Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I have 3 einsteins. I use one as my main light, one as my fill light and my 3rd einstein I have inside a 7 x 8 ft lastolite illuminated background. My question is when I use my cyber commander to do the metering, I stand at the subject position (in front of the lastolite) pointing at the camera position and then meter light 1, followed by light 2. Then before I meter ALL I meter my third light (with the CC still pointing at the camera). Of course the 3rd light is inside the lastolite behind me. I am wondering if I should even meter the 3rd background light before I meter ALL? It doesn't give me much of a value. Any ideas or thoughts?

thanks...Keith

What you are doing is metering the light falling on the back of your subject, which is useful information. Too much light will yeild blown out highlights on the back and edges of your subject. However, this will not tell you how bright the background is, because it is being back lit. From the plane of the hilite to your subject, the light will fall off. I have found metering with the dome right against a translucent material to be accurate.

I just tested this with a softbox and CC. Setting the camera to the CC's readings gave me blinkies for blown out whites, where as a 1/3 stop down did not give me the blinkies. Backing off by 8 feet or so gave me a 1.5 stop difference in metering. This will change based on distance and size of the hilite.

Thanks...Keith