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- These images were taken with the same Softbox.
We got a completely different result. We're going to show you how we did that
with a technique called feathering.
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Hi this J. P. Morgan We're out on location here
with beautiful Elaina, some peacocks, a horse and a dog next door.
We're going to show you a technique called feathering, gaining control of your
Softbox with just simple movements make a huge difference. So, let's get started
and see what we can do.
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So what is feathering? Feathering is using the area of coverage
to light just what you want to light. The area of coverage is
a large, it's like a large beam that comes out of your Softbox. The outside edges are
softer, the inside area is a little harder. So what we're going to do is learn
how to feather that area of coverage, so it just views the outside edges.
Now remember, in Softboxes 101, we learned that large boxes don't cover large areas
and small boxes don't cover smaller areas. They cover the same areas. Large
boxes are softer, small boxes are harder. But we're going to take the area of
coverage, the area and we're going to start to manipulate that and to turn it
and to be able to light exactly what we want to see.
So most people just plunk their light down, take their first shot. What do they
get? They get exactly this. Everything is lit. I don't want all of the grass on the
ground. So the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to take and I'm going to
feather this towards the camera. What that's going to do is it's going to take
the light off from the barbed wire in the background.
So we've moved our light forward but it's still all over the ground.
Now we're going to take it and were' going to tilt it up
and take another shot. There's the shot with
the light feathered. Light is up, light is towards the camera. I put my softboxes up
like this all of the time. I don't need a grid in this situation.
I mean, a grid will narrow the area of coverage but this takes it so that we're
using the soft edge of the area of coverage. We're taking it off the ground
and then we pitched it up to get it off from the lower part of her dress.
It really finesses the shot. It only lights the area that we want to see.
It takes the light off of the areas we don't want to see. It's almost like a
vignette. It creates a nice pool of light just on our subject matter, makes a very
pretty light. Let's take a look at some practical examples
of feathering Softboxes.
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When I was shooting for my time period art series,
I did a shot of a man in front of a biplane. In this image, I'm using two
lights. One is an Octadome for camera left,
aims a key light on our pilot up front.
The second is a head with only a reflector aimed at the airplane in the background.
In the first image, the octadome is aimed directly at the subject and the head with
the reflector on it is aimed directly at the airplane. The area of coverage is
covering everything, the ground, his pants. There's no control over this image
what so ever.
In the second image, we redirected both the lights. We feathered the octadome by
tilting it up, take the light off his pants and then feather it towards the
camera to take the light off from the background. The head with the reflector we
tilted up to take the light off from the ground and to keep it only on the
airplane. As a result, we got a much more controlled image with prettier light.
In this case, feathering the light by tilting it up and towards the camera
creates a natural vignette that keeps the light off from things in the shot that
don't tell a story and let the light emphasize the things that tastefully do
tell a story. Shot number two is a much nicer lit image. The difference is subtle
but very noticeable to me.
Number 1 looks like strobe light and Number 2 looks more naturally lit. It's
good to note that when I feather the light by turning it towards the camera,
I will put up a flag to cut the light off the camera.
Let's now go to the studio and see how the same feathering technique works there.
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So we brought Elaina back here to the studio
and we're going to demonstrate this principle of feathering in a studio
situation. We looked at what it does if you're out on location, where you've got
big boxes and you rolling them up and around but how does it work on set where
the space is a little smaller and the light is a little more finessed?
It actually works every bit as well and in some ways, it's probably the principle
that gives you the best light. Everybody can throw a light up but it's how you
finesse it and how you work the light that really makes the difference. So, in this
case, I've got that area of coverage. That big area of coverage
is aiming directly at Elaina.
It's lighting her entire face. It's lighting the background and I'm using that
middle of that area of coverage. The light's a little harder on her face
and it's very directional. So I'm going to just feather this away from the background
and when I get it to about the right spot there, it's going to split her face.
And what I get now is I've taken that large area of coverage and I've moved it
off from the background. So I'm just using the edge of it. So the light side of her
face has dark background so it separates. The dark side of her face has a lighter
background, so it's going to separate as well.
If you go to Basics of a One Light Set Up, you'll this completely explained in that
video. But now if I don't want light on the background, I can take that area of
coverage and just roll it around a little further. I'm just starting to clip with
the area of coverage her ear there. But now, I've got a nice light on her face
and I've lost all the light on the background.
This gives me the ability now to add a second light on the background and to do
whatever I'd like with it on the background. Okay, now I'm going to take
this area of coverage and I'm going to pitch this way up. So I'm going to pitch
this up to where I just start to just get the edge of her chin, the back of her ear.
So, there shouldn't be anything on the background just a little glow on her face.
It's going to cut the light off from her neck.
Now we've taken and feathered this way off from her face. Now this is with an open
face Softbox. It doesn't have a diffusion on it, so it's very easy to see because
it a very hard line. Now, if you put that cover back on and you put the Softbox
on a strobe, you can get the same look. But, with continuous light, when you put
that cover back on, it diffuses the light so much. These lights, the LED, are just
so soft that you don't get a nice hard punch through them like you do with the
strobe. But, for demonstration purposes, we're leaving it with continuous light
so you can see how the area of coverage can be moved around.
But we've really moved this around, given a nice look on her face,
just a pretty look at the light there. It's just something interesting. Now let's
think about this. What happens if we go exactly the opposite direction?
We pitch it all the way down, area of coverage on the top and we pitch it all
the way out. What do we get? We get a really crappy looking shot because all
we've done is thrown the light on everything we don't want to see and we've
really not lit her very nicely. You could probably make something work with this but
in my mind, it doesn't work near as well as up and towards the camera.
Remember, you may have to put a flag in front of the camera. The flag will block
the lens but up and towards the camera is going to work. So let's get back to that,
up and towards the camera, right there. So now what we're going to do is we're going
to put a fill card in but we're going to use feathering with our fill card in order
to control a little bit of light on her face as a fill and also on the background.
Now we're going to take our reflector and we're going to slide this in. As we slide
it into her face, it just opens up the shadow side of her face. It gives us a
nice look there of her face. But now with this, we can do one of two things with it.
We can either feather this towards her, which is going to brighten the background
and brighten the side of her face, or we can feather this away from the background
and that's going darken the background and slightly darken the side of her face.
So there's a principle using feathering with both the key light and now also with
the reflector, which is becoming our fill light. With the combination of those two
lights and feathering them, there are a multiplicity of different looks you can
get. So when you just put a light down and aim it at your subject, you're making one
decision that will give you one look.
But when you feather your light up and away and you feather your fill in out or
up and away, it's going to give you multiple looks. Small adjustments make a
huge difference. So I hope you learned somethings about finessing your light. Get
out there, work those Softboxes, look at the light, make changes, really finess it.
Keep those camera rolling, keep on clicking.
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