Light meter reading questions

I'm shooting outside. My ambient reading is 11.0. To get my BG exposed OK, what should my best ratio fill % numbers be around. I was testing during bright day time in direct sun and had a pretty decent exposure at 80% to 50%

Also have a question about the readings from my meter. My camera and meter are both set to measure at 1/3rd of a stop. My ambient is 11.0 and my flash shows 10.3.
If 1 stop is from 8 to 11 with 9 and 10 being 1/3rd stops, then why would my meter read at 1/3 plus the 3 tenths. When this happens, would the proper exposure be 10.3 = 11 because it's the next step
It's like my meter reads 1/3 of every 3rd 10.1 - 10.2 and 10.3 = 1/3
Am I crazy, or is the meter that accurate

So lets say it reads 10.1 and I want to expose to the bright side. It should be 10.0 until we get to 11.0
If I wanted to expose to the dark side it should be 11.0

Robert, can you help me

This is what I do.. Since you already have a calculated aperture of f/11, put your camera in manual mode and take a reading of the background.. Dial in your shutterspeed until the exposure for the background corresponds to f/11.. This will change depending on the tonality of the background..

Remember,, shutterspeed governs the available light - aperture governs flash exposure..

yogestee wrote in post #10832990
This is what I do.. Since you already have a calculated aperture of f/11, put your camera in manual mode and take a reading of the background.. Dial in your shutterspeed until the exposure for the background corresponds to f/11.. This will change depending on the tonality of the background..

Remember,, shutterspeed governs the available light - aperture governs flash exposure..

Sorry. I should have posted that information as well. I always shoot manual mode. The F11 was ambient light from the sun at 1/160th. My shadows had a spot reading of 3.2 I test exposed my subject at 8, 10, 11 pushing it to 16 and 18 with the flash.
I'm using the Sekonic L-758DR light meter with spot, ambient and flash reading capability. In flash mode it gives a % value of ambient to flash.
I was shooting at 1/160/F11 with fill flash at 50 to 80 % for my tests shots.
Thanks for reminding me about shutter speed and aperture controls

Handheld flash/available meters are a godsend especially if used in incident mode..

The easiest way to calculate fill is to take a meter reading with your camera or handheld meter of the subject first then adjust the flash output so it's two stops or so under the aperture value of the available meter reading..

For example - Your camera exposure is 125th at f/11.. With your flash meter, adjust your flash output to f/5.6 (or there abouts).. Don't alter your shutterspeed..

I hope this helps

yogestee wrote in post #10833101
Handheld flash/available meters are a godsend especially if used in incident mode..

The easiest way to calculate fill is to take a meter reading with your camera or handheld meter of the subject first then adjust the flash output so it's two stops or so under the aperture value of the available meter reading..

For example - Your camera exposure is 125th at f/11.. With your flash meter, adjust your flash output to f/5.6 (or there abouts).. Don't alter your shutterspeed..

I hope this helps

Yep I was wondering what the average ratio should be. Thanks for the help

^^^^^

Glad to help

yogestee wrote in post #10832990
Remember,, shutterspeed governs the available light - aperture governs flash exposure..

Only in manual flash but not TTL.
(I know this thread is about manual flash but others may read this later and fail to realize there is a difference)

yogestee wrote in post #10832990
This is what I do.. Since you already have a calculated aperture of f/11, put your camera in manual mode and take a reading of the background.. Dial in your shutterspeed until the exposure for the background corresponds to f/11.. This will change depending on the tonality of the background..

I disagree. If you've hand metered the ambient at f/11 and have your camera in manual mode you set your shutter speed to the value on your meter.

You don't need to have your camera meter the ambient again and adjust your shutter speed to the camera's metering which changes as you say depending on the tonality of the background. If the f/11 reading had been an incident reading you could use your method to bring the background exposure up to the same point as the exposure on the subject.

RichNY wrote in post #10833265
I disagree. If you've hand metered the ambient at f/11 and have your camera in manual mode you set your shutter speed to the value on your meter.

You don't need to have your camera meter the ambient again and adjust your shutter speed to the camera's metering which changes as you say depending on the tonality of the background. If the f/11 reading had been an incident reading you could use your method to bring the background exposure up to the same point as the exposure on the subject.

I meter using shutter speed as the manual input and let the meter set the aperture. This keeps the flash within the sync limit of the shutter speed, without shooting HSS.
It was set at 1/160th and came back with an F11 aperture based on an incident reading. Then I set my flash to read 8, 10, 11 and pushed it to 16 and 18 just to see how much the BG would drop out. My meter % was reading 50% to 80% for the good BG exposures. The 90% to 100% was really dark.

I have some family group shooting outside at an outdoor wedding and wanted to make sure I got it right before the shoot.

drdiesel1 wrote in post #10833417
I meter using shutter speed as the manual input and let the meter set the aperture. This keeps the flash within the sync limit of the shutter speed, without shooting HSS.
It was set at 1/160th and came back with an F11 aperture based on an incident reading. Then I set my flash to read 8, 10, 11 and pushed it to 16 and 18 just to see how much the BG would drop out. My meter % was reading 50% to 80% for the good BG exposures. The 90% to 100% was really dark.

I have some family group shooting outside at an outdoor wedding and wanted to make sure I got it right before the shoot.

In your original post you mentioned taking an ambient reading and here you are stating you took an incident reading. Can you briefly explain how you metered (I understand the 1/160th /f11 part just not where you were putting and aiming the meter and whether there was flash when you metered)

RichNY wrote in post #10833874
In your original post you mentioned taking an ambient reading and here you are stating you took an incident reading. Can you briefly explain how you metered (I understand the 1/160th /f11 part just not where you were putting and aiming the meter and whether there was flash when you metered)

I did a meter of the sun (ambient) light @ 1/160th and it came back F11.

I did a meter of my flash until I got it to F8, F10 and F11. Then I pushed it to F16 and F18 just to test how dark the BG would get.
I also dropped the flash down to F5.6, but found it to be a little dark for my subject, so the best image was around F10. My subject was a stuffed bear with a tan colored fur. The S/O's not home to test with

What's the difference between Ambient and Incident ?

There was a post while back where the author mentioned how to convert % shown on the seikonic into how much low or more (in stops) flash was compared to the ambient. I had a link but can't find it.

Guess time to do some tests, but I bet Robert will chime in before I get to do something like this.

What I do is take the ambient so it is f11, and I want to keep ambient 1 stop under-exposed, I will want my flash at f16 and shoot at f16.

bobbyz wrote in post #10834157
There was a post while back where the author mentioned how to convert % shown on the seikonic into how much low or more (in stops) flash was compared to the ambient. I had a link but can't find it.

Guess time to do some tests, but I bet Robert will chime in before I get to do something like this.

What I do is take the ambient so it is f11, and I want to keep ambient 1 stop under-exposed, I will want my flash at f16 and shoot at f16.

Good to know. I was shooting at F11 with my flash at F8. I wanted the BG to be visible and not have the sky blown out. I'll try your method and see how it works. Thanks for the info.

drdiesel1 wrote in post #10834217
Good to know. I was shooting at F11 with my flash at F8. I wanted the BG to be visible and not have the sky blown out. I'll try your method and see how it works. Thanks for the info.

My brain isn't quite working for some reason...
Ambient @ F11
Flash @ F8
So you're using ambient as key and flash as fill? And you're trying to figure out the best ambient to flash ratio to get a nice looking sky?

Tawcan wrote in post #10834275
My brain isn't quite working for some reason...
Ambient @ F11
Flash @ F8
So you're using ambient as key and flash as fill? And you're trying to figure out the best ambient to flash ratio to get a nice looking sky?

Group and single portrait outside in direct sunlight