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5 Common Key Light Patterns w/ Diffusion & Fill

Lesson 16 from: Lighting 101

SLR Lounge, Pye Jirsa

5 Common Key Light Patterns w/ Diffusion & Fill

Lesson 16 from: Lighting 101

SLR Lounge, Pye Jirsa

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Lesson Info

16. 5 Common Key Light Patterns w/ Diffusion & Fill

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Chapter 1 Introduction

01:26
2

Why Just One On-Camera Flash

04:22
3

5 Reasons to Use Flash

10:37
4

Common Flash Myths

06:51
5

What Makes Flash Challenging?

04:56
6

Chapter 2 Introduction

01:36
7

Flash-Strobe vs. Ambient-Constant Light

08:19
8

Flash vs. Ambient Light Exposure

03:07
9

Flash vs. Ambient Demo

06:42
10

Flash and Ambient Balancing for Natural Effect

07:11
11

Flash and Ambient Balancing for Dramatic Effect

04:19
12

Flash and Ambient Balancing for Creative Effect

07:10
13

Understanding Flash Duration

08:37
14

Chapter 3 Introduction

01:34
15

5 Common Key Light Patterns

08:38
16

5 Common Key Light Patterns w/ Diffusion & Fill

07:42
17

5 Common Secondary Light Patterns

08:28
18

3 Primary Subject Patterns

05:27
19

Light Qualities

09:56
20

The Inverse Square Law

07:50
21

Inverse Square Law in Practice

08:21
22

Corrective White Balance

10:02
23

Creative White Balance

05:47
24

Chapter 4 Introduction

01:58
25

On Board vs. Hot Shoe Flash

05:57
26

Full Feature vs. Manual Flashes

08:59
27

TTL vs. Manual Control

08:12
28

TTL vs. Manual Recycle Times

04:43
29

Flash Power & Zoom

09:18
30

HHS vs. ND Filters

12:29
31

FCS vs. RCS

07:11
32

Chapter 5 Introduction

01:38
33

4 Tips When You Must Use Direct Flash

06:00
34

Bare Bulbing Done Right

11:42
35

Grid Snoot + Direct Flash

06:43
36

Mini Beauty + Direct Flash

06:08
37

Ring + Direct Flash

07:52
38

Understanding Modifiers

09:24
39

Direct Flash + Shutter Flash

09:07
40

Chapter 6 Introduction

01:55
41

Ambient vs. Direct Flash vs. Bounce Flash

14:27
42

Silver Bounce

14:27
43

More Light Silver

11:02
44

Soft White Bounce

15:41
45

Overhead Bounce

11:39
46

Overhead Bounce + Fill

09:42
47

Event Bounce

12:42
48

Chapter 7 Introduction

01:38
49

Natural vs. Dramatic Light

17:43
50

Filling and Refining Existing Light

08:44
51

Coloring Light for Corrective Effect

13:33
52

Coloring Light for Creative Effect

10:27
53

Chapter 8 Introduction

00:43
54

Case Study 1 - Dramatic Sunset

09:45
55

Case Study 2 - Desert Sunset

10:04
56

Case Study 3 - Sinister Headshot

09:40
57

Case Study 4 - Family Portrait

08:21
58

Case Study 5 - Athlete Portraits

11:19
59

Case Study 6 - Working Angles

07:22
60

Case Study 7 - Drag + Composite

08:09
61

Case Study 8 - Less is More

07:16
62

The Good Karma Jar

01:41
63

Favorite Feature Flashes

05:52
64

Favorite Manual Flashes

21:35
65

Favorite On Camera Flash Modifiers

21:21

Lesson Info

5 Common Key Light Patterns w/ Diffusion & Fill

In the last video we covered our five primary key light patterns and toe light all of these images we use just a simple light panel chroma led light all we did we put this on around daylight balance, we brighten it up, we put it over the model's face and we started shooting. Now we used a constant light because we want to show you these lighting techniques, and if we newsflash, you're only going to see where the light is for that split second, when the flash fires, we want us to be able to see the light throughout the entire video and how our positioning and so forth so I want to use it constantly in addition, we use of this led panel because you'll notice that it's pretty close to around the same size as a flash. This is maybe twice the size of a flash head, so it puts off a very similar light, particularly when we leave it on daylight white balance like it is right now, it's still a kind of hard edge light if small has no modification so it's going to create that kind of hard edge lo...

ok, which is what you see in all these images look at how sharp the shadows are, look how deep those shadows are in the way that it doesn't really fall off there's no really smooth shadow transition but when we modify that light we can create an absolutely fantastic light by simply defusing and filling and that's what we did here with every light position after we shot the light without diffusion without any phil we took the same shot with light modifications so you guys can see the differences and the differences are absolutely huge. So let's go the next slide right now now here are same exact key light patterns this time we added diffusion for that key light and then we added a fill the reflector so let's talk about the diffusion further effusion we added just a simple piece of fabric over the front of this light. Okay, we just take down basically diffusion fabric like this you guys can pick up yards of this stuff from your local cloth store for under ten bucks it's incredibly inexpensive and all it is just a slightly translucent or transparent translucent transparent I think transparent translucent is like reflective or something I don't know I don't know english sturm's but is just a slightly kind of transparent white that will allow some light to pass through now the lighter the fabric basically more transparent the more light it allows to pass through whereas kind of the more I guess the more dense with less transparent the more diffusion you get but then the less light goes through every layer by the way, every layer of diffusion is going to reduce the amount of light that reaches your subject, so we'll talk about that a little bit later on but just know that every time you added the future diffuser to future every time you add a diffusion, you're reducing the amount of light output. So we have this over the front of that panel. What else do we got? I'm gonna throw this on the ground right now. Next? Why does it have my assistant actually hold up a scrim? So again, this is a very similar fabric. This is just from the five o one this is the west caught five in one and all he's doing is joe's holding this up just directly in front like maybe a foot off of that led light to again further diffuse and open up the size of the light source. So as it diffuses a second time, we lose again a little more light, but then it opens out the light source even larger on hollywood sets. A lot of times they put layer after layer of diffusion in front of these giant life. They'll put up one layer separate by another layer by five feet another layer. So every time it hits a diffusion fabric, it opens up the size of the light source so it becomes softer and softer and softer as it goes larger and larger and larger so we have this kind of defusing that primary that key light on the phil side for every time we're filling and we're just filling were always filling where the shadows are ok, you will understand that in just one second we're just using another westcott this another westcott five to one this is just the silversides to catch the film because since we're using a white to diffuse and since the light is very soft we need something a little bit with more kick to be able to see that phil well so we're using a silver side okay now let's go to the actual images let's talk about how are defusing and how the light works. So with this light that flat light set up again the light's coming from directly above the lens that diffusion cloth was right over this front we have that second panel the scrim that goes right in front of that and then there's really no need for much phil here because the light is very flat to begin with so there's not much of a shadow anywhere but you can see how much it opens up the image the shadow becomes so much softer in comparing the side by side with the last image it's a german matic change it looks like we increase the size of the life source dramatically because it's such a soft light compared to that hard edge in the first shot going on to butterfly again same positioning we raise that light up this time it has the little cloth panel in front of it we have the the scrim that's basically placed directly in front out like a foot in front of light and what we've done here is that silver goes underneath so the silver goes underneath and it fills light under that shot that chin where the shadow is this is known as clamshell lighting basically where you take a paramount light and you had a phil underneath you have a clam shell shape hence clamshell wedding with this we get again a very soft and beautiful beauty type portrait set up with super soft shadows it hasn't absolutely fantastic looking you can see that kind of beauty fashion look in this type of an image going on the loop lighting look at how much less dramatic that shadow is that comes across the neck and also across the kind of upper lip area with the phil again a phil just goes into the shadow side, so look as if if our light is placed this light is up above to the left of where olivia's head is. The diffusion fabric isn't a foot in front of that the village is coming from the opposite side it's coming from the shadow side of the face so the phyllis coming from the right side of the face with that silver over here with rembrandt again we're just getting more directional with the main light and the phyllis coming from the same place and look att compare this to that previous raymond this is still rembrandt lighting but it's so much less dramatic because of the phil. Now keep in mind that as you fill shadows if you feel shadows too much well, if you feel shadows completely you just end up with flat lining because you have no shadows. So with rembrandt if you want drama, you need to make sure that you still leave some of those shadows otherwise you really aren't getting that true dramatic look but look at the split lighting over here again the light's off to the side we have a diffusion reflector right in front of that we have the silver reflector just on the opposite side of her face feeling into the shadow even this even though this is kind of ah terrible lighting technique for beauty is almost acceptable when you add enough modification to it and that's the point comparing this to that other image you have two completely different images one with a sharp, hard edged light with no phil and no modification, one with a very soft and diffused light with filling in the shadows so I just wanted you all to see basically that those same five common key light patterns look completely different with light modification, because light modification is really the tool that's going to create. The stylistic look that you want to have in your image is the key light pattern in the direction. Light is great. We're going to use it for all sorts of different purposes. But the way you modify that key light the way you either choose to go with a softer light or a harder light, or a diffused light or a speculator light that's really where you're going to get the overall emotion and feel from the images. That's it for this video. Let's. Go ahead and head to the next one now.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Lighting 101 Slides

Ratings and Reviews

Sid
 

The best class for understanding light and lighting there is bar none. Pye is an excellent teacher and the quality of the material provides for a rich and very informative experience. Pye breaks down the fundamentals in easy to digest packets and then elaborates as needed. If there is one class that you watch this is it! Worth purchasing and saving for future use. I would also HIGHLY recommend downloading the saving the PDF of slides that accompany the videos. Again, and can't say it enough, this is THE BEST video to lighting on Creative Live. A must watch for the novice and the expert.

Petra
 

Great course, I highly recommend it if you want to become a more confident flash user. Pye is a wonderful instructor and just such a nice guy, it's a pleasure to listen to him

Simon Metselaar
 

This is the best thing that happened to me since I've been into photography. What a lifesaver. Unfortunately I already payed for some courses that are not Pye, but Pye just nails it. Amazing, and kind of a life hack. Thanks again :)

Student Work

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