this nature, however, are actually improved by the addition of a human being into the shot because the scale of the building becomes apparent as the design becomes humanized. Obviously, it’s not something that can always be controlled, but it certainly should be photographed when it happens.

Use Exposure Compensation to saturate the colors of sunset. Depending on which metering mode you use, you may find it valuable to dial in Exposure Compensation to get even richer colors than may be noted by your eyes.

The first image, shot in Av Mode, did a terrific job of photographing exactly how the sky looked just a few moments before sunset. The second image, made just a few seconds later with a -1 stop Exposure Compensation represents this sunset more as we imagine it. This scene is now transformed into one of those idyllic images we see in our mind’s eyes.

Shoot the icons. In hundreds, if not thousands, of locations around the world there are iconic images that represent the location.

For almost 70 years, the USS Arizona has been leaking a small amount of oil a day since it was sunk at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Arguments have been presented on both sides for stopping it or letting it continue, but the point is that those leaks represent the monument possibly more than the actual monument itself.

Bad weather is your friend. Don’t hunker down in your hotel room, get out there and shoot. This blizzard was a nasty event that lasted the better part of two days, caused me to miss a flight, and basically made my life miserable as far as my actual wedding job was concerned. The bottom line, though, is that it was beautiful in its ferocity.

In between shooting obligations for the actual job, I made several hundred images of this blizzard within just a block or two of my hotel. It was unpleasant, but so what? If the picture’s everything, what’s a little frostbite among friends?

In situations where I’m photographing many items or situations over the course of the day I’ve found it very valuable to also photograph some notes. When I find an item of interest that’s not immediately identifiable I’ll make a note with a black marker in a small notebook that I keep in my gadget bag. The marker makes the note easy to read, even from a catalog thumbnail, and helps tremendously when I need to identify a subject. The best part? It costs nothing to shoot, and the note will stay with the files and any catalog unless you delete it.

You can also take a picture of a menu, napkin, or other identifier to help you keep track of where you where or what you did.

Shoot after sunset but try different presets. Your camera’s sensor is an amazing instrument. Using the Av Mode, the sensor can read and communicate a correct aperture/shutter combination to the processor to produce wonderful images for you, but different Color Balance presets will produce different colors.

You’ll need to use a tripod anyway, so take another minute or two to rack through the choices, just to see what might happen. This first image was made with the Daylight preset, the second with the Incandescent.

Contemporary digital cameras are perfectly capable of metering moonlight as well as sunlight. Should you be lucky enough to see the moon rise behind a nice composition, well, bang away. You may need to do some Exposure Compensation, because the moon will be such a bright spot in the dark heavens, but playing with the camera will be worth the results. Play quickly, though. No celestial object will wait for you.

Always, no matter where you are, keep your eyes open for humorous moments. It doesn’t matter where your sense of humor leads you, your audience will laugh at your ability to see the world the way you do.