There are two main reasons why you don't need a light meter and in this video I'm
going to explain why I haven't used one for 15 years and why my work is better
for it. I'll show you that many photographers
who use light meters essentially don't really understand light.
Now I'm not saying you can't use light meters if you really want to I'm only
here to explain why for me they are a waste of money and can negatively affect
my creativity. Please watch on if you're willing to
keep an open mind. First let's look a little bit further back in time. I first
became a working professional photographer back in the mid 90s and I
opened my first studio around 1997. Back then a Minolta for light meter was an
essential piece of my kit, in fact I wouldn't have been able to work without
one. The simple reason was that back then in the days of film, without a light
meter you'd be shooting blind even when you were able to swap the five by four
inch film backs temporarily for a Polaroid check shot, you'd still rely on
a light meter to get you in the ballpark before you started wasting time and
costly polaroid test shots. So I used a light meter professionally for at least
11 years from 1994 to 2005 and then in 2005 I stopped. This abrupt stop came
exactly when I purchased my first digital camera, a Hasselblad 22 megapixel
H1. A camera that finally delivered close to the quality of my Mamiya 6 by 7
centimeter medium format film camera but not quite the quality of my 5 by 4 inch
Sinar film camera. This cessation of light meter use came about because now I
could see my images instantly because I'd switch to a predominantly tethered
shooting setup with high resolution preview shots and the ability to measure
exposure values on screen. There was no longer need for a light meter anymore
than there was need for Polaroid test shots. When working with digital images
or film that has been scanned we are dealing with the three additive color
channels of red, green and blue and each of those colors has a value of between 0
and 255. At red 0 green 0 and blue 0 we have pure black and RGB 255,
we have pure white. On a tethered setup, any one pixel can be measured to
reveal its combination of values that equates to anything from pure black to
pure white, or grey or a choice of thousands of hues at seven hundred and
sixty five different luminosity values. Those combined hues and luminosity
values create color and in a digital image with a total of about sixteen
million choices. To give you an idea of the accuracy with most light meters like
my old Minolta for I could measure light in increments of about 1/10 of an f-stop,
however a 1 RGB value change is around one thirtieth of an f-stop change
therefore by measuring RGB values on screen I have a greater degree of
accuracy and I can record those values precisely to match against a future
recreation of a photograph if necessary. So the repeatability argument also goes
out of the window for light meters BUT (and this is a big but) even with those
enhanced levels of measuring accuracy, that's not why I stopped using a light
meter. Two reasons why you don't need a light meter for digital photography. The
two most important reasons I stopped using light meter are actually
creativity and speed. Many people claim that a light meter helps them get in the
ballpark quicker when setting up their lights. For me that isn't the case, the
actual time it takes to measure with a light meter and fire the flashes is
longer than taking a test shot and in nearly all cases I can evaluate the
light visually or from an RGB measurement on screen and arrive at the
desired flash exposure within one or two more test shots without having to
measure again and again. This is made even more efficient from the fact I
could even control the flash power of each flash from my tethered shooting
panel I wanted to. So for me the answers of
speed and efficiency of the argument for light meter use are totally nonsense
but again that's still not my main reason for stopping shooting using a
light meter. My main reason is creativity - Let's explore this further. What is
creativity in photography? Well from my perspective it's many things. It is the
photographer's ability to solve problems and find solutions.
It's the decision-making that will arrive at an image that delivers
information and invokes emotion. It is the knowledge of human visual perception
that dictates how a viewer will process an image in their visual cortex and how
their visual systems perceive attributes like contrast and color and how the
arrangement of the image and choice of subject will contribute to the
effectiveness of that process. This is the process where science meets art and
it is a complex one that Tim Flack and I have explored, in depth, in our workshop
'A Visual Journey'. So why should that negate my requirement for a light meter? Well to
put it simply, it's a bit like letting the plane fly on autopilot or letting
artificial intelligence write a story for you. It takes away or reduces one's
ability to make decisions based purely on the emotional reaction and for me
this is very important. Take for example a recipe created using only the exact
correct amount of ingredients or a painting created in a color by numbers
process. In such cases the same result will be arrived at every time because
that's what you've been told to do. Using a light meter is like being told what to
do and when you are told what to do, you already have committed mentally to
arrive at a particular look and with a bias of belief that that's what it
should be. For me that destroys creativity and I wouldn't be able to
produce the type of work that I do. My very process of working is a visual
one. I'm making many of my decisions based on instinct and knowledge of the
level of light that works visually. Photography of course is a visual art
and its effectiveness is driven by a photographer's ability to deliver
information, invoke emotion and hold the viewers attention. My creativity works
better when I make all of those decisions based on visual feedback
through my eyes and visual cortex and my assessment of emotional perception and
as such, I prefer to start every image I create without any bias or opinion that
a light meter might offer. I'm in control of the image, not the machine. A light
meter can in many cases be misleading and lead you on a wrong path. If you
don't believe me, watch the video or just read some of the comments from those
that have viewed this particular video about using light meters. Learning to
look at an image and say, let's drop a stop and a half, and then fine-tuning it
until it looks right is key, because when you add your next light it will also
affect the first light so you should constantly reassess the image visually
and in doing so it will teach you to take full creative control and save time
and it can be done even with a small preview screen on the back of the camera
and the histogram if you're not shooting tethered. Now of course I'm not saying
you can't use a light meter, hey if it makes you happy and you think it
impresses your clients then please go ahead my opinion is only in my opinion
but I do think as an experienced photographer and trusted educator that
previously used a light meter for the first half of my career but then haven't
used one for what I consider to be the better half a more creative part of my
career then I think I'm speaking with good authority. You will find that some
of the best photographers in the business also don't use light meters
unless they're shooting film. I've demonstrated this
to many photographers and they've tried it and they became better photographers
for it. Get my completely FREE photography course with no signup
required. You can also access our FREE 90-page eBook. Just click the link or go to
KarlTaylorEducation.com