When To Go In...

on July 12, 2017
If you've been following the series this week on reflectors in the studio, you'll probably wonder what we have that second head in the two-head Profoto or Elinchrom set. Well this when - when you need to throw fill light in from a distance and you can't get a reflector to do it. Or when you need to flood a subject with light entirely. I won't go into lighting rations for several reasons: a. I don't understand them. After 1:2 the only rule of thumb I know is buckle my shoe...after 3:4 it is shut the door... b. Measuring light with a light meter has become passé. Still a good idea, but unless you are going to translate it into those lighting ratios - and remember that harsh, unforgiving light is only good for babies and kittens - you just have one more thing to confuse you. Get your main light looking as good as you can then try to soften the shadows with the fill. Or leave 'em in for the kittens. c. Academic light measurements and ratios are always being decried by the artists. Did Henry Moore worry about f stops? Did Michelangelo ever move the selector dial off Program? No. Did it affect their cooking? Not at all. The ability we have these days to set up - test - and see the result on a screen instantly means that we can visually tune things far better than in the old metering days.* Some people can picture the universe with one light - many need two. Some three. The trick is to get the setup as close to your own vision a good time before the paying customers start to grip and grin. Don't be shy about running the main up or down and then the fill as well. Indeed, some people I have met set the fill before the main and never change it. If they have a truly big fill dish, beauty light, or softbox they can position it once behind themselves and then literally forget it as they move and the subjects twist and turn in front of them. The main may shift from side to side but the fill just stays there and pumps it out. Profoto, Elinchrom, Red Wing, Lastolite, and a number of other makers produce truly tremendous softboxes and reflector dishes. As they get bigger, they get impressive looking - and don't we all love that Hollywood professional look to our equipment - and both seriously expensive and awkward to handle. I use a 138cm Redwing softbox because I can, but it dominates the studio when set up. To get it on a mobile stand you have to suspend it from a twin-rail rolling wardrobe frame. The light is buttery soft and you needn't shift it once it is emplaced...but then the thought of shifting it is enough to depress anyone. Currently, it is making one side of a very big product light box. It is fantastic, but not the light version of fantastic... But, if you are keen, there is probably still one in stock in the CE store. Be prepared to be challenged when it comes to setting it up. *I am either proud or guilty of the digital sin of taking multiple shots and then chimping the screen when taking diorama shots. I frequently miss seeing some disparate element or a wrong reflection in the first pop. If I scroll the screen carefully I can correct it before repeating the shot. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 goes to finally satisfy, and later the three work-ups need not be imported into the computer storage - just the keeper. This isn't a good idea with fast-moving event shoots. But it is a lifesaver if the set has been a long time a'building and is going to be broken down afterwards.
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