Greg Segul

What do you do with EXT. lighting between the ratio between the sun and shade? (not the shade under a tree or something but the shadow side of a object or person that is backlit) I guess the easy answer would be to fill them in but when you don't have the budget or its a wide shot how do you keep you bg from spoiling? I was checking with my light meter in the afternoon and found about a 3-3 1/2 stop difference between the shadow side and sunlit. If you expose for the shadow you will spoil you bg but if you expose for the sun you will end up with the shadows very dark. Do you split it? I assume the shadows should be dark but how much is too much for this situation? Can you go 2 stops? Thanks

Its my first time shooting 16mm for a school project. I understand how to use a light meter as we've gone over it in class. My question is if your putting in a highlight either from the side or almost side ke,y would the proper way to meter would be to block that light from hitting your meter? I would assume this is correct as if you allow that light to strike the dome it will give you a stop that may not give the desired highlight as it will make you close down to compensate. If I wanted that highlight to be my key and not a blown out sun effect then by all means I would meter that as my main source. But I found that allowing the extraneous light thats suppose to be a effect like that can change something that you want 3 stops over to only a stop. Thanks For Help In Advance