The shot has been lost. To be able to get a good print the exposure must be made so that detail is retained in both the highlights and shadow areas. Next, the meter calculates the shutter speed and aperture setting that a given ISO film would require to get it that way. The problem is that the meter is stupid. The meter, not knowing this will choose a faster than necessary shutter speed.
Many hand held meters can take either type of reading.
Incident meters measure the amount of light falling on a subject and reflected meters, as you might have guessed, measure the light reflected off it. The latter of these is the type found in cameras. On the face of it, it would seem that the incident meter would solve the problems noted above. To take an incident reading the photographers goes to the subject, points the meter generally in the direction of the camera and reads off the recommended shutter speed and aperture. Because it measures the amount of light falling on the subject, the incident meter is not thrown off by an especially bright or dark subject.