Where do you point your Incident meter?

[lex_jenkins]

Jim Doty's bona fides are on the "about" page of

his "rather boringly designed website." His

credits should be easy enough to verify since he

uses his real name.

[Uhooru]

<blockquote>

<p align="LEFT">"Where you point the dome depends on which side of your subject you want to be normally exposed. For me, that usually means I point the white dome at the primary (brightest) light source.</p>

</blockquote>

<p align="LEFT">No that is wrong! Again, from the Sekonic web site (the makers of the meter)</p>

<blockquote>

<p align="LEFT">When you are taking an incident reading from the subject’s position, the meter should be held so that the white dome faces the camera lens, not the light source. This ensures that the light strikes the dome exactly as it is falling upon the subject. For example, if you are photographing a face that is side lit, as with the young Indian girl in the photo below, the light must hit the meter from the side. Hence, the dome must face the lens just like the subject’s face does. By positioning the meter correctly, you will allow it to calculate the exposure correctly, regardless of the colors or the reflectivity of the subject.</p>

</blockquote>

<p align="LEFT"> </p>

 

[richard_wrede]

<p>On Vacation, Gossen Digisix2 meter Incident reading pointing AT camera. These came out perfect and are exactly how it looked that day.<br>

1957 Canon L2 with Canon 50mm 1:1.8 lens. These images came out better than the ones with my Digital camera<br>

<img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7587/17094953715_da8317d464_z.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="391" /><br>

<img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7724/17094953025_9eafaf4657_z.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="388" /></p>

[jeremy_wakefield]

<p>Seems to me that this problem crops up lots of times because a few "trainers" are giving people wrong information. It is then propagated by people who have not actually tested it thoroughly and becomes a theoretical debate based on not much practical experience.<br /> In many cases the differences between pointing at the light source and pointing at the camera will not be dramatic and differences are "finessed" by the photographer who assumes he is simply adjusting to taste<br /> A common error people make is believing that pointing the light at the camera means you are measuring light coming from that (the camera's ) direction. this is not true. What you are getting is an accurate measurement of all the light from every angle which is falling on the subject <em>and which the camera can see from it's position.</em> That is what you want to measure.<br /> If you point it at the key then you miss everything else that is contributing to the exposure. You then have to start faffing about as Pete has described above adjusting by however much you need to, in order to overcome the false reading you have introduced. If you need to do that, then why bother with the meter in the first place.<br /> For decades the correct way is to point at camera position but now we have the internet and everyone has a theory we're getting confused.<br>

EDIT of course you may or may not decide to over/underexpose for artistic effect and that is a discretionary affair</p>