Lighting & Meters

There are a few different options when it comes to camera lighting. There are lights that literally fit onto your camera, but these aren’t very bright or extravagant lights. There are smaller lights that go behind or beside your camera to light up your subject, if you’d like just a little addition to your studio. There are large lights that once again go behind your camera (so they’re out of sight), but they’ll light up your subject dramatically. There are basic camera lights, such as a face light, a body light, and a background light. These are all separate. The background light shouldn’t be very bright, because you want to keep your main focus on your subject. The body light should be brighter than the background light, because it’s part of your subject. A hair light also fits into this category. Hair lights accent and highlight the hair. The face light should be the brightest, but not too bright. The face light is also very carefully positioned; if the face light is too far up, it can create undesirable shadows on the face. If the light is too bright, it can cause your subject to squint.

Camera Lighting Kits

You can buy some camera lighting kits to help you with lighting your studio. These kits can include small lights, usually that fit onto your camera, meters, which can assist you in measuring how you want your photo exposure, and accessories such as gels, which can help you add your own unique character to your photos. These kits can be kind of expensive, so you’ll want to make sure that it is absolutely necessary that you buy it. You don’t want to make an unnecessary investment. However, even if you don’t need everything that comes in a kit, it can still be useful. Small lights that go onto your camera (that usually compromise for the camera flash) can be very convenient when needing only a little extra light.

Digital Camera Light Meters

If you want to measure your exposure with a digital camera, you’ll need a digital meter, which is normally used with a computer. You could use it manually, but it’ll be easier to use the computer because using a meter requires mathematical calculations. The computer will measure and calculate your meter automatically. Some meters can plug into your computer, and other meters come with software that you install onto your computer. When you install the software and use the meter, you can enter the meter’s data into the computer and the software will automatically analyze it for you.