Averaging exposure for studio shoot using light meter

When we need to use the light meter to average out the exposure setting?

Not exactly average out the lights, but if you use a fill light on top of the main, the combine exposure will be higher than the main light. Like if you have the main at f8, fill at f5.6, the final combined meter read will be f9, or f10.

danielyamseng wrote in post #6024683
When we need to use the light meter to average out the exposure setting?

Usually, getting multiple light meter readings and averaging them out is done when the exposure for the scene is difficult to determine with just one reading like, for example, a landscape where the lighting has a very wide dynamic range.

You would need to put the light meter in reflected light metering mode and then spot meter the different parts of your scene from the darkest to the lightest (just the areas for which you want to retain details). Some meters, like the Sekonic L-558R, can memorize the different readings you take and then average out the readings for the camera. The 1D-series cameras also has this feature (it can meter 8 points and then calculate the average).