hair light -- where to point the incident meter?

[christopher_giglio]

I've seen some questions and answers regarding how to calculate

lighting ratios, but I'm a little unclear on where to point the

incident meter when dealing with a hair light or a kicker: if I want

the hairlight to read one stop over key, for example, to measure the

hairlight, do I point the dome directly back at the light (the base

of the dome is pointed away from the camera) to measure the light

output of the lamp, or do I point the dome directly upwards (in other

words, the base of the dome is parallel to the floor) over the

subject's head to measure the light falling on the hair, or do I

angle the dome towards the camera to get a sense of the light

reflected back to camera? I've read some discussion of the relation

between key and fill, but I'm not sure how to apply the theory to

light which illuminates the subject from a more extreme angle. Thanks

in advance.

Chris

[ellis_vener_photography]

Point the dome in the direction the light is coming from.

[maury_cohen]

I measure the Hhair light with the dome facing the hair light and measure the main with the dome facing the main. With both at the same f-stop the hair light will appear brighter as it's skimming the hair at flatter angle.

[ronald_moravec1]

As Ellis told you. The trick is knowing how much to compensate for black or blond hair. It also depends on how fluffy the hair is. Fluffy can take more tan flat hair.

[hellobob]

i point dome straight up above head and i shield the dome from the key strobe. also i find that 1 stop is too much in general. i usually look for a reading about 1/3 stop greater than key.

[garry edwards]

Interesting question, no simple answer though.

 

Ellis is right, but sometimes you might want a greater or lesser effect, and the nature of incident light measurement means that you'll have to guess at the effect that any given exposure will have on different hair types.

 

For example, an incident reading will give, say, 1 stop over - but on natural blond hair in good condition 1 stop is a hellover lot, on afro hair it will hardly register. What I'm trying to say, in a long-winded way, is that reflective readings can be much better for hair measurement

[pboraschi]

Here's a system that works:

 

My meter is set to ISO 100 and I shoot at 1/125- f16

Main light for your subject at the left side of your camera at f16

Your kicker (behind your subject's left shoulder/head and as high as possible

and not in camera view), between f5.6-f8. If you see the kicker in your view

finder use a flag to hide it.

You can use a background light aimed at your wall or background between

f11-f11.5 to create separation and add to the shot.

 

A fill on the left side of your subject to brighten the shadows can also help.

 

Both your backgound and kicker will need grids so you can control the

dispersion of light. Play with the positioning of your main light untill your

happy with what you see!

 

This is what I used for my angel shot :

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?topic_id=1481&msg_id=00AUNP&

photo_id=2968700&photo_sel_index=0

 

Hope this helps

 

Pascal

[twmeyer]

Here's the issue that all these posts are dancing around... a meter is just a measuring device that records data. It is up to you to apply your knowledge of that collected data to make your wise choice of interpretive camera settings. <p>Measure each light (without influence from other lights!), set how much power is suited to your subject, set the canmera's controls, make your exposure.<p>But as Ellis said in the very first post in this thread; <b>measure</b> the light by pointing the dome at the light you want to <b>measure</b>. Then figure out what to do with that measurement... t<div></div>