Datasheet

■ BASIC DIGITAL CAPTURE WORKFLOW

Fluorescent Lighting Shooting a test under fluorescent lighting is almost not worth the

effort, because each uncontrolled situation you encounter will be different. Also,

fluorescent lighting is a really unbalanced spectrum with big gaps and spikes in the

frequencies represented. These situations almost always require some selective color

correction in Photoshop after processing, so the kind of calibration you achieve here

will be of limited use. If you frequently must shoot under a specific fluorescent light-

ing condition, then you can test for that—similar precautions against shadows and

uneven illumination will apply.

Shooting to Bracket the Exposure Range

The idea is to shoot a wide bracket around the expected best exposure to determine

the actual best exposure. Set your camera on manual and, if possible, change only its

shutter speed to shoot the bracket.

Note: As you may remember, back in the days of film we were told to bracket using f-stops because

shutter speeds were not as accurate. Digital capture works differently. The exposure is timed electronically

not by a mechanical shutter; in fact, there is no curtain shutter—just a mirror that has to move away. Lens

f-stops will vary slightly from lens to lens and also, just slightly, across their range. So, the shutter speed is

the most consistent way to bracket a continuous light source—you only need to use f-stops for flash.

Use the lowest default ISO setting for your camera. A hand-held light meter

works best; a spot meter would be ideal. I use a combo meter that is capable of incident

and spot reading in continuous as well as ﬂash lighting (Figure 1.8). The spot meter

has the advantage of being able to measure the value of the mid-gray patch (third from

the right in the bottom row of patches) from the camera position (Figure 1.9).

Figure 1.8

Sekonic L-758DR Digital Master meter

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