American cinematographer (Oct 1933)

222 American Cinematographer • October 1933 Exposure Meters Become Professional by Clyde DeVinna, A. S. C.* Y of it. It is not fool proof . . . that is you have mean stick to its readings and your interpretations of it. It is not fool proof . . . that if you have to treat it with a reasonable amount of respect. Don’t expect it to give you the correct reading if you do not aim it correctly. I use the word aim . . . because I believe it is the most descriptive word of what you really do with an exposure meter that I could employ. No exposure meter has “ouija” board proclivities You have to understand it the same as an engineer must understand his slide rule . . . only it is not so difficult to understand as the slide rule. If you do not point the lense of the camera at the picture you want to secure you are not going to get that picture . . . you’ll get the picture the eye of the camera saw. If you don’t point your exposure meter at the picture you intend to take, you will naturally get a different reading than the one which is correct. It’s for this reason I say stick to your exposure meter. Possibly you will find that there is a variation in the reading and the results. Well, that’s your correction factor for the way you use the meter. If you use it consistently in that way that is going to be your correction factor all the way through. I claim the meter is not wrong . . . it’s the operator that is wrong. You didn’t learn photography the first time you clicked a trigger or pressed a button. Your exposure meter is mechanical, but still it must be studied, you must become familiar with its mechanical operation. There are two basis types of exposure meters that have come to my attention the one using the photoelectric cell and the other using what is termed the “light wedge.” I am not going into the technical description of these meters or into their relative merits. I know people who swear by both types. It is generally believed that the professional cameraman feels himself above exposure meters. This is hardly true today. I know that on the lot at the MCM studios there are several of the best men using them. Charlie Clarke, A. S. C., employs a meter. Many men have come to me ask- ing my. advice on what to do in various countries I have been in and I have invariably advised them to get a good exposure meter. It has been my lot to travel much. Recently a picture took me to Alaska. As soon as I returned I was assigned to a picture being made in New Orleans. From there I was —Clyde DeVinna, A. S. C. has photographed such outstanding productions as “Trader Horn”, “White Shadows”, backgrounds for “Tugboat Annie” and others. Clyde DeVinna, A.S.C., the famous “Travel- ing Cinematographer” explains hi sexposure meter to Jean Parker, picture actress. sent to make snow scenes in the High Sierras. I used the exposure meter because I know it measures the quantity of light that is being reflected from the scene I want to take. I know it is going to give me a reasonable over-all reading; and it’s the over-all reading that’s important. Let’s take snow as we had it up there in Alaska when I was shooting scenes for “Eskimo,” the MCM picture which will soon be released. If you are an experienced photographer you know there is a strong reflection of light from the snow, but what is the quantity of that light . . . your guess is just as good as mine. You are going to hit it closer with an exposure meter, because I say again it is going to give you an over-all reading, not only the light reflected from the snow, but the quantity of light reflected from the subject you are shooting. And that quantity of light is also going to be influenced by the amount of direct light from the sun that is hitting it. In other words moisture in the air is going to affect these conditions as much as though there were no snow on the ground. While the sun seems intense in the tropics still we know from experience that it is necessary to open the lense stop more than if shooting out here in California, because there is more moisture in the air. I have found the exposure meter gives me the quickest answer. The professional cinematographer does not use the meter on studio sets. There we have such a wonderful control of lights, have had such a wide experience that we know we are correct in our stop if we set it anywhere from F2 to F4. You see we can place lights wherever we need theirr, but out of doors, especially on distant expeditions the only assistance we have is in the way of reflectors and of course we cannot jerk the sun around the same as we do a lamp in the studio. Look upon your exposure meter as a light measuring in- strument. Something that never gets tired or billious. It’s mechanical ... if it’s right once it’s bound to be right every time. However, there are times when you must (Continued on Page 234)