Lighting Basics Diffused and Directional Light
By Lorraine Grula – Internet Video Gal
If there simply isn’t enough available light and you do add a light source, make sure to diffuse it. At its simplest, this means you need to bounce it, or point the light toward the wall or ceiling in order to reduce shadows.
LIGHTING 101:
Light comes in two basic categories:
· Diffused
· Direct
Direct light is what you have on a sunny day.
Diffused light is what you get on a cloudy day. The clouds act as a diffusion filter.
Think back to elementary school science. Light rays do not bend. If you point a flashlight, the light won’t bend around the corner of the building, you’d have to move the flashlight to see the side of the building.
Direct light (sunny day) creates deep, harsh shadows that have distinct edges.
Diffused light, (cloudy day) can be very bright but completely shadow less.
Generally speaking, diffused light is best for simple video production.
Below are two examples of direct and diffused lighting.
Amber the kitty looks dramatic in relatively harsh, direct light supplied by a standard 40 watt bulb.
This butterfly shot has virtually no shadows. It was taken on a fully overcast day.
The easiest way to transform a direct light into a diffused one is by bouncing it off the ceiling or wall. Do this by simply placing the light near the wall (or ceiling) and pointing it toward the wall, not your subject. The light bounces off the wall and is diffused nicely. (Don’t get it too close though, I once burned a guy’s wallpaper cuz a 500 watt tungsten lamp get purdy hot. Oops.)
Bouncing a light is the quick, cheap, no hassle way to do it. However, if you want to spend money and achieve better effects, professional photographic lighting uses tools like soft boxes, umbrellas, cloths and filters to produce diffused light.
A professional four- light kit with one umbrella, two soft boxes and one barn door. The umbrella provides moderate diffusion and the soft boxes give extreme diffusion. Barn doors are used to point and shape the light beam.
The only drawback to diffusing your light is that as you diffuse, you lose intensity. Diffusion is so desired though most people accept that trade-off. Have you ever wondered why they bother to paint the inside of most light bulbs white? The answer is that the white paint diffuses the light and makes it more pleasing to the eye. On top of that, people usually add a lamp shade for even more diffusion.
Quality lighting is key to quality video production. That doesn’t mean it needs to be difficult.
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2 Comment(s)
By Kitchen Canisters on | Reply
i use lamp shades with CFL ubls instead of incandescent lamps, they are much cooler and uses less electricity “;`
By Internet Video Gal on | Reply
Hi Kitchen canisters
Compact Florescent light bulbs are really nice, I like them a lot. I use them myself. The bulbs stay so cool that I have used regular printer paper as a diffusion filter. You can not do that with an incandescent bulb.
Lorraine