Spot Meters necessary for landscapes and oceans???

[gene_can_sing]

Hi,

I just recently got a Beaulieu 4008ZM2 and have been shooting mostly human subjects and using a sekonic Incident meter. The results have been very nice.

However, I really want to shoot some landscapes and oceans (specifically surfing). I don't have a lot of experience shooting film and I usually shoot reversal film.

Do I need to a Spot Meter to get an accurate reading of the landscape or ocean? I've heard that the in-camera Beaulieu light meter is not accurate, so it's not something I can rely on. Is this true?

The big hurdle is the Sekonic Spot meter is SUPER expensive, otherwise I would have one.

Are there any tricks to using an Incident meter to shooting landscapes and oceans?

[christoph]

Are there any tricks to using an Incident meter to shooting landscapes and oceans?

hiya,

jup, if your internal meter is working ok then you can just zoom on a important area of average brightness, then lock the aperture and zoom out to your original framing..

you can also measure some different objects in the frame (sky, grass, peoples face, water) and make an average out of it. after a while you get a feeling how much under or over a certain object should register.

hope that helps
++ christoph ++

[fogo]

I know theres a few people n the site who surf and shoot so im sure you have lots of help on this one.

My advice would be to scout out breaks well in advance..and preferably before u hear that last minute surf report predicting great swell thats only a few hours away. Ur also going to be dealing with some wildly different light values and this may affect what you want to shoot, from lots of souly sunset silhouettes to picking up agonising face detail as someone goes over the falls...

As far as metering goes i havent gotten into it yet. The best results ive had are to shoot at breaks which geographically have good natural lit surfer rather than silhouette lighting, especially in that just post sunrise period...shooting cross shore from the East..with a good enought zoom, i can get a type of spot reading from my internal meter, and compare that with any heavy areas of reflected light...im not saying metering isnt the way forward, but personally i found there was so many other variables going on it paid to put some head time into scouting out first and organising a suitable lens - and almost certainly a shade before worrying too much, its a fast action sport and weather can change pretty quick, leat here in south uk
ade

[mattias]

hey, fellow surfer and former snowboard photographer here. the light is usually the same level on the beach as in the water, it's just the reflections that are different but an incident meter wouldn't take that into account even if you paddled out to take your reading. so just take an incident reading as close to the water as possible and you'll be fine. with reversal film you have to decide what to expose for, since the contrast is way too high on the beach. if you want detail in the foam you have to underexpose, and if you want to see the surfers you have to overexpose. you really need to just experiment. as for landscapes you can usually measure the light where you're standing, unless the weather conditions are very different. i tend to use my built in meter though. good luck.

/matt

[T-Scan]

With an incident meter, the same light is falling on you, that is falling off in the distance.

[mattias]

With an incident meter, the same light is falling on you, that is falling off in the distance.

well, if it is it is, otherwise not. reflections, shade, haze and many other things are at play here.

/matt