Proper Way to Hold Light Meter to Get Foot Candle Readings

When you're taking meter readings on a sentry and you're trying to figure out how many fixtures you demand to get your desired stop, what are y'all using to look at lights? human foot candles/photo metrics?

First of all, feel is absolutely everything! You can go through all of the lessons, all of the courses and film school and they will give you lot a practiced ground (Hurlbut Academy will requite yous an splendid basis, but I'grand biased). Nonetheless, ultimately by doing, by making mistakes and by learning from them, yous're going to go ameliorate. Make more mistakes – learn more – get amend – repeat.

The best DPs in the world accept got to where they have through constantly experimenting with what calorie-free works where and when and having their light meters ready to figure out how .

You have to practice 2 things:

1. Piece of work out the intensity of calorie-free you crave
2. Find the right light fixtures and work out the right distance that will provide that intensity.

I proceed foot candles , that'due south the best way to gauge lite. Most of the manufacturers when you lot're looking at their spec sheets accept it measured in foot candles (FC).

Foot-candles are the unit of measurement for calorie-free intensity (or illuminance ). Call up this : one foot-candle is the illuminance produced by a standard candle that is one foot away from the Discipline.

Illuminance is the measurement of lite reaching the field of study not the low-cal reflected from it (which is called luminance). Illuminance can besides be measured in the SI unit of Lux.

Mole Richardson created this awesome, monster volume with specs in it and as a gaffer, that was one of the starting time things I bought. I recollect walking into the Mole Richardson shop and buying this thing that's literally four inches thick!

It had tons of pictures and detailed specs and in the "illumination tables" it shows what light intensity you're going to get at 10 feet away, 100 feet abroad and 150 feet away. It's one of the things I used religiously!

When I walk into a room that has beautiful exposure, my light meter is directly out, I'k recording the Human foot Candle and I'm doing my calculations for what I need to exercise to emulate it. Then it'due south in the memory banking company for the remainder of your career!

As much every bit I love to teach and as much equally you can learn from me at Hurlbut Academy (biased but truthful), equally DPs, we are creatives and nosotros are scientists. We accept to experiment so we can do with light what Chefs do with food and Artists practise with pigment. We take to constantly be creating recipes while learning the techniques to make them better .

When I was a Gaffer, I learned everything I perhaps could from my mentors Herb Ritts, Daniel Pearl and Kevin Kerslake . Throughout the commercials, the photo shoots and the music videos that I did with them, I was a sponge, soaking in every ready and edifice that feel and then I knew what units worked best.

In 2009 (only over a decade ago) when I was brought onto Terminator Salvation, the Managing director McG said, "nosotros're going to light 50 acres, and these two characters are gonna have to run almost a mile through this minefield!" I was like, "Whoa, what am I gonna utilise to light that?"

And so I went to my Mole Richardson book again. I opened up the 24 lite Dino, and I started to do calculations with foot candles…

What I figured out, is that if I put two 24 light dinos into a Condor that was over 450 feet abroad, I was going to become my i.5 as my backlight.

Additionally, I always like my backlight to be a stop and a one-half below my key. If I'g exposing at a 2 so a 1.five is absolutely perfect for a backlight on a moonlit nighttime.

What I employ:

These are the things that you lot can exercise using those human foot candles. You're able to go to your meter and measure out it all out. Exist careful though, because there's only a few meters that do this.

The Spectra is is 1 of them.

How I use it:

1. Set the Spectra to Foot Candles (FC) on a button. You can meter it in lux, only I want to meter in foot candles.
2. Take a look at what I'm seeing –

I'chiliad loving the light on my face. I love how, in the room, you lot're seeing darkness around me. Then this light is coming through the window and information technology'due south balanced to the background!

three. I meter it – information technology's 92 foot candles .

4. Because I'm using ND, I'yard going to change the ISO to 800.

five. That's basically measuring an 8 (T-cease) on my face.

half dozen. So, I need to take a low-cal that's going to be able to emulate that soft light I take coming through here for it to exist an 8 (because that is going to be 92 foot candles) .

seven. Then now the game I play is "what lite tin I bounce off something to recreate what is happening right here? What can I bounce off to give me this beautiful soft low-cal on my face up? How can I emulate that and get exactly 92 pes candles?" (Information technology'southward not exactly Heads Upwardly with the whole family unit, but it'south a fun game if you love cinematography!).

This is what I do all the time! Lydia'south constantly similar "what are y'all doing with that light meter?" because I'll see something, I'll meter it and and so I'll meet how many foot candles it is!

These are the kind of things that you want to be doing to keep to explore and brainwash yourself. I'g bringing experience like above and more that I have gained from my mentors (who gained it from many many others) so that you lot can propel yourselves frontwards, train your center, can empathize what the measurements are, read a spec folio and develop your own recipe book.

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Source: https://www.filmmakersacademy.com/foot-candles-the-best-way-to-gauge-light/