When I first started to study flash lighting, I tried to diffuse my light source nearly all of the time. But it seems that in many cases hard light adds a nice sense of drama. The trick is to create that sense of drama without leaving too harsh an effect.
I didn't feel like I got the hard-light profile shot last time I tried so I gave it another go this evening. This time I used a single flash set about 4 feet away, camera left, with a snoot:
50mm, 1/500th of a second, f/16, ISO 800, flash camera left set at something like 1/32nd power with a 10 inch cardboard and duct tape snoot.
A couple of notes: ISO 800?! Ugh! That was a result of my consumer camera sharing the ISO button with the button that lets me zoom in on the preview to make sure the frame is in focus. The 500th of a second shutter speed ensured that all of the ambient light was not captured--the background is the slightly pinkish, whitish wall, approximately 5 feet back. But of course, you can't tell. It also helped that the camera was only about 4 feet from me and the flash was snooted and aimed at my mug so that it didn't illuminate the wall.
Additional note: When you walk around with your flash connected to your camera via a coiled cable and then add a cardboard snoot to the flash, people are quite convinced that you're a pro. After the show the other night, a friendly, enthusiastic younger fellow came up to me in a somewhat timid fashion and asked what that thing was on my flash. I told him, "Can't talk now, sonny, got another shoot to get to..." Not really, but it was flattering that he asked, as if I knew what I was doing.
I see your next Facebook profile picture here.
Posted by: sijbrich | February 18, 2009 at 07:08 AM