At 22:39 11/11/00 , Frieder Faig wrote:
>On Fri, Jan 04, 1980 at 12:48:42AM -0800, Norma Foltz wrote:
>> The T32 flash can be flipped up to various degrees.
>> This is for bounce flash, right?
>> What will be the effect of having the flash pointing straight up towards
>> the ceiling ?
>> Is that how I got extremely low contrast images ?
>
>I woun't say that bounce flash produces less contrast than direct flash,
> altough it depends a lot from your room.
>But the light for the least contrast images is frontlight, especially from a
>ring-Flash.
>So bounce flash will increase contrast, when you`re shooting 3D-objects.
>But the shaddows, which produce this contrast are not so harsh with bounce
>flash than with direct flash.
>But it depends much from the reflections of your shooting location.
>
>Frieder Faig
Freider is correct. Aside from color (or color temperature) there are two
main factors in lighting: it's direction and it's harshness (or level of
diffusion). A ringlight, or something like a T-28 which mounts around the
lens, is extreme front lighting, but it will be harsh if it's not diffused
as it is a point source if you are at any distance from the subject. In
general, side lighting wherein the lens sees light as it grazes the surface
of the subject material gives the greatest contrast. It also reveals the
highest level of detail for surface textures and gives an image the
greatest feeling of three dimensions. It will also be harsh if it's from a
point source.
Bounce, while moving the illumination from frontal to more from the side,
or above, or below, depending the direction in which you bounce it, also
diffuses the light giving it a softer quality. Instead of coming from a
small source, the face of the flash head, when bounced from most surfaces
it becomes an area source much bigger than the face of the flash head. This
reduces the sharpness of shadow edges.
If you want the least possible contrast, you want diffused lighting from a
large area source, such as a "softbox" or umbrella, from at least the
direct front. This will cast nearly zero shadows and illuminate the
subject with diffused light. This is the reason most studios will use
softboxes or umbrellas, but not directly from the front. They will
typically use two, one on each side, angled at 30-60 degrees, and not
necessarily at the same power level. This results in contrast from
shadows, but from an area source that gives their edges a gradual gradient
from highlight to shadow. Other lighting angles are used for various
effects; how it is set up is very dependent on what the photographer has
visualized for the image.
If you want to see what can happen with a flash pointed straight up and
working too close in, see the shadowed eyes in this one:
http://johnlind.tripod.com/mamiya/gallery/mamiya02.html
If it weren't for the shadows over the eyes, it would have completely
actualized my vision for the portrait.
-- John
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