You don’t need a freakin light meter!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to photography lighting forums and found questions about “which type of light meter should I buy”  Here’s the answer, once and for all!  Save your money, and don’t buy any of them.  You don’t need one!  They’re obsolete!

Why photographers use to need a light meter...

Back in the not-so good old days, when the snow was deeper and the hills were steeper, there used to be this thing they called “film”.  You’ve probably heard of it.  It’s the stuff photographers used to put in their cameras to make pictures.  Any way…  That stuff used to be really expensive and to make things worse, you used to have to process the stuff, which made things even more expensive!  And on top of all that, it used to take hours, if not days to even see what the photographer shot!

n those days, it made sense to own an light meter.  It could same you time and more importantly money.  Most photographers used to take light meter readings so that they could determine what the exposure would be.  It saved on shooting pictures that were either over or underexposed. 

Ya see, back then, it was sort of like betting.  Making an exposure was sort of like placing a bet at the track, using real money.  If your exposure was off and the picture didn’t “turn out” you lost your bet (film and processing and any expenses involved in the shoot) and a meter came in really handy for getting you at least close to a good exposure and getting you a good return at the track / shoot. 

Another great tool to the pre-digital photographer was Polaroid film.  Most commercial professionals (like me) used Polaroid test shots to make sure that the shot was looking like they wanted it to before the “real” film was exposed. Using a light meter helped with getting a good initial exposure before the polaroid test prints took over. After that initial light reading, the process of refining the shot was usually made exclusively by interpreting polaroids. At that point, , the light meter was usually abandon until the next setup was begun. So many polaroids were taken that on many shoots, the cost of test polaroids often surpassed the expense of the final fill and processing bill.  Were talking hundreds of dollars.  Even then, the light meter was loosing its importance.

That brings us to today, the good new days.  With today’s digital technology, you simply click the shutter and there ya go…  Instant, cost free, test polaroids (without the Polaroid)  So what if the exposure is wrong?  Shoot another picture, stupid!  :+)  If it’s too dark, adjust.  Too light? Adjust!  What’s the big freakin deal?  Use the histogram as your meter.  If that puppy is over too far to the right, stop down.  If it’s over too far to the left, open up.  Shoot, view, adjust.  Repeat as needed.

Some people might argue, what about light ratios?  How do I know what the light ratios are without a light meter?  WHO CARES!?  If the shadows are too dark, add some fill light!  Too Flat, take some fill away.  You don’t need a light meter, trust me.

I own a couple and I can honestly say, I don’t even know where the things are.  If I did, I’d get my butt on ebay and sell them to some sucker that didn’t read this article.  I don’t know a professional that uses a hand-held light meter anymore. 

I do use a color meter, however.  One thing a three inch camera display is not good at is showing you good color.  I’m not so concerned about the overall color of the shot, because that can be tweaked later, especially if you’re using raw, but the trouble comes when you’re mixing light sources.  That’s some valuable info.  But that’s another article.