How to Read an Internal Light Meter

Your camera's meter assumes that the average subject reflects about 18 percent of the light that hits it. Unless you have strong lighting from behind your subject or a spotlight, that assumption works well.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Cameras
• Film
• Light Meter

1. Look through the viewfinder at your subject. Notice very dark or very light areas and keep in mind that metering on those will affect the overall exposure.
2. Press the button part way down so that the meter shows up in the viewfinder. Depending on the style of meter your camera uses, you will see blinking or solid numbers, dots or lines. A blinking display indicates that the lighting isn't right.
3. Adjust the shutter speed or aperture and meter again until the display no longer blinks.

Tips & Warnings

• Meter the darkest and lightest spots if you have a picture with high contrast. Reading from a darker area will give a brighter exposure and more shadow details; reading from lighter areas will bring out detail and result in an overall darker picture.
• Bracket your shots. Take the picture at the suggested f-stop, plus a stop above and below that.
• Polarizing filters reduce the light entering the lens by one to two stops. If your camera meters through the lens, be sure to put the filter on first.
• Be sure that your film-speed setting (ASA or ISO) matches the speed of your film.

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