Lighting 201 Part 3: Outdoor Lighting
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Even though the gold reflector is filling in the shadow side, the next thing you need to take into consideration is how much fill is too much fill, and how can you adjust the key to fill ratio with a bounce card. If you remember your basic physical science, you know that the intensity of light decreases exponentially as distance increases. For the non science types, this translates to “The further you move the light from the subject, the less light you have.” In the following image you can see this in action. The first image is 5 feet from the subject, then 10 feet, and finally 30 feet from the subject.
Next the hard light of the Sun needs to be softened. To do this I am using a full stop silk attached to a 6 x 6 Westcott Scrim Jim frame, which was then attached to two C-Stands. I like the Scrim Jim because it collapses easily, can be configured from the smallest frame possible to the largest frame, and because the silks, diffusion material, or other backings can be attached and secured via Velcro. The large size of this frame (also known as a butterfly) allows for multiple subjects to be lit at the same time. For really large groups, you can get frames that are 12 x 12 or larger.
Remember
I’ve said it before, but remember that large scrims, nets, and flags are nothing more than giant sails. A strong gust of wind can easily knock your setup over injuring cast, crew, and equipment. Use sandbags or other weights to anchor your stands.
If you don’t have something quite this large you can use the diffuser from your 5 in 1 reflector kit for close shots.
Position your diffusion material between your subject and the Sun. Make sure subject is completely covered. Depending on the time of day and angle of the Sun, you may have to position the butterfly very high on the C-stands or even over the subject(s) in the case of shooting during the noon time.
Immediately we can see the results. The light on the subject is softened dramatically, and the light has been lowered one full stop. This means that our original f5.6 exposure can be lowered to f4, thus decreasing the depth of field for our shot. The other benefit is that our subject no longer squints from the bright sun and looks much more pleasant.
Adding back in the gold fill reflector improves that shot, but a nice rim light around the hair will improve the shot tremendously.
For the rim light in this shot, using the foil covered bounce card positioned many feet away and angled at the back of the subject adds nice separation from the background.
Source: Digital Media Online, Inc.
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