BLOG QUESTION ADV: USING ZEBRAS FOR EXPOSURE

1. What are zebra stripes? What are they used for?

2. What do the zebra stripes tell you?
3. What a practical way to use these while shooting with a video camera?

Zebra stripes are black and white stripes superimposed by the camcorder over parts of an image that are exposed to a specific level. They are used to tell the exposure of certain parts of an image. When lighting for someone with lighter skin, and you have your zebra set to about 70%, you want to adjust your exposure to where certain parts of the skin are covered in that zebra pattern.  A practical way to use zebra stripes is when you're filming interviews to get accurate skin tone colors and to know when you're not overexposing.