4 Types of Fotometers for Photography

Whether you’re a professional photographer or a point-and-shoot hobbyist, you probably know that light is the most important ingredient to an excellent picture. You can have a beautiful subject that’s surrounded by breathtaking scenery, but too much or little luminescence can render an image completely useless. One way to ensure proper exposure is through the use of a fotometer, which measures the lighting in the frame so you can adjust your settings to compensate. While there are plenty of other research applications for this technology, here are four different fotometers that are used by photographers.

 

Hand-Held

 

This piece of equipment is standard in a professional photographer’s bag, as it allows him or her to spot check various places in a frame for hot and cold spots by measuring the waves that are reflected from an object. It can also help the shooter analyze the intensity of the flash to see if it needs to be cranked up or dialed back. As you move this device around in the proposed scene, the readout will tell you the appropriate shutter speed, aperture and sensitivity levels to create the perfect image. 

 

Built-In

 

From professional-grade units to basic point-and-shoot devices, all digital cameras come with at least some sort of basic fotometer built in to the circuitry. When shooting in fully-automatic mode, this component communicates with the camera’s central processing unit to create the setup for a properly-exposed picture. While this does provide a measure of convenience to many photographers, it’s important to realize that there are drawbacks to the technology, which is why many professionals use the hand-held variety.

 

Incident-Light

 

This design works in a similar manner to the hand-held models, but it provides even more information to the photographer. Instead of measuring the waves that are reflected back from a particular object, this device takes a reading of the light that actually falls on the surface. This can be especially useful when dealing with things that are made of materials that don’t reflect well. You can even use them in a test shot to measure how your flashes will affect the scene.   

 

Color

 

While white light is what most people see in everyday life, it’s important to know that the spectrum breaks down into all of the colors of the rainbow. Whenever you see a particular hue, those specific wavelengths are either being emitted or reflected from that object, which makes your brain interpret red, purple, blue or any other tint. Color-sensitive fotometers measure the intensity of reflection or emission like other devices, but they also analyze the depth of color that could show up in your scene. Balance is the key to a good picture, which is why it’s important to get a good idea of every object’s coloration.

 

Understanding the Science of Light

 

These are four of the more common fotometer devices used by photographers, but there are plenty of other applications for this technology. From firefighting and astronomy to food production and biochemistry, light measurement can serve a variety of functions. Whether you’re a hobbyist or a professional, you can use this science to take better pictures.