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Best light to mimic camera flash?


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Hello, 

I'm currently working on a project to be shot on super 16.

For one of the scenes I would like to have a look similar to the light you get from a camera flash.The light is not supposed to actually "flash", I'm just looking for the best option to have the same quality of light for this specific scene - a hard and strong light but also kind of diffused at the same time.

Attached are some photos (taken with a camera flash!) that hopefully show what I mean. The location is the same as the one in the pictures - a medium sized room with no windows.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

 

WhatsApp Image 2022-01-24 at 12.59.47 (1).jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2022-01-24 at 12.59.47.jpeg

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To my mind, that kind of flash look comes from having a high intensity, small, hard light coming straight on to the subject directly from camera position that has fast fall off into shadows - like you can see in that second shot where it looks like vignetting in the corners.   (I suspect that any diffusion you're getting is just bounce off the white walls)  I would think some sort of bare bulb/metal reflector combination positioned over the camera would do it. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...

Hi Nathaly!

I ended up using an Aladdin B-Flex 1X1 Bicolour. It turned out very well but please noticed that the location was a small interior without any other light sources and the scale of the shots was never that wide (just like the pictures I attached on my post). I remember considering an Aputure MC at some point because I was afraid that the Aladdin would be too big of a source for the effect but in the end I went with it.

I was very pleased with the results. I don't have a still picture from the film to show you, but with a little bit of post production it turned out very close to the reference pictures.

The main trick (again, for the kind of effect I was looking for) was to place the light source as close as possible to the camera axis, precisely to mimic the behavior of a flash light.

Hope this helps!

Best,

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