Light Meter and Balancing

[mrbeagle]

hey all,
just got a new sekonic 358 flash meter. When doing a shoot at the beach let's say you expose for the background and until now I've been putting the flash on the foreground and playing around to see what comes out best. When I get back to the big monitor I'm not always happy.

What is the best way to use the light meter to make sure the foreground is properly balanced with the exposed background?

thanks!

[Lotto]

I would use the camera in M mode to meter the background(sky/water), under expose it by 1-2 stop. Take the Av from the camera, use the L358 to dial-in the flash to that aperture.

[Curtis N]

"Properly balanced" is a matter of opinion and artistic intent.

What are you not happy about? Is the background exposure not what you wanted, or the subject exposure wrong?

[mrbeagle]

I think I'm just hitting too much of the foreground exposure, so it looks good on my little lcd, then when I get home it looks like I photoshopped them in the background :)

[poloman]

When you test fire your flash and take a reading the L-358 will display the percentage of the exposure that is flash in the upper right hand corner. You can rotate the jog wheel now to change the percentage. Experiment with different percentages until you find a percentage value that you like. The information is in the manual but it isn't the clearest manual I have ever read. It is a great meter though :)
From your latest comment it looks like you would like a lower percentage of flash than you have been using.

[Curtis N]

Another issue that can make outdoor flashed images look "faked" is when the color temperature of the ambient light doesn't resemble that of the flash. Using various CTO gels on the flash is recommended in the early morning and late afternoon to rectify this.

[mrbeagle]

hmmm yea curtis that's probably what the problem was more than anything.

here are the pics
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1053/1453752036_da20d8a533.jpg?v=0

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1169/1455977496_f8eed9d916.jpg?v=0

[Curtis N]

Those really don't look too bad. They look flashed but they don't look photoshopped.

In the second image the flash doesn't cover their lower legs which makes it more obvious.

It would probably help to expose the background a little brighter, too.

[mrbeagle]

ok I used a light meter last night and was a lot happier with the results. My keeper ratio jumped and I didn't have to fudge around. These were shot with one 580exII in an umbrella camera left and one sunpack 383 flash snooted fired high over the subject's shoulder.

http://plushimages.net/clients/molly/images/tractor.jpg

http://plushimages.net/clients/molly/images/wheel2.jpg

[Lotto]

Magnificent!

[Curtis N]

Yes, those are really nice, Mrbeagle.
What was the ambient/flash ratio?

[mrbeagle]

since it was my first time with the meter I'm still learning it but basically all I did was expose for the background, then set up my flash with umbrella, held the meter up to her cheek, fired the flash and adjusted the power until the shutter/aperture matched my camera exposure for the background. The with the high snooted light I metered it a stop above the overall exposure.

not sure what ratio that'd be, 1:1 I guess?

[Curtis N]

Ok, so your model was in the shade, you metered the sunny background and then adjusted the flash to bring up the subject lighting to match the background?

Sounds good, and it obviously worked well.

[mrbeagle]

yep, that's exactly it Curtis.

[coolmonk]

Wow...those two photos have excellent lighting.

[mrbeagle]

Wow...those two photos have excellent lighting.

it's all thanks to strobist and reading curtis's posts actually :)

[poloman]

Nice Job mrbeagle!! :)