{"id":7238,"date":"2011-02-23T23:47:36","date_gmt":"2011-02-24T03:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=7238"},"modified":"2018-01-03T22:23:45","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T02:23:45","slug":"video-light-vs-bounce-flash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/video-light-vs-bounce-flash\/","title":{"rendered":"video light vs bounce flash"},"content":{"rendered":"

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video light vs bounce flash<\/h1>\n

It’s easy enough getting nice clean open light with a single on-camera speedlight when shooting indoors. By bouncing your flash with the idea of getting directional light from your flash, you can effortlessly get portraits like this. As usual, I used the black foamie thing<\/a> to flag my flash and get more light on the one side of my subject’s face. In this case, more subtly so than some other examples on this site.<\/p>\n

We were working in the same location here as shown in the previous article where I photographed Shawna using only the available light that was found<\/a>. However, for certain photographs I had in mind, it quickly became obvious that a more contained light source than bounce flash would work better. When compared to a light source like a video light, bounce flash tends to flood an indoor location with light, even if directional when you look at your subject. A hand-held video light gave me the type of lighting I wanted …<\/p>\n


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This photo above is what I had in mind …<\/p>\n

1\/160 @ f2.8 @ 1250 ISO … Litepanels MicroPro LED video light<\/a> (B&H)<\/span>
\n Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S<\/a> (B&H) .. at 35mm, but cropped slightly in edit<\/span><\/p>\n

… what I got with bounce flash, was this.<\/p>\n

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As a portrait, it’s not particularly bad, but not particularly interesting either … even with Shawna in the frame. The bounce flash just opened everything too much with a flood of soft light.<\/p>\n

With the video light’s dramatic light fall-off to the edges, the previous photograph is more moody and just looks more interesting.<\/p>\n

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1\/160 @ f2.8 @ 1250 ISO … Litepanels MicroPro LED video light<\/a> (B&H)<\/span>
\n Nikon D3; Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S<\/a> (B&H) .. at 50mm, but cropped slightly in edit<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is a pull-back shot to show how the video light was held in relation to our model.<\/p>\n

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Another photograph, taken in the same location, but with a different backdrop. \u00a0Here I specifically wanted the light to be feathered upwards, forcing there to be less light on her chest. This accentuated her face. \u00a0This is also part of the appeal of using a video light for photography – the WYSIWYG aspect of video light. \u00a0You more easily get this kind of minute control over the direction of the light.<\/p>\n

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1\/100 @ f2.8 @ 1250 ISO …\u00a0Litepanels MicroPro LED video light<\/a> (B&H)<\/span>
\n Nikon D3;\u00a0Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S<\/a> (B&H) … zoomed to 70mm<\/span><\/p>\n

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summary<\/h2>\n

In this post we had 3 different types of light that were used in photographing Shawna … each bringing it’s own quality and challenge. But I do like the variety, and for me there is a specific appeal in being flexible with the lighting used, whether flash, video light or found light.<\/p>\n

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related articles<\/h2>\n