How does one go about matching outdoor day shots? Also what are lightmeters used for? Are they of any use with video?

-- Jim (jamies@optusnet.com.au), January 09, 1999

Answers

As far as matching shots I would suggest making sure your white balance is correctly calibrated for each shot, assuming you have manual white balance. Even sunlight can change your technical consistency from shot to shot if it will take you a while to shoot a particular scene. Also make sure when going from a lighter to darker scene that you don't let the auto exposure or gain create video noise that would be inconsistent with the previous shot. It is best to have a darker picture than to have a noisy one. One other thing I can think of is if you shoot with the sun to your left or right, the subject can tend to be too dark on the other side. You can use artificial light or some sort of reflector to add more light to the darker side. I have heard that white styrofoam works well. I don't have a lightmeter but I'm sure they are useful for video as well as film when you want to light a scene like a pro.

-- Steve Shortridge (Steve@DigiScape.com), February 12, 1999.