All language subtitles for DDDD 1

Welcome to

Light Source your definitive
guide to everything you need to know

about studio lighting for beauty
and portrait photography.

In this extensive course,
I will be guiding you

through the fundamental knowledge
on life itself to understanding

types of studio
lighting, flash duration, power and more.

I will also be looking at the key
equipment and accessories

that you will need
to create the most impactful images.

Later in the program
you will be guided through over

45 exciting lighting setups suitable

for almost any sized studio space.

I cover creative lighting examples
with just one light

right through to a maximum of four lights,
and all of this will be done

using only the most standard
and affordable lighting modifiers.

We also look at business portraits,
location lighting and mixed lighting

scenarios, and I explain the emotion
of light and understanding

how to create mood and feelings
through the careful control of light.

So no

matter whether you only have one light
and a small space,

or if you already have a range
of accessories and studio lights.

This course will bring you the knowledge
and confidence

to excel with your studio lighting.

And remember, you can discuss each section
of this course with other fellow

photographers or members of our team
in the comments section as you progress.

Plus, stick with us for future live shows

with further examples
related to this course.

I'm Carl Taylor and I look forward
to being your guide in this.

The most extensive and in-depth course
ever produced on

Portrait studio lighting.

Light Source.

So before I can show you

a number of amazing lighting setups
that you can use and demonstrating

different
lighting modifiers from reflectors,

soft boxes to umbrellas,

we really need to understand
the fundamentals of light,

the fundamental principles of light
and how light works

so that you can benefit from
that knowledge when you're applying ing

these different lighting modifiers

and using these different
lighting modifiers later.

Now to get started,
we're going to start off

with the most simple fundamental of light,

and that's to do
with the size of the light.

Here I have two light sources.

One of them is a very small point
light source,

and the other one is a large, big
soft box.

Now, both of these light sources
give a dramatically

different effect to the lighting
or the lighting style.

And it's very important that we understand
how and why that happens.

So our basic first
rule of thumb is the hardness

or the softness of the light
and the way that dictates the shadows

that are cast or the lack of shadows
that is cast

here with a point light source,
we will get dramatically strong.

Shadows with a large light
source will hardly see any shadows at all.

To demonstrate
that I'm going to turn the lights off

and I'm going to run some tests
on a few different objects

so that we can start to learn
how we can control the light.

Okay, so

now that we've turned off our video
filming lights,

we're just left
with our two photographic lights.

That's our two studio flashlights
that we use for photography.

Now, to demonstrate the principles of hard
light

and soft light and large
light sources and small light sources.

Let's just start
with one of the light sources.

So I'm going to turn the large one off.

And that leaves us with this point
light source.

And I'm just going to adjust
the position of this light source.

Angle it down at our objects.

Let's just get rid of these.

We don't need these at the moment.

And let's just take a look
to start with this balloon

position here.

Now, what do we have?

Well, immediately
you can see with the point light source

that we have the object illuminated,

but we have a very clear, well-defined

shadow being cast from the object.

Now, because this object is translucent,

we're also seeing some of that shadow
light in up on the inside here,

because light is actually getting
through the object onto the table.

Now, if we compare that to a solid object,
an opaque object like this chair,

you can see that the shadows remain solid

because the object itself is solid.

The key thing now to start off with,
the first thing we're looking at

is the definition of the shadows

and the strength of the shadow,
the sharpness of the shadow.

Now let's move on to the solid object.

Let's look at another factor.

So we have strong shadows

and we can see where there's breaks

in the shadow, where the light
is getting through the object.

But you'll notice
on this particular object where the light

is striking the white surface,
this is clearly illuminated,

but in the shadow side, it's
obviously much darker.

And that's where the even being
a white object, if this object was gray

or dark brown or black or something,
then these shadows would be even denser.

So we have what we call high
contrast light.

That's where one side is lit brightly.

The shadow side is very, very dark.

We call those dense shadows.

The shadows are very dense and very dark.

Now, on the translucent object

that doesn't apply
because it is obviously transparent.

So there are no shadow sides as such,

only the shadow being cast
by the object itself.

Now we're going to come back
to the density of shadows

and how we control the density of shadows,
because this is a very,

very important part of good studio
photography.

And it's something that, in my experience
in training hundreds and thousands

of professional photographers,
many of them don't actually understand.

And when we can control the density,
the density of our shadows independently,

we can learn how to create some amazing
lighting setups.

But we'll be coming to that later
in this course.

So let's now compare the shadows
that we get

with a large light source
instead of the point light source.

So I'm going to bring the large
light source into position

and I'm going to position it

in a approximately the same position

as the point light source.

And then I'm going to turn

the point light source off,
but I'm just going to get this up

on an angle from above.

So the direction

of the light will be the same,

right?

So we're going to turn this light
source off and move it out the way

and we're going

to bring our large light source on
and into position.

Now, look at the huge difference.

The object is still illuminated,

but the shadow has almost disappeared.

There is a very, very soft shadow
remaining here,

but it has no defined edge.

It has no sharpness, it has no shape,
and the shadows have no density

because we've changed to a large light
source.

Let's compare it with the little chair,

even with the solid

object, the opaque object, like the chair.

Again,
our shadows have completely changed.

We can see that the density of the shadows
has dramatically decreased,

but also the definition of the shadow,
the shape of the shadow has disappeared,

and we're just left with a general soft
shadow.

Now, if you think about this,
try to identify situations

where you may have seen this before,
because you see this in the natural world,

this lighting that you're seeing now
simulates what you might see

on a cloudy, overcast day where you've got
a large blanket of white cloud

and the sun is being diffused
by that cloud

and it's casting soft shadows.

If there was no cloud
and it was a beautiful, clear day

with the midday sun,
you would have hard, sharp shadows,

very similar to our single point
light source because the sun in the sky

looks like a single point light source.

Now, going back to our large
soft light here.

The other thing that you'll notice
is that the density of the shadows

is also reduced
because we have a lot more light reaching

to other areas
and bouncing back into the object.

So that's the first key principle

that we need to understand
between hard light and soft light.

We call a point light source
that casts strong shadows.

We call that a hard light source.

We call a large light,
a soft light source.

And there are, of course,
a number of differences in between.

We can even combine hard light and soft
light

to get a mixture of some shadow

and softer shadows as well,
and will demonstrate light

that in one of our next examples.

But first we're going to look at some other principles and fundamentals of light.

Okay,

I've brought a couple of reflector
panels of light reflector to bounce

light in and a black reflector
which isn't a reflector at all.

It actually sucks light away
and we call this a negative film.

What I want to demonstrate
next is the density of shadows

and how we can use reflectors or another

light source
to actually control the shadows.

Let me pop those down for a moment.

So we're going to use our little white
stool chair to start with,

but I'm going to go back to the point
light source for this demonstration

so that we can clearly see the shadows.

So let's put this one on
and let's turn this one off

for a moment
and move this one out of the way as well.

Now, if we have

the object illuminated like
so I'm going to go a little bit higher.

Let's just actually let's point
this out as well while we're here.

One of the key things to notice with
shadows

is the position of the shadows
is obviously dictated

by the position of the light.

So as we move the light source,
you can see

we dramatically
change the position of the shadows.

Just as the sun moves across the sky,
midday sun,

the shadows are more underneath
the object.

When the sun is directly above.

But as we position
the light into different

positions, the shadows will go
in a different direction.

And this is obviously key to portraiture
and the shape of the shadows on the face.

And we'll be looking at that with
some of our lighting

demonstrations later on in the course.

So we'll just start with
the light at this position.

What I want us to observe at the moment

is how if this is the correct exposure,

that the shadows
will be slightly underexposed.

As a matter of fact,
we need to see that with a dark

object as well.

Here with a black object,

if we Now look, the dark areas on

this object are very dark
because it is black on this side.

So when we get the exposure correct
for the light source, for the point

light source on this side,
then the object in the shadows

becomes very dark,
whereas the white object is lighter.

So obviously
we can still see some detail in there.

But again, this is something to consider
depending on the type of object

or subject or the clothes or the model
or the person that you're photographing.

For the moment,
we'll stick with just the white object

to demonstrate how

we can control light in the shadows.

So right now we have one light source,
just a single simple point light source.

And if I want to get more light
into this area, then I've got two choices.

I can add another light source
or I can introduce the reflector.

And the reflector
is the simplest way to bring light in.

So if we look at the density
of the shadows

as I bring this reflector in, you'll see
those shadows become a great deal lighter.

So I take it away,

I bring it in,

I take it away

and I bring it in
and you can see this huge difference

that's been made to the shadow
side of that chair.

Now the interesting thing
about bringing a reflector

in is that it doesn't destroy the shadows.

The shadows are still visible.

The definition of the shadows
is still visible.

All it does is add
some light into the shadows.

It reduces the density of the shadows

and what it's doing is is simply bouncing
some of our existing point light.

So some of it is bouncing off
of this reflector panel into the shadows.

Now the light source is also bouncing
off the wall there, back into the shadows.

But because the wall is much further

away, the intensity of light
bouncing back isn't as strong.

So when we bring the wall
or a reflector closer than we can increase

the amount of light going into those
shadows and that can be controlled

simply by the distance of the reflector
away from the subject.

So if we look at my face right now,
it's quite harshly lit.

I'm lit on this side, This side will be in
fairly strong shadow, but as I lift up

the reflector, that side of my face starts
to become illuminated in the shadows.

Would bring that up and that starts
to become illuminated in the shadows

here and here.

Now the opposite effect
is to take light out of the shadows,

and that's where we use a negative film.

Now I just explained that at the moment

some of the light is bouncing
off the wall, back into the shadows.

Here.

Some of the light is bouncing off of the
white table surface back into the shadows.

So if we actually want to decrease
the amount of light

in the shadows, then we would need
to cut some of that reflected light out.

So if we have a look at the shadows again
on the side of the chair,

and then I bring the negative
in, we can see that

those shadows will get darker.

It's only slight on this effect here
because we still have quite a lot of light

bouncing off the table.

If I actually cover the table, you can see
the side of the chair get a lot darker

where we go

because at the moment
a lot of light is bouncing

off of the table back into the shadows
because the table is white,

light is bouncing off the wall.

So if I block the wall and the table,
we can see

the density of the shadows increases.

We get stronger
shadows on the shadow side of our object.

So that's negative.
So and a positive feel,

which we just simply call a reflector
being the white one.

Now we do use different types
of reflectors.

Sometimes we use mirrors
or we use silver reflectors

or gold reflectors, which all give
a slightly different effect.

Obviously a gold reflector
or a colored mirrored reflector

would bounce a little bit of colored light
back into those shadows

and we can use that for creative effect.

Now a reflector is one of the ways

that we can control light in our shadows.

The other way is to actually
use another light source.

Now, by using another light source,

we actually have a lot more control

because a reflector

is limited to the amount of light
that it can bounce back.

It's limited by the power of the point
light source

or the light source, but it's reflecting.

But if we actually introduce
another light source

instead of the reflector,
then we can control the power of that

light up and down on the flash power
output settings

and we can dictate
how much light we get into the shadows.

So at the moment, the power of this light
is just the modeling lamp we're seeing.

If I just turn it off,
you can see that light disappear,

but I'm just going to adjust the power
of that modeling lamp.

I can just go into the settings

now as I change the power

of the modeling lamp,
then that's the light that you can see

on at the moment.

As I change the power of that light,

you can see

the amount of light
in the shadows changes.

So I increase the light
and the shadows become brighter.

The shadow is still there,

but I have much more control
over the shadows than simply

using a reflector because I'm able
to control the amount of light

from this direction and therefore

the level of brightness in the shadows.

Let's take that down again.

And those shadows will become darker,

take it up again
and those shadows will become lighter.

But notice the definition of the shadows,
the shape of the shadows,

everything that remains the same
because this light is still

the dominant light source.

It's the most powerful light source

based on the settings

that I have the two lights at the moment,
and this is one of the key

things to photography
is all about the balance of light.

Sometimes you'll hear the phrase
the ratio of light.

I prefer to call it the balance of light.

It's whether this light is more powerful
or that light is more powerful.

At the moment,
this light is more powerful,

so the shadows are more dominant
from this side and being cast

this direction,
this light is what we call a fill light.

It is filling in the shadows.

And as you see here,
you can see the density

and strength of those shadows changing.

As I change the power of the fill light.

This is a key fundamental aspect

of studio lighting and studio photography.

It's even required
when we are using a soft light source.

So even with a soft light source
where there are virtually no shadows,

there is still a shadow
side to the object,

especially if that object is a dark
object, a black or dark gray object.

Those shadows will be stronger
and we will need to use a reflector

or a full light if you want to increase

the shadow detail.

Okay.

Next we're going to look at contrast
and text

just so that we can explore and examine
what type of light

you might use
for different type of objects or subjects.

For example,
we might want to create strong texture

and strong shadows by using a point
light source or might or we might not want

strong shadows, so we'd need to use
a large soft light source.

We're going to bring in two objects
now, one

that will benefit from soft light
and one that will benefit from hard light.

And compare the both.

So to

help us with this demonstration,
I have a sponge

and a violin.

The violin is glossy
and has some large glossy surfaces.

It does have some texture
and small areas of detail as well,

but I'm more interested in the large,

broad, a glossy surface in this example.

And then I have a sponge
which is pitted with lots of small holes,

and we're going to take a look
at how those record differently

with soft light and hard light
and see which one suits each object.

Okay,
So we'll start with these two objects,

and we're going to start with the point
light source.

So I'll turn the large light source off.

So we're going to go with hard light
from a small light source,

but I'm just going to lower the position
of the light a little bit to create

longer, stronger shadows.

You can see that as I lowered the light,
the shadows got longer.

Let's just check that again.

Light's higher, light's lower,
and that will change

the texture
as we graze our objects with light.

Then the texture will increase.

Now, the interesting thing

is that each of these items

will look better
with a different light source.

If we start off with the sponge,
we can see

the small craters or holes in the sponge.

They are what define that.

It is actually a sponge.

Without those holes in there,
it would be difficult to see the texture

or see the effect of it as a sponge.

So to properly describe
this object as a sponge photographically,

then lighting it with some form of hard,
a light or point light source

allows us to reveal
that texture and detail.

Now, if we look at the violin, whilst
it might look okay,

it wouldn't be my first choice
of lighting for this particular object.

I probably want a broader
soft light on the violin,

but a broad a soft light will not work
very well on the sponge.

Let's demonstrate
that as a comparison side by side

so we can see in this side

by side, split screen comparison.

The difference on the sponge

whether we have hard light or soft light.

So look at the two examples.

You can clearly see how with the hard
light source, that's the point.

Light source.

We define the texture much better

with the point light source
than we do with the soft light.

So for this particular object, the point
light source looks more appropriate,

but we can also control
the amount of still light,

remember, by bringing in a reflector.

So in this example
you can see how the shadow sides

become slightly filled in
as we bring that reflector in.

So that shows the differences
between a large light source

and a point light source
on the very texture it object.

Now let's take a look
at a split screen on the violin.

So again, we can see in this instance

the violin is better suited

to the large light source,
to the softer light source

with the more broad lighting illuminating
those glossy broad surfaces.

You can see in the side by side comparison
how we have very strong

dark shadows with the point light source.

But we have much softer shadows

or no shadows with the large light source.

Now let's look at a comparison with
and without a reflect the brought in.

So we'll bring the reflector in

and take the reflector.

We will bring the reflector in

and we'll take the reflector away.

So hopefully this demonstration gives you
a clear idea how in certain circumstances

we might want to use a broad,
large light source

and in other circumstances
we might want to use a point,

small light source
to create texture and strong shadows.

Next we're going to look at the three
dimensionality

of objects
and lighting objects to reveal that.

Now every object is different.

We've either got different surface
materials, different textures,

different smoothness, or different shapes.

So, for example, the human face
and body has lots of irregularities and

different features and different shapes
that will cause and cast shadows.

The texture of skin is also quite unique
and reflects light in a certain way.

Here we have a cylinder
which is a sort of semi gloss

finish in metal,
and here we have a painted texture

which is a lot more matte
but still has a slight shine to it.

So what I want to do is demonstrate
how using different types of light sources

will reveal different things
about the objects

and different things
to do with their three dimensionality.

Now, we'll start off
just briefly here with the point

light source again,
and we can see how the shadows

are strongly affected
by the position of the light.

And wherever I move the light,
we'll see the changes.

But what I want you to notice
more importantly at this stage

is the reflectance of the objects.

So, for example,
if we look at the skin tones here,

and I know this is actually plastic,
but if we look at the the tones here, it's

quite a matte surface.

So there's not really any bright
highlights apart

from the gloss part there on the lips.

But if we look at this metallic surface,
we can see this big strip of light

where we've got this really bright
highlight on here

on the semi sort of matte painted surface.

We have a highlight,
but it's more spread out.

It's more diffused because the actual
texture of the surface is changing.

The appearance of that reflected light.

Now, the reflectance
of the surface of these different objects

is greatly affected
by the type of light source that we use

and also by its distance
away from the subject.

So what I'd like to do next
is do another side by side comparison

where we can see the effect
of different types of light sources.

Let's have a look at the light sources
that I'm going to use.

Well, we're going to use the point
light source

that we've got here,
but I'm also going to do a version where

we diffuse the point light source
by using a roll of diffusion material

that is commonly used in photography.

I use this a lot
and I can diffuse the point

light source
and make it a much bigger light source

by shining the light
through the diffusion material.

And if we look from this side,
as I change the distance of the light,

we can see how I make that light either
bigger or smaller.

Now, unlike a soft box,
this is considerably different because

the light has a central radiating glow

and then it gradually dims our grid date.

So why gradation?

It forms a feathered type of lighting,
whereas a soft box

is an evenly illuminated what

we call an homogenous light form.

So we're going to compare the point

light source,
the diffused gradation light source,

and the homogenous light box
with these different materials.

So here we

can see with the point light source
how we have strong,

well defined shadows
cast by the nose and the neck.

And also you can see the strength
of the shadows on the side of the face.

The other thing to notice
is the overall clarity of the light,

but importantly, all the specular
highlights on the glossy parts of the body

around the neck and the collarbone
and also on the lips.

And these are the characteristics
of a point light source.

Strong shadows and strong
specular highlights.

So with the soft box, we can see
things are completely changed.

We have a broader, softer light,
No specular highlights

because we are now talking
about a large homogenous light source

and the larger the light source,
then the reduction in specular highlights

and also the reduction in the intensity

or the sharpness of the shadows.

Now we still have shadows, of course,
because the light is directional.

It's coming from one side.

The strength of the shadows,
I should point out as well, are defined

by the amount of reflected light
coming in from the studio around us.

So this is why
they're not completely black.

In this example,
we have a point light source

behind a scrim and far away from a scrim.

So effectively it is just creating
a very large light source

because the scrim is actually bigger
than the soft box.

This is resulting in even softer light.

Remember the larger
the light relative to the subject,

then the softer
it will appear on the subject.

So you can see here how the shadows
appear softer, the tone of the light

overall is softer,
and we have this very soft, broad

light created with the point
light source far away from the scrim

as the point light source comes
closer to the scrim.

We still have a soft light,

but we also have the inclusion
of specular highlights.

So you can see on the collarbone,
the neck and the chest area.

We have some specular highlights
coming back again,

but we still have relatively soft shadows
and a relatively soft, broad light

because we have a combination of light
here.

We have light that is grid dating across
the scrim is illuminating the whole scrim,

but we have a stronger central point
light source in the middle of the scrim,

basically a ball of radiating light
within the scrim.

So we have this mixed lighting,
which is what makes scrim lighting

quite unusual
and interesting to work with in that

by changing that distance of the point
light source away from the scrim,

we can create some interesting effects

as we move to the different surfaces.

Here we have the gloss metal cylinder

and the semi matte gray metal surface,
and with the point light source,

you can see we've created a very fine
strip of light on the gloss metal.

But on the semi matte painted surface,
you can see how it diffuses that point.

Light source.

We have strong shadows
cast across the table

from the objects, as you will see here,

as we change to the soft box.

Those strong shadows that were cast across
the table have

now become very diffused
and almost disappear.

And you can see the diffusion of the soft
box in the gray

paint has changed considerably
compared to the point light source.

But the interesting thing to note
is in the metal glossy cylinder,

we still have a very bright,
highly reflective light,

but it's now a much wider strip of light
because it is simply reflecting

a much wider, broader light source

as we go to the light
far away from the scrim.

That's a point light source
behind a scrim far away.

We have a very, very soft light,
very soft shadows,

and a very soft lighting in the diffused,
gray painted surface.

But interesting to note here,
we have a strip of light

in the metal cylinder,
but it is a grid dated light.

Now the light is stronger on one side,
so you can see it stronger on the right

and then it
gradually decreases in strength

as we move to the left of the cylinder.

And this is the gradation of light
that you get with a scrim.

Now, if the light was so far away
from the scrim

that it was illuminate the whole scrim
evenly, there wouldn't be any gradation.

Some of the gradation you're seeing here

could be because of the angle of the scrim
to the cylinder, but also because

the point light source may be further away
on one side of the scrim than the other.

So it's brighter
on one side and dates across the scrim.

As we

bring the point light source
closer to the scrim,

we see the gradation of light again
even more effectively.

You can see on the right side
of the cylinder, the glossy cylinder,

the brighter stripe of light,
and then it feathers away

to a dimmer light
as it goes across that cylinder.

The diffused light on the metal

painted
metal still looks similar to the soft box

and to the large scrim

version, but you can still see that
there is a stronger light

on one side of that diffuse reflection
in that gray paint.

So hopefully these various examples

have allowed you to see and understand
better

the differences between photographing
something like skin texture

compared to glossy
or intermediate textures

and how they all react
differently to the light

and how they all react differently
to different types of lighting.

In this next example, we're going to look
at one of the other fundamental

parts of light and understanding light,

and that is the inverse square law.

Now, there are two sections to this,
if you like.

One is how the inverse square law
will affect

the brightness range on one object
compared to another object,

and the other is how the distance
from our subject,

how the light source distance
and then the relative light size will

affect or not affect

the change in the lighting style.

On the main subject.

Now if we take a look at the lighting
that I've got set up at the moment,

you can see that
I've got a very large soft box.

So this is the 120 centimeter
by 180 centimeters.

Soft box is a very big soft box.

And you can see I've got it at about arm's
length away from our subject.

Now, let's just compare that a moment
to how

we perceive the size of the light source

from the perspective of our subject.

So at this position,
the light source looks about this size.

Now what that tells me
is that I could actually introduce

another light source, an alternative one.

Let me just put this one on a moment,

and if I bring this light source

in to about this position

at about here,

then I could get this light source

to emulate the same visual size
from my subject's perspective

as the larger light source
that was further away.

So effectively,
this light source looks as large

as the other light source to my subject
simply because it's closer.

However, there will be an effective change

in what the lighting does
because of the inverse square law.

And to demonstrate that I'm going to shoot
a number of pictures

with the large light source further away
and then the smaller light source

closer to emulate the same size
as the light, a larger light source.

And we'll see those key differences.

So let's start shooting a picture.

Now, before I get started,
let me just explain.

This light source here is not being used.

This is just to illuminate me
for the video

the lights that I've shown you
so far have had the modeling lamp on.

That is the continuous light,
but that's not actually used to take

the picture Inside of these units
is the flash tube,

which fires a burst of flash
will be explaining more about

how studio flashes
work in one of the next chapters.

So here we're going to use Flash
from the studio Light to photograph

the subject
with the other camera alongside.

And the picture
is going to come into the computer.

So here's our first picture.

Let's take a look.

And there we go.

So we can see immediately with the large
soft box we've got a nice soft light.

There are some shadows here,
but they're soft shadows.

They're not harshly, sharply
defined shadows.

Now, the things to look at here
and the things that we're going to

compare
are the lighting on our main subject,

the lighting on this camera
and the light level on the background.

I'm now going to change the light source
for the smallest of box,

but bring that small soft box closer
so that it is

visually the same size
from the perspective

of our subject.

Now I'm just moving

this light source back
so that when I'm looking from

our dummy models perspective

is that this light source
looks the same relative size.

This needs to go up slightly.

I'm just going to check that lines up
there.

That lines up there
probably come a little bit closer.

So now from our subject's perspective,

this light source looks the same size
as the previous light source.

So I'm going to turn the other
light source off now

and just leave this one on

so that one goes off.

And now we should have the same star

of lighting
in terms of the relative softness.

Now, one of the things I will have to do
is adjust the power of this light

so that the expose jar on our dummy
is the same

as the exposure in the other shot,
so that it's an equal and fair comparison.

I need to reduce the power
on this flash a little bit.

Okay, so taking the photo with the smaller

soft box,
but in the close position and here we go.

Here's an interesting result.

This is exactly what I expected to see,
because we can't break the law of physics.

Let's have a look at what we're seeing.

If we look the lighting on the dummy,
on the face,

the shadows, the contours of the shadows,
and we compare it to our previous shot,

they're actually identical.

They're exactly the same shadows,
exactly the same position,

exactly the same sort of softness
to the light in terms of the shadows,

the exposure on the skin of the dummy

is the same intensity, because I've
adjusted the power of the smaller light

down a little bit because it's closer
so that the exposure ends up the same.

So we have the same skin tone
level on the two shots.

What you will notice
because of the inverse square law though,

is now the all light source is closer.

You will see that the shadows are darker

and stronger than they were before.

You will also see that the background
is darker than it was before,

and you will also see
that this camera on the left hand side

is now darker than it was before.

So whilst the exposure is correct
and equivalent here,

although it looks a little bit different,
it looks different because it contrast,

because the background is darker,
we actually take a measurement.

If I measure the light value,
let's just measure it on the nose there.

We're running at 59 in the red,
53 in the green and 41 in the blue.

So I would call that about mid made 5953
41 If I go to the previous shot,

we're running at

55 4938 so very, very close in exposure
there.

We've got 5852 41 so pretty much identical

in exposure
there on that measurement on the nose.

And if we compare the two shots,
you can see the actual

skin tone
values are about the same exposure.

But notice how everything else changes.

And this is because of the inverse
square law.

As that light gets closer to our subject,

its relative size
is the same as the large soft box,

so the style of the lighting remains
the same, but the effect of the lighting

on other objects that are further away
dramatically changes.

And in this instance,
as you can see, the fall off of light,

the power of the light reduces
more quickly

because the light source
was closer to our subject and that results

in nearby objects
being darker, shadows being darker,

and the objects in the distance
also being darker.

So that is fundamentally
the effect of the inverse square law.

When you have a light
closer to your subject than a larger

light of the same apparent size
further away.

And that's the effect
and the result that you get.

This is very important to remember
because when you're lighting group

shots or two people together,

this person would be correctly exposed
and this one would be too dark.

So to overcome that problem,
you would need to use a bigger soap box

from further away so that they were both
more evenly illuminated.

That is one of the most fundamental parts
in photography terms of the inverse

square law, and hopefully
that demonstration showed you it clearly.

The next thing we're going to look at
now is the color spectrum of light.

So to understand

light further, we need to explore

a little bit about the physics of light

in terms of the visible
wavelengths of light.

Visible
light is part of the electromagnetic

spectrum, and by visible light mean light,

the eyes are receptive to light,
the eyes can see.

But if we take a look
at the electromagnetic spectrum,

we can see that
it's just a series of wavelengths,

starting with short wavelengths
and cosmic rays moving up through gamma

rays, x rays, ultraviolet infrared,
all the way

up to radio waves.

Now the visible light section
just forms this

small portion here,
which expanded out into this block.

We can see runs from about 370 nanometers

all the way up to about 730 nanometers

in as it starts to go into the infrared
spectrum.

Now, our eyes are receptive to that

frequencies.

Those frequencies of nanometers,
those frequencies of wavelengths

as different colors,
each of those different

set of wavelengths
we perceive as being color.

So down here in the 400 to 450 500
nanometer end,

we're looking at the ultraviolet
into the blues in the 600 nanometers.

We're seeing things as yellow and at 700
nanometers we're seeing them as red.

But if we take a look at our next slide,

we can see how that spectrum of color

changes depending on the light source
that it's coming from.

And this is a very important
to note in photography.

If we take a look at daylight
and this is assessed or based on midday

sun with a blue sky,
we can see that we have a very broad

spectrum of the frequencies.

So a fairly even balance of blue light

through to green, yellow
all the way through to red.

Now daylight is coming
from an incandescent source

such as the sun heated source,

and actually incandescent sources
are quite a lot warmer.

But daylight also includes the light from
the sky, which has a lot of blue light.

So we have this broad spectrum
and we use daylight

with what we call color temperature
kelvin color temperature of about 5600

as a sort of benchmark for photography
so all flash guns and studio flashes

and things like my lights are tuned
and balance

to work at 5600 Kelvin
with a full spectrum

to give us the same lighting effect

in terms of color and spectrum
as daylight is perceived here

on this particular graph,
if we move over to incandescent light,

so say for example, a candle burning,
we can see that

it has a full, broad spectrum
with no gaps in it,

but it's very much stronger in the warm
tones in the reds and the oranges.

And that's why we perceive candlelight
as being quite warm

in color, quite yellow in color.

As you can see from the graph
here, halogen light

also has a good full spectrum.

There are no gaps in the spectrum,
but you can see again, it's stronger

in the reds and in the greens,
in this case, quite low in the blues.

If we look at

cool white LED lighting, we can see it's

got quite a peak of strength
in the blue area.

And if you're buying a LED

lighting for photography,
you must be careful on its ability

to describe the spectrum
or its ability to show the full spectrum.

LEDs have come on a long,
long way in recent years,

and they now have LEDs
with a very high color index.

If we're looking at a color index suitable
for photography,

we're going to need 9495.

Otherwise LEDs will look a little bit
on the blue side

and missing certain parts of the spectrum.

Now the worst one for photography

is fluorescent lighting standard
fluorescent tubes that you might find

in a warehouse or a factory
or a supermarket or even at home.

If we look at the spectrum for fluorescent
tubes, you can see

that we've got a peak of red,
a peak of green and a peak of blue.

Now if we mix red, green and blue,
light our eyes perceive it as white.

So to our eyes we will accept

light from fluorescent
lights as being white.

But actually when we record it
on photographic film

or on a photographic digital sensor,

there is so much missing from the spectrum

that the color looks a little bit odd.

So we talk about light
in terms of usability

or usefulness for photography,
in terms of the broadness of its spectrum.

If we have daylight,
we have a good broad spectrum.

So it means the colors in our pictures
will be vibrant

and everything will be recorded
appropriately.

If we're using flashlight
or my lighting studio lighting.

It also has a full, broad spectrum.

But if we were to photograph
something using fluorescent lights, whilst

it might look okay to our eye,
the resulting images would not be as clean

and as bright or as colorful as we'd

get with a studio flashlight.

To demonstrate that, I'm
going to shoot some examples

under fluorescent lighting and shoot
some examples with broad spectrum

flash lighting so that you can see
the difference in results.

So to demonstrate what we

could call the cleanliness of the light,

I'm going to use full
spectrum studio flashlight.

Now, all studio flash lighting
should give you a good quality,

full spectrum equivalent to daylight.

Some cheaper flash brands
don't necessarily give you

it repetitively
or as accurately on every flash.

But here with this particular system,
we're going to get

very accurate full color spectrum.

I have a color test chart that we can use

as a reference,
and I have our dummy in position.

I have a large soft box to illuminate
this area

and I have a small a soft box
to illuminate the wall behind.

I'm going to take that
as our reference shot of a full spectrum

daylight, balanced light.

And then I'm going to turn
these lights off and just the fluorescent

lights that we have mounted
in the ceiling here in the studio,

which are actually quite high
quality fluorescent lights.

And we'll look at the difference
between the full spectrum daylight balance

and the fluorescent and have a look at how
it affects the colors

of the skin tones
and the colors on the chart.

So here's my test shot.

And if we take a look more closely,

we can see the purity of the colors

detailed in the test chart,

the purity of the lighting here.

And we can see that
the color balance is set at 5600,

which is the color
kelvin temperature of daylight.

And if we just take
a couple of measurements

just to have a look around here,
this is almost neutral at 43, 44 and 42.

So it's slightly off neutral.

I'm just going to correct for that here.

So now we've neutralized the shot

and we have 28,

29, 20, 44, 44, 61, 60, 61.

So all good neutrals there.

And then we've got the measurements
on the colors

in the chart
and they all look as they should.

The purity of it all looks good.

Background is pretty much neutral,
which it should be as well

because it's a white background
and everything looks clean

and the right level of the right contrast,

as I would expect from studio lighting,

we're now going to switch over
to fluorescent lights as a comparison.

So that's the fluorescent lights on.

I'm going to turn the studio
flashlights off

and we're going to take the same picture,

but we're going to have to
adjust the exposure

because now we're not using flash

and that's
going to require a longer exposure.

And we'll see if we get the exposure
about the same

looks a little bit dark there.

So I'm going to lighten up a little bit
more on.

Okay,
so we've lightened the exposure up here.

Now, the angle of light is not the same,
but you can see clearly straight away

that the color of the light is completely
different to the purity of color here.

So this is neutrally balanced
for 5600 kelvin color temperature

with the flash and then leaving it
at the same color balance.

You can see that this looks a bit
sort of peachy, yellowy.

It's not easy
to even really accurately describe

the color balance problem
that we've got there.

But to give this a fair chance,
what we need to do is to neutralize

to one of the gray tones,
which I'm going to do now.

And there I've neutralized.

So I've set that gray
to be a neutral balance

in the same way that I set the gray
to be a neutral balance here.

If we look at the colors, though,
on the cards,

look at the lot of vibrancy

on the color in the color test chart.

When we're using fluorescent light here

with Daylight Balance studio lighting
and then with fluorescent lighting,

we can see clearly
there was a big difference

in the saturation levels
of some of those colors.

Even the color in the skin

tones of the dummy look different.

And the overall feeling of the color
is actually wrong.

And the reason it's wrong is,
as I explained with the charts,

is that there is a large part
of the spectrum missing from fluorescent

lights, which means that certain colors
are not able to reflect those parts

of the spectrum because they don't exist
in that particular light source.

There is enough part of the spectrum
from fluorescent

lights in peak in the red, in the green
and the blue

to give us some impression of white light
or some reflection of color.

But it is nowhere near as pure
and as clear,

seen as the light
we get from Studio flash.

And this is something quite important
to keep in mind

because if you are using other forms
of lighting for studio

lighting other than flash,
such as continuous lighting or

continuous

LED lighting,
then you do have to be careful

that that type of lighting
has a full and broad spectrum

because as you can see here,
when you're missing parts of the spectrum,

you will lack color, fidelity, contrast

and punch to the images.

That's
the majority of what we need to cover

for understanding
some of the key principles of light.

We've looked at the hardness, the softness
of light, the density of shadows.

We've looked at the inverse square law,
the change in apparent light sources

and how that affects objects that are

a certain distance away from our subject
or in the background.

And now we've also looked
at the purity of light

when we're talking about the color
spectrum.

There is also one other factor
called color temperature.

And color temperature is the overall color

balance of the light,
whether it's warm or cold light.

So later in the day,

when the sun is setting,
the color temperature is a lot warmer.

It's around about 3200 or 3600 Kelvin

and when it's the middle of the day,

it's a lot cooler
around about 5600 kelvin.

And on a cloudy day it could be 9000
Kelvin.

It's a lot cooler as well.

It doesn't mean that it's missing
part of the spectrum.

It just means that it's shifted
more towards the red

end of the spectrum or more towards
the blue end of the spectrum.

That's a big difference
compared to this particular light

right now, which is actually missing
part of the spectrum.

And we'll never reveal
all of the colors accurately.