How to Use a Light Meter (In Two Videos)

Many photographers may think that a light meter is a relic of a bygone era when in-camera metering was impossible or utterly unreliable. But as noted fashion and celebrity photography Frank Doorhof has highlighted, a camera’s LCD display and histogram won’t always tell you the whole story of how light is behaving in your image. To get reliable results, you need to meter your lighting.

Just how to do that is the subject of this new video below from Adorama. In it, photographer Daniel Norton walks you through the basics of metering with a Sekonic 758. It’s a good primer to get you up to speed on what a light meter does and how best to put it to good use.

If you need to get up to speed on light metering for video and filmmaking applications, this tutorial (produced by Sekonic) is also useful.

Learn More About Studio Lighting:

What You Need to Know About Light Ratios

Your Complete Guide to Light Modifiers

8 Tips for Lighting Video the Right Way

Take a Great Portrait With Just One Light