The day I learned my light meter was lying to me for years

I was out in Golden Gate Park last month shooting some old storefronts on my Pentax K1000 when I kept getting these blown out negatives. Every roll came back way overexposed even though my handheld meter said f/11 at 125. I figured maybe the camera was broken or something. Then a guy at the lab asked if I was pointing the meter at the sky. Turns out I had been taking reflective readings of the whole scene instead of metering off a gray card or the shadows. All those years I thought I was nailing exposure but I was just guessing wrong. Now I meter the ground or use a gray card and my shots actually look like what I see. Has anyone else found out they were using a tool wrong the whole time? What tipped you off?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth_gonzalez1d ago

Wait, you mean you can't just point the meter at the sun and hope for the best? That's literally how I've been doing it for the last ten years. I figured if the meter gave a number, that was the gospel truth. It took me a solid year of terrible landscapes before a friend finally watched me meter a parking lot and asked if I was trying to photograph the asphalt for a living. Now I just carry a gray card in my back pocket and look like a total nerd, but at least my shadows aren't completely black anymore. Honestly, I'm still mad nobody told me this sooner. It's like finding out you've been holding a hammer by the wrong end.

wesley8011d ago

Oh man, I've been there too, it's frustrating when you realize the obvious thing you missed for years.