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3. LIGHT MODIFIERS.
Light modifiers come in many shapes and forms, including snoots, softboxes,
strip boxes, beauty dishes, reflectors, grids (both metal and fabric), umbrellas,
cutters, flags, gobos, foamcore, fabrics, V-flats, and basically anything placed
in the path of direct or reflected light. These various modifiers can change the
light’s amplification, distribution, reflection, and absorption and can reduce
the light and the shape of the light. The key to using light modifiers success-
fully lies in choosing the right one(s) to achieve the effect you are after.The Physics of Light.
Let’s look at some simple rules of lighting before we take a look at our mod-
ifier options.- The smaller the light source, the harsher the light.
2.The larger the light source, the softer and less contrasty the light. - A pure black object will absorb 90 percent of the light that hits it.
- A pure white object will reflect 90 percent of the light that hits it.
- The Inverse Square Law states that the illumination from a point
source falls off inversely to the square of the distance. For exam-
ple, when a light placed 10 feet from a subject is moved to 20 feet
away from the subject, the light source will provide only^1 / 4 of the
original intensity.
Remembering these five rules will help us choose the specific light modifier we
need to accomplish our glamour photography goals. As an example, if I’m
photographing a private glamour client who is forty to sixty years of age, I82 LIGHTING FOR GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY