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Photography News | Issue 39 | absolutephoto.com
Technique
power output from the lights will be identical when set to the same level, the modifiers will change the strength by the time the light hits thesubject.Thisiswhereaflashmetercomesin very handy, and we used a Sekonic Litemaster Pro (for more on which see the panel). With an aperture of f/8 at ISO 100, we triggered the heads and measured to the left, middle and right of the frame, reaching balanced light with the right-hand flash at a power setting of 2.0, and the left at 2.8. This shows the light is stronger from the silver bounce umbrella than from the more diffused white shoot-through, and thus needs less juice. Balancing the ambient light With the flash power set, the next job was to find the right shutter speed to ensure a good mix of ambient light through the windows along with the flash. As the shutter speed makes no difference to the light from the flash (unless you go above the camera’s sync speed), this was simply a case of lowering the speed until the light from the windows looked good. At an initial 1/125sec, it was quite underexposed, looking like we were shooting in the evening rather than the middle of a bright day. Eventually, the speed was reduced to 1/15sec, at which point the ambient light through the windows looked fine. Changing the contrast ratio After assessing the look of the light, it seemed a little too even and we decided to introduce a touch more contrast. This just meant lowering the power on one of the lights, and as the silver was closest to Emma and providing some nice soft shadows, it was the power from the left- hand light (with the shoot-through umbrella) that we lowered. After metering again, the power of the left-hand light was set to its lowest 1.0, which metered at around f/5.6, a stop less than the light from the bounce umbrella. This gave the look required, retaining the high-key feel, but with a little more variation across the frame. Bouncing the light One thing to be aware ofwhenusingumbrellas is that the increased spread of light can lead to picking up colour casts from parts of your location. For example, if you’re bouncing the light from a white wall or ceiling you won’t have a problemkeeping the light neutral, but if the brolly is firing near a deep colour, like a red or green, some of it will likely be picked up and show on the subject’s skin tones. Modifiers with a more restricted spread of light, like softboxes, don’t tend to have this problem.
Brolly or softbox? Have fun experimenting withmodifiers
The level of diffusion changes as you swap modifiers, creating subtly different looks, and with a wide range of light shapers in Elinchrom’s range we tried out a few on location. As expected, the softest results came from the 66cm Portalite softbox with its diffuser in place, while the hardest light came after removing the diffuser and shooting with the reflective inner revealed. The softboxes have a more direct look than when using the less-focused and more natural-looking shoot-through and bounce umbrellas, and therefore there was slightly more fall-off of light in the background, which could have come in handy for a more intimate look. When using the softbox we also tried out one of Elinchrom’s unique deflectors that slot into the light’s umbrella port, giving a look similar to a beauty dish (it’s the modelling lamp giving the warm glow below).
Shoot-through umbrella
Bounce umbrella
Softbox with deflector
Softbox no diffuser
Softbox
Next month: Spot lighting effects
Metering the flash
Light from an umbrella often looks more natural and you can spread the illumination more easily than with a softbox
Although many photographers will tell you there’s little point in using a flash meter these days when you can take a test shot and check the exposure on screen or shoot in Raw, there’s still a lot to be said for metering on location. Results will be more accurate especially when dealing with complex lighting ratios, and cutting edge meters like the Sekonic Litemaster Pro L-478 have a few handy tricks up their sleeves. The latest version of the L-478 incorporates Elinchrom’s EL-Skyport wireless functionality. The L-478DR-EL can therefore trigger lights wirelessly to meter the power, and change the actual power levels on all compatible units without going anywhere near them. It can meter both single lights and those in groups, while you can also change the mode and power of the modelling lamp.
Thanks to: This month’s model was the wonderful Emma Davis, and we shot on location at the beautiful The William Cecil Hotel, Stamford, Lincolnshire.
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