EXPOSURE…Mahesh Muthuswami

Exposure:  To meter or not  …

Once upon a time , not very long ago, in a typical film set ;  the shot is made ready and the actors are in position and  the director is about to say  ‘Roll Camera’ ;  the associate to the Cinematographer would jump in to take a final check on the light falling on the actor … The whole set would wait , without batting an eyelid, giving him time to check and make sure that the light level or the exposure is accurate and corresponds to the aperture already set in the camera. That’s the time when, film negatives were used to capture images. So much was at stake at that final meter reading. So many things could go wrong.  An already set-up light  might be mistakenly off ; the actor might not be in the correct mark ; Or may be some additional lights are mistakenly on ;the dimmer level of a light might have accidentally changed ; All these could adversely affect the exposure of the film negative. That final meter reading was the only thing , which could , give a final assurance that the image recorded in the film negative is properly exposed. And the whole set gave that time and respect to that final act of  meter reading. So much importance that meter reading had.

In fact the first thing the assistants to the cinematographer do,  when they enter the set in the morning , is to stick out all their meter together closely, to make sure , all of them are reading the light level as  dot-to-the-same  and  if not , calibrate them immediately.

DIGITAL FILM

Then came the digital image making. And all the great convenience of being able to see the final image on a professional monitor  in the set itself.  And  with it , all the  tools to judge the image exposure accurately  in camera  ;False Color , Zebras ,  Histogram , Goal Post and Traffic Lights

That final jump and light meter reading , before the director says ‘ Roll Camera ‘,  became not so important. Infact today ,  one could see , using a light meter throughout the day , conspicuously very less or absent,  in many a set.

Digital imaging definitely  brings with it lot of convenience , yes.

But does this mean , there is no longer the need to carry a light meter to the shoot ?

Meters are needed

Meters are needed.  Metering might not have that final sacro sanct  respect it used to carry before. But neverthless ,  a light meter is still very much an essential tool  even in this age of digital fimmaking.  A light meter helps you  :

-To light or pre-light a set accurately , even before the cameras arrive and hence to be able to shoot fast.

-To approach lighting in a contrast ratio style.

-To be able to maintain lighting continuity of a scene.

-To light very precisely and have control over different zones in the shot.

-To match shots of a scene , shot at different locations and at different times.

Lighting off,  of the monitor, via the histogram or waveform, does not offer  the same power, efficiencies, or knowledge that one gets from using a meter. Those tools do not offer the same benefits that a meter gives you. So carry and use your meter to the set ,  to make more professional looking images.