All language subtitles for 07. Lighting modifiers and their effects.mp4

Now before we move on to actual
lighting demonstrations,

showing you how to use studio lights
for their best effect,

we need to understand a little bit
about the modifiers

that you use with studio lights.

Because, after all, it is these
modifiers

that change the light, change the
emotion of the light

to give different effects.

So before you can really use them, you
need to understand a little bit about them.

Now in this particular course, we are
sticking to the more affordable light

modifiers and the more general
modifiers.

I use a lot of super large specialized
modifiers, like this, giant paratuati's

frenels and all sorts of other lives.

These are more fashion based lights,
and they're covered in one of our

fashioned tutorials.

For this particular section, we're
going to be looking at more of the

general modifiers,

like umbrellas,

beauty boxes, soft boxes, octaboxes,

snoots, grids and the more, what I call
standard modifiers, in the more

economical range of modifiers.

Now just because they're economical

doesn't mean you can't do amazing
things with them.

And what you'll see throughout this
course, and in some of the later

chapters where we show you lighting
examples, you'll see some of the

amazing creative effects that we can
achieve.

However, to get a better understanding
of what they're for and what they do, I

want to run through a number of these
modifiers, one at a time, so that you

can see the type of lighting style they
create.

So to keep things consistent,

we're going to use our model stiffenie.

And she's not going to move, obviously,
which is fantastic for this side by

side comparison of each of these
modifiers.

I'm going to start with the octabox

which will be our sort of baseline, if
you like.

Many of the modifiers are bigger, so
they'll create softer light, as we've

learned already.

And many of the modifiers create small
pockets of light, which is hard alight

with stronger shadows.

And you'll see that effect.

Now it's worth mentioning a couple of
things here.

Generally speaking, you don't just use
one modifier, use a modifier in

combination with the reflector in
combination with another modifier.

So the way I'm using these modifiers
for this test is not generally how you

would use them for an actual photo
shoot.

This is just simply to get an idea and
a feel for what each of these modifiers

is able to provide us in terms of
lighting, mood and lighting effect

with some of the modifiers.

The type

of lighting, where I will be
positioning it and the angle I will be

positioning it may be different to the
position that I've got.

This particular modifier, for example,
you may well, and it is common practice

to use the octaboxes from above or
above front, but it would not be

necessary common practice to use the
largest soft box from above and front.

So I may position that in a slightly
different position.

So I am going to position the light
modifiers generally where they should

be and the distance that they may be
used at.

More commonly, to give each modifier

a fair example of how it is used.

But as I said, keep in mind that with
the lighting setups you'll be seeing

later in the program, we'll be using
anything from one modifier on its own

to two to three to four

modifiers combined together to create
the lighting effect.

So let's get started with the octabox 75

in this position, coming down from
above onto our model's face.

So here's the first result on the
octobox 75 coming in.

Let's just have a quick examination on
that.

So you can see we have

a shadow.

And it is

not the softest shadow, but it's also
not the hardest shadow.

And that's basically dictated by the
size of the light.

This is not a huge light,

but it is diffused,

but it is only 75 centimeters wide.

And the distance we have it away from
the model obviously has some effect as

well.

Now, some of the reasons that we use
different shape and size modifies is

not only for the lighting effect they
give, but also for the catchlight and

the reflections that they give on the
eyes and the lips.

So you can see here a fairly minimal
size reflection in the eyes, and say, slightly

hardest shadows, but still with a
certain softness overall to the shot.

Also, look at the spread of light.

So the strength of the light is in the
upper body part, on the face and the

shoulders and chest area, and then it
Falls away

more quickly.

Notice, we don't have any light on the
background.

So you can see how much light is
reaching the background.

From our mainlight,

our model is about three and a half
meters away from a white background.

So you can see that that white
background goes quite quickly to gray

without any additional light on it.

Ok?

So here is the

larger octox.

This is the octabox 150, which is a
very nice modifier

let's have a look close up at the
resulting image, just quickly compared

to the octabox

75,

sorry.

So we can see straightway

the difference in strength on the
shadows.

You can see how the shadows on the side
of the face,

and much reduced in intensity.

And the shadow around the edge of the
nose now has almost disappeared.

Also look at the catchlight on the
lips, the catchlight in the eyes.

You can see how this was a more
specular highlight

on the lips on the octobox 75,

but on the octobox 150, this is a
broader highlight and much more

softened out.

Other things to notice is the lighting
on the hair.

If we look at the light on the hair is
a lot harsher and a lot more contrasty

and a lot softer on the larger soft
box, which would be expected

if we zoom back out on the shot.

Also notice the change in the lighting
on the background, the amount of light

now reaching the background,

and also the way the light Falls off
down the body of the model as well.

So a much softer,

more flattering light with less contrast

and less density in the shadows with
the octabox 150,

we can see with the smaller soft box,
the 35 by sixty soft box,

though we've got a much higher contrast,

harder light source.

And if we compare that even to the
octobox 75,

you can see the

strength of brightness on the face

and the upper body and the contrast on
the arms.

And yet the background density remains
the same.

So the concentration of light and where
it's falling is completely different.

If we take a look at the catchlight on
the lips

and the eyes compared to the

you can see there is also some
difference, but it's more an overall contrast

difference.

There is a difference in the shadows as
well, but you can see that brighter

to the light that we're getting with
this compact,

rectangular shaped soft box.

So this is the soft box, thirty by 120
in the vertical position.

And let's take a look at the light

on this.

And there we go.

We can see quite a dramatic change in
the lighting.

Take a look, in particular, at the
catchlight on the lips compared to

one of the smaller soft boxes.

also take a look at the way the
lighting is running down the arms here,

compared to the previous soft boxes.

So as it is a vertical soft box with a
vertical strip light,

we can see that we've

taken a catchlight all the way down the
arms here because of the orientation

and the shape of the soft box.

Now interestingly, as with all the
broncolor soft boxes, you can actually

rotate them to different positions.

So I'm just going to show you what
would happen if we rotate this soft box

into a alternative position.

So now in the alternate position,

the softness of the light has changed
in one direction.

Because remember what we learned about
the hardness or softness of light based

on the size of the light source?

So this light source is soft in one
direction, and yet it's hard in the

other direction, because it's small in
this direction at the moment, but it's

large in that direction.

So you have a combination of soft light
and hard light depending on the

position of the soft box relative to
your subject.

So even though we're using the same
soft box as the last shot, the

adjustment in position has given quite
a different effect.

Let's take a look at that.

So here's the light in the horizontal
position,

and here's it in the vertical position.

So if we look at the

difference in the shadows

and the highlights.

We can see the difference in the
softness on the shadows here on the

side of the nose in the previous shop
where it was in the vertical,

because in the vertical position it was
a harder light in that direction.

And now it's a softer light in that
direction, but it is now harder light

in the vertical direction.

So if we take a look at the light under
the chin here,

now

that is softer

in the vertical position because that's
the larger direction, but it's harder

in the horizontal position in that
direction.

So you can see, depending on the
orientation,

the direction of the light, then you'll
see the difference between hardness and

soft hardness and softness based on the
angle of the soft box itself.

So here, flicking between the two shots,

you can see

the

dramatic difference

even with the same soft box

simply rotated.

And that is the beauty of the

soft box range here on the accessory
range.

With bron color, we can easily

modify and rotate these into many
different positions to suit.

Now, as you can see

with this image, with the sixty by 100
soft box, it looks a little bit over exposed

and this will often happen as you
change modifiers.

The different intensity of light spill
coming out of the modifier in the right

direction means that different
concentrations of energy

towards your subject will be required.

So on this particular one, I'm going to
turn the lamp power down a few, about

four tenths of an f stop down to 6.8.

And we should see a drop in exposure

on our model.

Just to keep things consistent,

probably dropped it down a little bit
too fast.

I'm going to take it back up.

110th.

So there's the result with the 6100.

Notice that I have put the soft box in
a slightly more vertical position,

because traditionally

that's the angle that you would use
more of the rectangular soft boxes to

emulate a sort of window light.

You can obviously use them from above
in different positions as you like

that.

The next larger softbox that I'm going
to use again would be traditionally

used in a more window like position,
which will give a better comparison

against this size soft box.

Now here we'll see a beautiful soft
light with the largest soft box, the

120 by 181 of my favorite soft boxes to
work with.

The image is a little bit underexposed

of the

spread.

Just going to turn that up a fraction.

Do another shot here.

And let's just have a look at that.

So we have a really lovely broad soft
light that is illuminating the whole

body all the way

from the top to bottom there.

And the overall diffusion, you can see
the diffusion on the arm and the neck

and the face there.

A really beautiful soft light.

Now you can use this light in many
different positions.

I've tried to keep it as consistent as
possible, but you could also take this

light further over to the sidelight if
you wanted to create

shadow on one side and then very soft
light on the opposite side.

This will probably be a little bit too
bright now, because it's a little bit

close to the model.

So I'm going to just take that

down

a few tenths.

So there we go.

You can see

that beautiful

window light effect.

Big soft window light effect.

Now you wouldn't generally use this
soft box on its own as you're seeing it

here.

You would bring in a reflector, or,
potentially another fill light on the

other side.

But you can see what a lovely light
this giant soft box gives, even on its

own as well.

So lots of options with this

particular soft box that you can either
use it very close to your model for the

very softest, broadest light, or you
can bring the light further away

if you need to create a little bit more
space.

The other thing we can do as well is we
can also rotate the light.

So the angle, or the way you want the
light to spread around your model can

be affected quite dramatically

by how you choose to position the light
as well.

So I'm just going to try

a slightly

alternative position here, just going
to make sure that's not clipping into

my shot, which I think it's ok there.

I've moved it further away, so it will
need to go up in power,

and we'll see a completely different
effect now from the light.

There we go, as it wraps around more

around our model, in the horizontal
position, because I have more extension

of light coming out to this position,
so more light is getting around to this side.

So I've now moved to the

standard reflector.

This is one that actually forms part of
the light to protect.

It, comes with it

as the standard reflector, the basic
reflector.

This will give us a very hardlike
source, because it's very small.

And if we look at the comparison.

There we go.

We can see those really strong,

well defined shadows.

You can see those strong shadows from
the nose,

strong shadows under the

chin and on the neck there,

and the strong, deep shadows that we
see.

And then if we can compare that to a
very large light source like the

softbox, look at the huge difference in
lighting effect from the big, soft

light, soft shadows,

less dense shadows, to then the very
hard, punchy shadows.

Now, interestingly,

this sort of light

modify like this is actually commonly
used for fashion photography,

generally used in a more frontal
position to give these harsh, punchy

shadows, usually used in combination
with reflectors.

But it does actually need very
attractive models and good retouching

and make up artists to make this sort
of light work.

Because this sort of light reveals a
lot of texture.

So I'm going to move up to the slightly
larger reflector, the l forty.

Now you can see there immediately with
the l four t,

the beam of light is concentrated

more strongly because of the parabolic
shape of the reflector.

So it's for focusing that light into
that upper body, face,

face area.

So I'm going to have to reduce the
power of the light.

But before I do that, I just want to
point something out about the previous

modify.

If we look here, one of the things that
you'll see that's happened here.

You can see the shadow on the floor
that is cast from our model

by the light itself, which wasn't
apparent with the other softer

modifies.

You'll see it again in this more recent
one.

But because of that concentrated beam
of light, I'm now going to have to

reduce the power quite significantly.

I'm going to try one stop

down in power to start with.

So that looks about the correct
exposure.

Let's just compare with the other
reflector.

Now look at how much the lights
spreads.

So the exposure on the face is about
the same.

What's here, exposure on the face is
about the same.

The density of the shadows is fairly
similar

in the position of the shadows and the
sharpness of the shadows.

But look at the change in light on the
background, because the way the light

is spreading out.

So we can see, if we zoom in on the
nose, there's the smaller reflector

here's the l.

Forty.

Still a very sharp shadow,

but more of the light

is concentrated

to the upper part of the body here.

So in getting the exposure correct for
this area means that everything else

around here and further away,

becomes darker, because we've to adjust
the exposure to

compensate for the concentrated light
source to the upper body area.

Now, the l.

Forty reflector

is the reflector that can hold our
honeycomb grids.

A honeycomb grid is a modifier

that funnels the light in one
direction.

It stops it spreading out more.

Now the honeycomb grids come in
different strengths.

So this is a weaker honeycomb grid

compared to a much tighter mesh on that
honeycomb grid.

And basically what that does is funnels
the light even more precisely, so the

tighter squid will create the smallest
beam of light.

I'm going to run through each of these
honeycomb grids, from the weakest to

the mid one, to the strongest one.

Now there is a very interesting effect
of the honeycomb grid.

We can see that the lighting on the face

remains pretty much identical,

but everything else has been reduced.

So the entire beam of light has been
focused only to the face.

No other light has been allowed to
escape out to the peripheral area,

which has resulted in our background
becoming very, very dark,

and the shadows becoming even darker.

But the only area that's been allowed
to be illuminated is that concentrated

patch of light on the upper chest and
the face area.

So the lighting style remains the same,
but the concentration of the beam of

light has changed dramatically.

And that was with the weakest

honeycomb grid.

Let's move to the mid one,

and there we go.

We see that beam has become slightly
more shrunken down again.

So we go back.

There's a little bit more light spill
down here on the previous one, on the

loosest honeycomb grid.

Then we go to the mid one, and that's
tightened up even more.

Now we'll go to the finest

mesh honeycomb and grid.

Now, generally, as you tighten these
honeycomb grids, you may need to

increase the exposure, but I think
we're looking ok at the moment.

We'll see what it's like on this one.

And there we go.

We can see that beam concentrated

down even more.

We can see that we have lost some
exposure there.

we have reduced the exposure with that
honeycomb grid.

I'm going to just increase the exposure
a little bit to compensate.

So we've brought the exposure back up
on the skin tones, and then we'll

compare that to the previous honeycame
grid.

So there, the exposure there is about
the same

on the face, but you can see that the
spread of light is even more greatly reduced.

So we go from the loosest honeycomb grid

to the mid honeycomb grid, and then to
the tightest honeycomb grid.

I've now changed to an accessory called
a snoot conical snoot, which gives a

very hard, small light source.

This will probably be our hardest light
that we test, our hardest modify that

we test in this series.

Now we've lost a lot of light with the
snoop to this.

I'm going to have to turn that up a
stop at least.

So we should have an exposure

that is about the same level as our
previous tight grid.

And there we go.

So you can now see that the snoot,

the conical snoot, is even tighter

than our grim,

our Titus grid.

And if we take a look

at the shadows, the shadows will
probably be even sharper.

That will be a tiny bit sharper

there.

You look at the shadow underneath the
chin here.

This is with the conical snoot.

And if I go back to our Titus grid, we
can see that

this one's a tiny bit softer on that
shadow.

So the conical snoot gives us our
hardest,

and our smallest

of light.

I'm just going back to the l forty
reflector

because I want to show you another
accessory that can be used with the l 40.

And that is the barn door set.

Now the barn door set

can also be used to hold

gels and diffusion.

So if you want to introduce colored
lighting can add colored gels in here.

But barn Doors are specifically known
because of the Doors, that's why they

call barn Doors.

And the barn Doors allow you to create
slightly different effects with the

lights.

I'm just going to demonstrate that.

Now we're losing masses of light with
the barn Doors closed,

so that to increase the power of the
light.

Considerably,

you can see here that I've got a very
hard light.

But what I've done is I've created a
very thin vertical strip of light with

the barn Doors.

And again, by angling the barn Doors
and opening the aperture of the barn

Doors.

You can create different effects.

The look of the shadows from the object
or the subject that's casting, the

shadows will also be different.

So there's a lot of versatility on what
you can achieve

by using the barn Doors as well.

Now one thing to be careful of is, when
you're removing the barn Doors, all the

grids, all the conical snoot, is that
with the modelling light on, they

become very, very hot,

extremely hot.

So be very careful if you add the
modeling light on for some time when

you're taking these accessories off,
that you've got either some protective

gloves or something on.

Or you turn the modeling lamp off and
allow time for the accessory to cool

down before you try and remove it.

So this

basic reflectors, go back on again.

Now, moving to

a silver umbrella.

Now, as you can see, if I put it in
this position, we're not going to get

any light hit on model at all.

The umbrella has to be used in this
position for a silver one to bounce the

light into it, back onto our subject

umbrella,

we'll see a softer quality of light,

but it will still have a certain level
of sparkle to it.

Compared to a soft box.

So it'll be

somewhat

more aggressive than a soft box.

And a little bit different definition.

Three dimensionality,

partly due to this silver reflector

and the way the variability of the
light isn't quite as homogenous

as

a soft box.

If we take a look close up, we can see
we have

defined shadows, but they have a softer
edge to them.

Also, look at the spread of light

running around

the image, and the concentration of
light to the upper part of the body and

the relationship to the background.

If we go back and compare that to our

bass line

octabox,

which was the octabox 75.

And then we compare that with this
silver umbrella.

You can see the different sort of
clarity to the light that is achieved

with the umbrella.

More of a sort of fashion look.

It's got that slightly more aggressive,
three dimensional, more texture

appeal to it.

So I'm going to change

the silver umbrella

for exactly the same size umbrella, but
this time a white one, which will

soften the light down,

has lost a bit of exposure because of
the spread of light.

So let's give it a fair comparison.

Just going to take it up half a

stop,

maybe actually four tenths half a
little bit too much,

still a shot.

I want to get the exposure level
exactly the same as the silver brollie.

So here's the white brollie,

and there's the silver, brolly,

white browley.

Silver brolly,

white brolly,

silver brolly.

So it's interesting.

You see how the beam is more
concentrated on the silver brollie,

into the upper body area, giving it
that more

sparkle.

And then the white Brawley

gives a softer more diffused
spreadlight, as you would expect, with

the internal surface being white.

Now there is another white browley that
is commonly used, but this is a

transparent white Brawley,

so you can shoot into it.

But this would be a more effective
choice, because more light's going to

come back.

This one is really designed for you to
shoot through it.

So i'll put this brooley on.

But then I have to turn the light
around to face this way.

And effectively we're getting a sort of
soft box style diffusion, but it will

not be as homogenous as a soft box,
because there is no

secondary or internal diffusion.

Now, this is actually quite
interesting.

What's happened here.

This is actually very interesting point
compared to using, say, the octabox

150.

I've got some flare come into the shot
here.

You can see the difference here.

I've got some flare, which is reducing
the contrast up here.

And the reason for that is that a big
bright patch of light there is shining

directly into my camera lens.

And causing that flare.

Now, if I was using the octabox 150
instead, that wouldn't happen because

it's enclosed and it's blanked in.

So immediately we're seeing one downside

of using the white umbrella compared to
the octobox 150.

So I'm going to have to shield that
flare.

The exposure is a little bit bright
anyway.

So I'm just going to take it down a few
tenths first,

and then I'm just going to shield that
flare with my hand, if I can, around there,

just to see if we can solve that problem

and then get a better comparison,

ok, so I've minimized the flair by just
blocking the reflected light with my hand.

It'll be interesting.

Comparison.

Now, to see this shot compared with the
octobox 150,

which is that one.

So here's the octabox 150

compared with the white diffusion shine
through umbrella here.

So it gives a good result,

but it is not

as good

as the octabox 150, is not quite as
pleasing.

A lot of energy of the light is lost,
that is bounced back into your studio.

And as we just saw, the problem of
flair potentially coming into the

camera because that was bounced back
from the light.

Whereas with the octabox 150,

which is a much

larger

light source,

it is also

enclosed, and therefore no light will
bounce back towards your camera.

All of the energy from the

silver material inside

of the box will direct

that light energy forwards.

And we also have, as I say, a more
homogeneous that's, an even output of

light across the whole broad surface.

So when we're talking about reflections

and catchlights

in the model's eyes,

the octabox will give a much more
pleasing,

even reflection in the eyes.

Then you will get from the white

diffusion umbrella.

Now this is an interesting ugrella.

It's a little bit different to

the other umbrellas you can see it
somewhat deeper.

It tries to emulate actually

the lighting effect that you get from a
parabolic reflector, like the power 133

or the two twos.

But it won't do it anywhere near as
effectively because the light is off

center.

However, for an economical modifier,

it does a very, very good job.

And I've used this deep focus umbrella,
it's called the focus 110

before, and it actually works quite
nicely for fashion beauty

portrait work, and it's very easy and
quick to set up.

But it is not

really a competitor to the fashion
lights like the Powers.

Because the Powers

of such a specific

direction of light and the way the
energy bounces out from them and the

material they're made of, they're
obviously a lot more expensive, but

they have quite a unique light from
them.

But let's have a look and see the type
of lighting you get with the focus 110 umbrella.

So I now have the focus 110 umbrella,
deep umbrella, in position.

And the beauty of it is that you can
focus it, you can move the umbrella in

and out, which changes the beam
somewhat inside.

I've got it in my sort of preferred
position.

Here let's take a look at the result
this gives.

Now that's very interesting.

You can see quite a different
description to the light here.

If we take a closer look, you'll see a
slight, sort of double triple shadow

hat happening here, where it sort of
feathers off

and if we go back a few and compare
that to the silver, brolly

there's the silver browley, which does
give a concentration of light

at the top,

but it is significantly

different to the deep umbrella,

which has a completely different look
in terms of the concentration and the

brightness of the light.

As I said, it's very much more like a
parabolic

but doesn't have quite the same
quality, but it's interesting,

nevertheless, and can be used very
effectively for fashion.

Beauty portrait lighting.

Now here's the beauty box

65.

And

this is

an interesting light.

The best one to compare it to will be
our baseline

octobox 75

that we used at the beginning.

So if I go back to

there, we can see the

75.

And if we compare to the beauty box,
which is a similar sort of size,

you can see there's quite a difference
in the light.

And if we look at the illumination,

the shadows under the nose and under
the chin, but also keep in mind the

spread of light.

And we compare,

what we can see is fairly similar,

but there is a

slightly different sparkle quality with
the beauty box.

And the other

difference with the beauty box is, if
we take a look at this internal

diffuser

in front of the main light source,

but that can actually be replaced

with a gold reflector.

So if you want to turn the gold side
inwards, it will reflect a much warmer

light onto your model or subject.

Or you can choose to put the white

opaque reflection side in as well,
which would darken the center part

somewhat and then give you more of a
sort of ring flash surrounding light

area around.

Ok?

So let's swap it over

and try it with the gold reflector

and see what we get.

Let's do a direct comparison.

So here we have the warmer gold tone.

And there we have the white diffuser,

warmer gold tone,

and the white diffuser.

So the difference is subtle, but you
can see the definite color change on

the skin tones and on the hair to give
this warmer tone when we have the

internal gold reflector set in position.

And finally, I'm going to test my
seventy centimeter

silver, beauty dish.

And we can see that the result is
actually fairly similar to the beauty boxty

five, but it has somewhat more punch to
it in

clarity and definition of the shadows.

If we look at the

shadows under the chin.

This was with the beauty box 65.

And then with the silver,

seventy, centimeter, beauty dish, we
have a slightly harsher shadow.

Now you could ask, well, that doesn't
really make sense, because it's a

bigger light source.

Yes, it is a bigger light source, but
the way the light is concentrated

is

slightly different,

which is resulting in a slightly
different effect on the shadows

the light itself.

As a matter of fact, if we look at the
gloss part on the lips here and in the

eyes and look at the reflection, you
can actually see that it's a bigger

light source, because it's slightly
bigger in the eyes than the beauty box.

And yet the shadows are still slightly
more defined.

You can see it's a bigger light source
in the reflection on the lips, but you

can see that the shadows are still
slightly more defined.

And this is partly because it is a
parabolic

style reflector.

But also the way the light emanates out
of this becomes a sort of ring flash

around the edge quite strongly.

And then a different tonal range

of exposure inside the beauty dish and
also the central part of this beauty

dish is completely

opaque.

So it gives a different quality of
light.

It's a quality of light that I like,
and I find very

usable light, especially for the cost
of this particular modifier.

So hopefully that gives you a good idea

of what the different modifiers are
capable of and the effect of the

lighting that they achieve.

And remember, this was just some of the
modifiers available, some of the more

basic modifiers actually.

But we can see that there is a great
variety in the light that we can accomplish

even with that range of modifiers.

But it's also important to remember,
what I said at the start is that we

don't often use single modifiers on
their own.

We would combine them with reflectors
or polyboards or other panels, or we

would add another light with another
modifier

in there as well.

And that you'll be seeing in some of
the later chapters.