Max Field Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 So I understand the distance math behind achieving hard and soft shadows. What I'm not as well versed in is methods for HARD HARD line shadows when not shooting in the biggest of spaces (only 10ftx15ft). Any quick tips or pieces of gear I'm over-looking to achieve hard shadow casting? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Conley Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 You can use Leko style lights that have lenses on the front, although you still may not have enough distance. This can be overcome with bouncing it into a mirror. Open Face lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adrian Sierkowski Posted September 14, 2018 Premium Member Share Posted September 14, 2018 Dedo lights are also very very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Tyler Purcell Posted September 14, 2018 Premium Member Share Posted September 14, 2018 Leko and Fresnel tungsten lighting is what MOST people use for this. You can also use an open face with some black foil to control the light a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Mark Kenfield Posted September 15, 2018 Premium Member Share Posted September 15, 2018 Dedolights and mirrors are your friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Santucci Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 Open face lights with reflector removed. Point source will give you hard shadows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Field Posted November 3, 2018 Author Share Posted November 3, 2018 Dedolights and mirrors are your friend. Forgot to ask, how do the mirrors come into play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg MacPherson Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 They can increase the distance from the source to your subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Field Posted November 3, 2018 Author Share Posted November 3, 2018 They can increase the distance from the source to your subject. Through putting the mirror at a farther away distance and pointing the light back to the mirror, therefor the mirror's reflection illuminates for shadows? How much of a difference does that make as opposed to just putting the light as far back where the mirror would be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg MacPherson Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 I'm not sure I understand that question. The important distance is the distance that the light travels. So, keeping the ideas really simple, one could double the distance with a mirror. Or do even better by using the 15' and 10' available with the mirror at 45 degrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Field Posted November 3, 2018 Author Share Posted November 3, 2018 (edited) I guess what I'm asking is.. I'll make a little text diagram: setup A: SUBJECT ======================== LIGHT ============================= MIRROR setup B: SUBJECT =========================================================== LIGHT Let's say the full distances of both of those diagrams is 10 feet. Does shining the light back into the mirror and adding an extra 5 feet of distance traveled really do that much to the shadows? As opposed to just moving the light back to where the mirror was? If so, I'm trying to wrap my brain around how the physics of that works. And also how many stops would get lost. I rarely see mirrors as it is don't ask me why. Edited November 3, 2018 by Macks Fiiod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Sprenger Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 If the distance from light to mirror plus the distance from mirror to subject in setup A equals the distance from the light source to subject in setup B, than they should be equally hard. This is the case because the light source would be the same size from the perspective of the subject. The mirror just allows you to back your light further up from your subject than a small room with limited space would do. To increase the sharpness or hardness of a light, generally you will want to decrease its size and use a light with great throw. Usually optically more sophisticated designs work better for this, such as the aforementioned dedos (I also love their 650W version, such a pleasure to use and would also be great for this), lekos (you might want to use their EDLT lenses for this, as they are optically superior to the standard ones) or fresnels. Open face lights dont cut as nicely, because the source is not as clean, as you have both the reflector and the lamp itself which emit light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Field Posted November 3, 2018 Author Share Posted November 3, 2018 (edited) If someone's selling a Dedo kit then let me know. Probably need this in my arsenal. So often I'm like "I want an awesome hard shadow cast" Edited November 3, 2018 by Macks Fiiod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg MacPherson Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 If you make a drawing of the 10x15' space, with the subject placed, you will see the possibilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brazda Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 (edited) The smaller the source of the light the harder the shadow. I found out that those chinese LED flashlights work wonders for casting really hard edge shadows. They are also really powerfull and as used for the background you dont have to care about CRI. Edited November 12, 2018 by David Brazda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Field Posted November 12, 2018 Author Share Posted November 12, 2018 Yeah now that you mention flashlights those create the hardest shadows I know of by memory. Investing in a super bright one wouldn't be too bad budget-wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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