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Diffuser light distribution
- Thread starter leaky5
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Garry Edwards
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Hotshoe flashguns attain their performance figures by having a small, highly polished reflector that pushes all of its light in one direction. Result = reasonable power but a very harsh light.
The small diffusers that fit them simply scatter the light pretty well everywere. because the diffuser itself is very small the light from it is almost as harsh as without it - except that the scattered light bounces off of ceilings, walls etc, which then become a secondary, large light source and this produces the diffused light (of course, the diffused light may have changed colour once it's bounced.
Shoot through umbrellas can produce very soft light, as long as they're fitted to flash heads with a wide angle reflector (not so good if fitted to a hotshoe flash because, usually, the flash can't 'fill' the umbrella. What makes the light soft is that it can be placed very close to the subject, so the light is large in relative terms. Of course, it also bounces around quite a lot too.
Reflective umbrellas work the other way round and the reflected light is less soft because the umbrella needs to be placed further away, making the light smaller in relative terms. Their advantage is that the light is controlled better and bounces around less.
Softboxes basically combine the qualities of both reflective and shoot through umbrellas.
The small diffusers that fit them simply scatter the light pretty well everywere. because the diffuser itself is very small the light from it is almost as harsh as without it - except that the scattered light bounces off of ceilings, walls etc, which then become a secondary, large light source and this produces the diffused light (of course, the diffused light may have changed colour once it's bounced.
Shoot through umbrellas can produce very soft light, as long as they're fitted to flash heads with a wide angle reflector (not so good if fitted to a hotshoe flash because, usually, the flash can't 'fill' the umbrella. What makes the light soft is that it can be placed very close to the subject, so the light is large in relative terms. Of course, it also bounces around quite a lot too.
Reflective umbrellas work the other way round and the reflected light is less soft because the umbrella needs to be placed further away, making the light smaller in relative terms. Their advantage is that the light is controlled better and bounces around less.
Softboxes basically combine the qualities of both reflective and shoot through umbrellas.
Garry Edwards
Moderator
- Messages
- 12,313
- Name
- Garry Edwards
- Edit My Images
- No