I needed a manual incident flash meter to use at my first wedding. This is what I bought. I also used it to meter incident ambient light, one of the most reliable ways to meter that is not influenced by the reflectivity of the subject.

An incident light meter is simple to use. Just set the ISO/ASA, point the white dome at the most important light source, and spin the dial until the red needle is on zero. Them look at all the aperture and shutter speed combinations that will work. In this case, a shutter sped of 1/125 second at an aperture between f/1.4 and f/2, all the way to a shutter speed of 1 second and an aperture between f/16 and f/22.

I have a fancier digital light meter with more bells and whistles, but I still like the way this meter works. I created this image to be published in my photography book in the well known Dummies series. This is my favorite image for June 1.

Links

Series: Favorite Photos by Date – all about this series

Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies