Lightmeters

Lightmeters are used to measure the intensity of the light, to achieve the correct exposure for your photograph. All lightmeters read mid grey, so you use a grey card to get the first reading and calculate your settings with that in mind. There are two types of lightmeters;

Reflective:

this measures the light reflected by the scene to be photographed. All in camera meters are reflected light meters. They are calibrated to show the appropriate exposure for "average" scenes.                                                                           

You take the meter reading at the camera, measuring the light bouncing around the subject.

Incident:

This reads the intensity of the light falling on the subject and is taken from the subjects position. Because they are not affected by varancies in subject colour or reflectance. incident meters accurately record the amount of light falling on the subject. These are also handheld devices.

You take the reading of the light directly on the subject.



Spotmeters:
This is a meter that measures reflected light from a small part of a scene. Reflective light meters read 25 to 30 degrees, whereas spot meters only read 1 to 5 degrees.