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Originally Posted by abyss_al
great lights 
light meter = waste of money and time unless you're doing pro photography  |
well a light meter (or more usually used a "flash meter") is not so important as understanding histogram.
because when you shoot skin you do not necessarily want an "average" exposure, because if you do you will blow out the highlights much of the time if you have a moody or contrastly light setup.
lots of guys have an average exposure, but the lighting is too hot on the girl, so highlight areas have lost detail---this is especially true with high rez cameras and shooting jpg.
best to use a camera body which has a very long tonal scale and expose for skin highlights, then adjust gamma, then balance levels.
nikon can visually show highlights that you have blown out with the histogram---i don't know if canon has this feature.