Reader's Comments - Index of - Free

Studio Photography
fooled into thinking that it is a brighter light and if the subject is black the meter doesn't recommend
opening up two more f-stops until the subject is rendered as though it were 18% gray.
Though nobody was ever able to figure out how to use it, the standard professional meter for many years
was the Minolta Flashmeter IV. I own one. I think I know what half of the buttons and switches do. I
have two owner's manuals for it. Minolta came out with a completely rewritten one because nobody
could understand the first one. The new Minolta Flashmeter V is better/simpler.
The nicest meter I've used is the Gossen Luna-Star F2. It takes one standard 9V battery that you can buy
anywhere. It only has six buttons and their functions are obvious. I was able to use all but one of the
meter's modes within 60 seconds of putting in the battery without reading the manual. 99% of what
you'd need to know from the manual is printed in four sections on the back of the meter. The meter is
great for computing lighting ratios. You press the measurement button once to take a snapshot reading.
You press and hold it while sweeping the meter around a scene and the Luna-Star F2 draws you a graph
at the bottom of the display of the contrast range (e.g., f8-f16). Every time take a flash reading, the meter
also shows you the ambient reading with an unobtrusive little bar on the same graph. Unlike the Minolta
meters, you don't need a "reflected attachment" and an "incident attachment." The naked meter works to
measure reflected light. Add a plastic incident piece and you can measure incident light. Add a little
viewfinder and you've got a 5 degree spot meter. It is a great design and smaller than competing
products. Nit: It only meters down to EV -2.5. That's a couple of stops less light than most pro SLRs but
not as good as some other handheld meters.
The Background
The basic professional background is seamless paper.
This comes in rolls 53", 107", and 140" wide. I find
the 53" size is too confining and leads to stiff poses
and nasty little slipups where a corner of the frame is
not covered by the background. On the other hand, the
140" size is not really necessary most of the time,
which is why it is only available in a handful of colors.
The 107" width is about 9 feet and that's a good size
for most people. A roll costs about $30 and you should
have white, "studio gray", and black for starters. Every
time I try to use colored seamless, I end up with a
Sears portrait studio look so I've stopped trying. Bogen
makes a nice "Auto Pole" system that lets you mount
several rolls of seamless conveniently (a few hundred
dollars; can even be motorized).
For location work, Photek's Background-in-a-Bag
system is kind of nice. These are big sheets of what looks like crushed velvet that you just duct tape up
http://www.photo.net/studio/primer (8 of 17)7/3/2005 2:18:01 AM