One of the outstanding characteristics of this channel is the short, simple and essential elaboration on the different themes. This one is a masterpiece of this art. thank you.
YES!!! Distance from the subject. Why don't more instructors say that? The sun is a massive light source but it is very far away, thus making it a hard light source. If it were closer, the light would be softer. We'd be dead but the light would be nice. 😜
You are correct about a lot of people not knowing the fundamentals. I can keep it real, only in the last year. I’m finally understanding hard light/soft light confidently. You can’t cheat this process.
Can what you are photographing effect the quality of the light in regards to diffused vs specular? Example, matte makeup vs dewy/wet makeup ( or just oily skin). Same light setup but in one the image looks diffused and one looks specular. I do headshots of everyday people with varying makeup from none ( men typically) to perfect makeup and without changing the light I get specularity in some and nice, smooth highlights in others. I imagine in your work you deal with this even more having so many more materials to deal with in one shot?
Great subject to talk about. For the specular vs diffuse light it can be easier to understand it as direct vs scattered light. The purpose of most reflectors is to gather and direct the light where a diffuser is scattering light. Great video, as always.
But if you have a small diffuser far away, then any light the diffuser scatters will miss the subject, unless it has something to bounce off. Only the part of the light that is directed towards the subject can illuminate the subject.
One more thing ... moving the light around to change the softness comes with the price. The closer your light is to the subject, the harder inverse square law hits, and the stronger the light fall off is.
The diffused aspect throws so many, I asked a question on this in my FB group and a fair few got it wrong. So many working professionals get it wrong and even on large RUclips channels. Yeah that little diffusion cover on that LED or speedlite is not making it softer it is diffusing it... reducing contrast.
Wow you’ve covered about half of the infamous Light Science & Magic book here in the span of a few minutes 😂 great job. I have recommended that book to noobs for years, but they bitch at me because the book is not “modern” enough for them or it will not tell them exactly how to set up their godox flash. Light is light, and what you can do with it is what makes it special. Even though I am pretty much retired from commercial shooting, going to look up your workshop because this is one subject where the discovery never stops. Thanx! 🥰
5 minutes! It took Scott 5 minutes to make me understand what and how light works! That's all I needed! A good base so I can start experimenting! Thank you!🙏🏻
Talking about the relative size of the light source to the subject would help to understand that relation of size and shadow hard/softness. Another point would be the relation between distance and contrast and how that affects "light quality". Future video maybe?
Best lighting description I've ever heard and I've heard a lot. Articulate, to the point. No BS. This 5 minute video is equivalent to a six month photography course, probably more. You would make a great teacher if you could project in a face to face situation the same way you do to camera. But I know that's not really your schtick being an introvert.
Okay I'm glad you went over this because I was arguing with a fellow photographer about this. Turns out I was right, but also that I knew more than I thought. I love videos like this and I think you should continue doing videos where you talk about techniques, types of light or how to use light. As we all know light is king
The best chefs understand that often the best foods are made with the simplest ingredients. The best athletes understand that their best performances most often come from focusing on the fundamentals. The best photographers often make the best photographs by understanding the basics of photography. Thank you Scott for reminding us of these simple facts.
Good explanation of how light changes depending on the source. Sometimes, on travel jobs, I take a few white shower curtains to locations. You can use both as diffusion or even set up on walls for bounce if the walls have a color you don't want spilling onto set.
You can look at hard light vs soft light as how it looks at the subject. And diffused light vs specular light as how it looks at the source. Not a hard definition, but it may help.
This is blowing my mind! I didn't have specular and diffused light in my vocabulary before but now I get it! Makes sense the way you explain it, great concise teaching!
Yeah me too. Trouble is my studio space is my kitchen. And it is small. So I don't have the ability to alter distance and test something I couldn't do anyway! 😕
Excellent explanation - the quality of light in any shot is crucial to the aethetics ........ for my own small scale (desktop) rig the variations are almost unlimited ....... BUT as it's small scale, I have to make a lot of my own modifiers and adaptions ........ great fun though.
Hi Scott, great video but I disagree about the bare bulb flash and soft vs hard light at 00:01:00 . When a bare bulb studio light is close to the subject, it creates divergent beams-rays spreading out intensively, leading to a more defined, contrasted look with sharper shadows and highlights. Conversely, if the light source is moved further away, the beams become parallel, maintaining a consistent direction. This even and gradual illumination softens transitions between light and shadow, resulting in a softer appearance. According to the Lambert's Law, the illumination of a surface depends not only on the intensity and distance of the light source (as per the Inverse Square Law) but also on the angle at which the light strikes the surface. When light strikes the subject's surface at a steeper angle, typical with a close light source, it intensifies, contributing to pronounced contrast. As the light source moves away, the rays strike the surface at shallower angles, resulting in lower intensity. This spreads the light over a larger area, creating a more gradual transition between highlights and shadows for a softer, diffused appearance. You could test this simply by using a bare bulb flash to shoot a portrait. Position the light at 30cm, and 5m. The farther position will result in a softer light.
Thanks alot for your efforts and the previous viodes helped me a lot to be a better photographer But I am confused when to use Grid on soft box and when not on food I shoot beautiful Rustic food photography and awful light and airy food
I'm still confused about the meaning of specular vs diffuse. Can anyone describe it in physical terms? Or describe maybe how you could tell the difference in a picture *of the light* taken from the point of view of the subject? Hard and soft seems fairly straightforward - a soft light covers a larger angle from the point of view of the subject, which means that the shadows it casts will have large penumbras compared to the size of their umbras. E.g. the sun (or the moon) covers about the same angle as a thumb at arms length, which for lighting purposes is near enough to zero. The opposite is a cloudy sky over a flat moor could cover 180 degrees in all directions. But what's the most specular or least specular light possible? What are the photons or light waves doing different in specular vs non-specular light?
i think the issue that many people start their learning paths learning from people that don't know themselves. I see many courses being offered from photographers that shoot lots of genres, sometimes even professionally, but don't use anything other than the available light as is. And actually even lighting workshops from photographers that never had understanding light as a hard criteria (not shooting professionally, never worked in a studio, never used anything else other than speedlites and basic reflective umbrellas). So the "unlearning" carries on...
This is one of the biggest issues with places like RUclips. We have to be able to discern the difference between someone like this, who is an absolute professional and someone who thinks they know what they’re talking about that is just making videos. On a side note, what “natural light” photographers don’t realize is that leaning how to create light will make them infinitely more valuable to potential clients because they won’t be subject to whatever conditions they’re stuck shooting in. This particular channel is one of my favorites though. :)
@@KyleElsewhere It's not just on RUclips, IRL it's the same. When I bought my first camera, I did a workshop and then realized the value was very little. But it was expensive and booked, because you know, shooting "portrait" or "fashion" of half-naked girls sells. Any model/fashion/portrait group around here is filled with these courses, teaching "light" and "posing" and "color grading" and other keywords that makes them sound knowledgeable, when in fact anyone that has ever read a book on photography probably knows more than them. Luckily that's what I did, I bought books, experimented, and months later I was working in a proper professional studio. And that's why I like this channel. Even though I was doing mostly editorial portraits, I relate a lot. But it's very hard to find good learning sources, online or offline.
@@ruimarto You're 1000% correct. I think newer photographers are unaware that creating a beautiful photo is such a small part of the overall job. You must be able to consistently deliver what you're clients require, be able to communicate with them effectively, understand your place in the market, price yourself from a business owner perspective where you take all of your expenses into account before deciding on a price. I took a similar path to you, books books books, trial and error, followed by assisting, and then shooting in a large studio. I've been doing this full time for years and I still don't feel like I'm an authority on anything photo related. The idea that someone would want to learn from me, when I'm still constantly learning and growing myself is weird. Maybe I'll get there one day, but so much of owning a photography business has nothing to do with photography.
@@KyleElsewhere Yeah, the business part is a whole other "demon". 😅 I never cared that much (I was dumb) as my job was only to shoot. But even in that part, like you said, it's not just taking a pretty photo. You need to be consistent and able to replicate it. And for that you need to understand light! Why is the light 3m away and not 1m? Why is it a softbox and not a reflective umbrella? Why is it feathering the subject instead of pointing straight at it? What happens if I put a sock on my beauty dish? What if the subject has glasses? What if it's made of metal? Why do the lights have to be exactly the same temperature? What's the right temperature? Do you need a light meter? What does a color checker do? Etc, etc, etc... But novice people are unaware that these questions matter, they don't ask them, they don't explore them. Someone that also doesn't know told them it's A, then A it is...
I've had heated arguments why I don't use Lights X and have my Way for doing stuff with Lights Y ... Or Why I use Video Lights for most of my Images :O It isn't that I don't own a Profoto A1 1000 bucks flash to freeeeeezeeee evrything or do some amazing macro styled setup thing.... but I don't want to carry around that expensive and heavy equiptemnt on a daily and most of my really nice stuff isn't even happening in controlled environments... I do Pet/Animals mostly and they just absolutely would hate any Flash .... there is a Reason why in Aquariums and Zoos flash or huge lighting Photography is prohibited. The amazing thing is when you limit yourself you discover stuff, not everything can be solved with money, expensive lights or so. The Art of Photography is like you said the ability to controll it, make use of it and see stuff others wouldn't directly but you know from experience. It is then that you can fully use the more expensive stuff. for comparison I djay a lot and I was a certified teacher within a School for Djaying for a huge ass long time. My best tipp for everyone was, get a good lok into any system like cd, digital, vinyl and tape. But also get a hold of the lower end stuff, learn to use anything and not just the AAA Club Standard setup. This'll set you up from the rest. when you are able to use any player like an Instrument for your own amusement.
@@veivoli LOL, yeah, that could ba a issue, but buddy, every time im underexposed, i'm pullin' out my holly man cross to get that heavenly light above everything and i'm good😉
Check out this workshop if you need some help really understanding professional lighting www.tinhouse-studio.com/product/lighting-101/
One of the outstanding characteristics of this channel is the short, simple and essential elaboration on the different themes. This one is a masterpiece of this art. thank you.
Dude.
You are a natural teacher.
Again, you have pulled away another veil I had no idea I was wearing.
4 qualities of light.
Jesus, that's powerful.
Can you make a video where we can see the 4 dimensions of light better? I had understood that speculars are for reflections and not sources.
YES!!! Distance from the subject. Why don't more instructors say that? The sun is a massive light source but it is very far away, thus making it a hard light source. If it were closer, the light would be softer. We'd be dead but the light would be nice. 😜
You are correct about a lot of people not knowing the fundamentals. I can keep it real, only in the last year. I’m finally understanding hard light/soft light confidently. You can’t cheat this process.
Can what you are photographing effect the quality of the light in regards to diffused vs specular? Example, matte makeup vs dewy/wet makeup ( or just oily skin). Same light setup but in one the image looks diffused and one looks specular. I do headshots of everyday people with varying makeup from none ( men typically) to perfect makeup and without changing the light I get specularity in some and nice, smooth highlights in others. I imagine in your work you deal with this even more having so many more materials to deal with in one shot?
A beautifully concise explanation! One of those “I knew this but couldn’t explain it” moments… ❤️
Great subject to talk about. For the specular vs diffuse light it can be easier to understand it as direct vs scattered light. The purpose of most reflectors is to gather and direct the light where a diffuser is scattering light. Great video, as always.
But if you have a small diffuser far away, then any light the diffuser scatters will miss the subject, unless it has something to bounce off. Only the part of the light that is directed towards the subject can illuminate the subject.
One more thing ... moving the light around to change the softness comes with the price. The closer your light is to the subject, the harder inverse square law hits, and the stronger the light fall off is.
Thanks Scott, perhaps a part two could be about why you might choose to use each of them?
The diffused aspect throws so many, I asked a question on this in my FB group and a fair few got it wrong.
So many working professionals get it wrong and even on large RUclips channels. Yeah that little diffusion cover on that LED or speedlite is not making it softer it is diffusing it... reducing contrast.
How does specular light quality look like, or what does it mean?
Wow you’ve covered about half of the infamous Light Science & Magic book here in the span of a few minutes 😂 great job. I have recommended that book to noobs for years, but they bitch at me because the book is not “modern” enough for them or it will not tell them exactly how to set up their godox flash. Light is light, and what you can do with it is what makes it special. Even though I am pretty much retired from commercial shooting, going to look up your workshop because this is one subject where the discovery never stops. Thanx! 🥰
5 minutes! It took Scott 5 minutes to make me understand what and how light works! That's all I needed! A good base so I can start experimenting! Thank you!🙏🏻
I love how real and blunt you are. This is great!
Short, straight to the point, no fluffy stuff, factual and whats needed. Well done Scott + thanx.
Talking about the relative size of the light source to the subject would help to understand that relation of size and shadow hard/softness. Another point would be the relation between distance and contrast and how that affects "light quality". Future video maybe?
Best lighting description I've ever heard and I've heard a lot. Articulate, to the point. No BS. This 5 minute video is equivalent to a six month photography course, probably more. You would make a great teacher if you could project in a face to face situation the same way you do to camera. But I know that's not really your schtick being an introvert.
This was an epic video!
I like the way you explan soft diffused light and soft specular light! It is comprehensive and easy to apply
Would like to hear more about the parabolic light 👍🏼
Okay I'm glad you went over this because I was arguing with a fellow photographer about this. Turns out I was right, but also that I knew more than I thought. I love videos like this and I think you should continue doing videos where you talk about techniques, types of light or how to use light. As we all know light is king
I like the clarification, though some visual example b-roll would help even more
The best chefs understand that often the best foods are made with the simplest ingredients. The best athletes understand that their best performances most often come from focusing on the fundamentals. The best photographers often make the best photographs by understanding the basics of photography.
Thank you Scott for reminding us of these simple facts.
Scott, Thank you for this one. I have never had someone break down lighting like this to me before.
Excellent advice thank you
Short and compressed but filled with lots of knowledge. Learning again. A very nice video again. Thanks
Jeez. As a degree photography student, I wish they taught us this earlier!!! Thanks Scott - extremely helpful!
Good explanation of how light changes depending on the source. Sometimes, on travel jobs, I take a few white shower curtains to locations. You can use both
as diffusion or even set up on walls for bounce if the walls have a color you don't want spilling onto set.
You explain the details so simply and effortlessly. Excellent channel
I learned specular points from this video due to such a reflector, thanks!
Short, sweet and clear!
Epiphany ! I do like someone who says it as it is, concisely, Thank you.
You can look at hard light vs soft light as how it looks at the subject. And diffused light vs specular light as how it looks at the source.
Not a hard definition, but it may help.
This is blowing my mind! I didn't have specular and diffused light in my vocabulary before but now I get it! Makes sense the way you explain it, great concise teaching!
Yeah me too. Trouble is my studio space is my kitchen. And it is small. So I don't have the ability to alter distance and test something I couldn't do anyway! 😕
Thank you for your willingness to share, every bit of energy and incredibly thorough knowledge of the subject.
Very clear thanks
This is exactly what I needed to learn and I fully understood everything straight away. Thanks Scott 😁 can't wait to create some hard defused light!
Excellent explanation - the quality of light in any shot is crucial to the aethetics ........ for my own small scale (desktop) rig the variations are almost unlimited ....... BUT as it's small scale, I have to make a lot of my own modifiers and adaptions ........ great fun though.
You are so helpful, thank you Scott.
Hi Scott, great video but I disagree about the bare bulb flash and soft vs hard light at 00:01:00 .
When a bare bulb studio light is close to the subject, it creates divergent beams-rays spreading out intensively, leading to a more defined, contrasted look with sharper shadows and highlights.
Conversely, if the light source is moved further away, the beams become parallel, maintaining a consistent direction. This even and gradual illumination softens transitions between light and shadow, resulting in a softer appearance.
According to the Lambert's Law, the illumination of a surface depends not only on the intensity and distance of the light source (as per the Inverse Square Law) but also on the angle at which the light strikes the surface. When light strikes the subject's surface at a steeper angle, typical with a close light source, it intensifies, contributing to pronounced contrast. As the light source moves away, the rays strike the surface at shallower angles, resulting in lower intensity. This spreads the light over a larger area, creating a more gradual transition between highlights and shadows for a softer, diffused appearance.
You could test this simply by using a bare bulb flash to shoot a portrait. Position the light at 30cm, and 5m. The farther position will result in a softer light.
Thanks alot for your efforts and the previous viodes helped me a lot to be a better photographer
But I am confused when to use Grid on soft box and when not on food
I shoot beautiful Rustic food photography and awful light and airy food
Love your videos... just brilliant. Quick question: feel silly asking, but what strap do you have on your Apple Watch Ultra?
It’s just the cheap Amazon ones that are like stretch fabric
Do you meter the light or you adjust them based on the results what could be seen on the screen?
Brilliant explanation.
So, increasing the size of the diffusion is equivalent to put the light more near to the subject?
So great!!! Now do shadow density.
THANK YOU
Great video, Scott. Which workshop would you recommend to cover the fundamentals of light and expand on what you have explained in this video?
The one pinned at the top would be best
Epic video mate! In 5 minutes, I learned so much.
This totally gave me a couple of 💡 ideas... Scary thought, I know!
I'm still confused about the meaning of specular vs diffuse. Can anyone describe it in physical terms? Or describe maybe how you could tell the difference in a picture *of the light* taken from the point of view of the subject?
Hard and soft seems fairly straightforward - a soft light covers a larger angle from the point of view of the subject, which means that the shadows it casts will have large penumbras compared to the size of their umbras. E.g. the sun (or the moon) covers about the same angle as a thumb at arms length, which for lighting purposes is near enough to zero. The opposite is a cloudy sky over a flat moor could cover 180 degrees in all directions.
But what's the most specular or least specular light possible? What are the photons or light waves doing different in specular vs non-specular light?
Whooo! Great video!
Would have liked to see some examples. On a fire tablet so can't edit a submitted post.
Thanks btw. I asked for this topic to be covered in one of your previous community posts.
i think the issue that many people start their learning paths learning from people that don't know themselves. I see many courses being offered from photographers that shoot lots of genres, sometimes even professionally, but don't use anything other than the available light as is. And actually even lighting workshops from photographers that never had understanding light as a hard criteria (not shooting professionally, never worked in a studio, never used anything else other than speedlites and basic reflective umbrellas). So the "unlearning" carries on...
This is one of the biggest issues with places like RUclips. We have to be able to discern the difference between someone like this, who is an absolute professional and someone who thinks they know what they’re talking about that is just making videos. On a side note, what “natural light” photographers don’t realize is that leaning how to create light will make them infinitely more valuable to potential clients because they won’t be subject to whatever conditions they’re stuck shooting in. This particular channel is one of my favorites though. :)
@@KyleElsewhere It's not just on RUclips, IRL it's the same. When I bought my first camera, I did a workshop and then realized the value was very little. But it was expensive and booked, because you know, shooting "portrait" or "fashion" of half-naked girls sells. Any model/fashion/portrait group around here is filled with these courses, teaching "light" and "posing" and "color grading" and other keywords that makes them sound knowledgeable, when in fact anyone that has ever read a book on photography probably knows more than them.
Luckily that's what I did, I bought books, experimented, and months later I was working in a proper professional studio. And that's why I like this channel. Even though I was doing mostly editorial portraits, I relate a lot. But it's very hard to find good learning sources, online or offline.
@@ruimarto You're 1000% correct. I think newer photographers are unaware that creating a beautiful photo is such a small part of the overall job. You must be able to consistently deliver what you're clients require, be able to communicate with them effectively, understand your place in the market, price yourself from a business owner perspective where you take all of your expenses into account before deciding on a price. I took a similar path to you, books books books, trial and error, followed by assisting, and then shooting in a large studio. I've been doing this full time for years and I still don't feel like I'm an authority on anything photo related. The idea that someone would want to learn from me, when I'm still constantly learning and growing myself is weird. Maybe I'll get there one day, but so much of owning a photography business has nothing to do with photography.
@@KyleElsewhere Yeah, the business part is a whole other "demon". 😅 I never cared that much (I was dumb) as my job was only to shoot. But even in that part, like you said, it's not just taking a pretty photo. You need to be consistent and able to replicate it. And for that you need to understand light! Why is the light 3m away and not 1m? Why is it a softbox and not a reflective umbrella? Why is it feathering the subject instead of pointing straight at it? What happens if I put a sock on my beauty dish? What if the subject has glasses? What if it's made of metal? Why do the lights have to be exactly the same temperature? What's the right temperature? Do you need a light meter? What does a color checker do? Etc, etc, etc...
But novice people are unaware that these questions matter, they don't ask them, they don't explore them. Someone that also doesn't know told them it's A, then A it is...
Who makes the jackets you wear?
My girlfriend makes them for me out of old table cloths haha
4+ the grid + direct or reflective ;-)
good video!
This video is gonna hit 1 Mil views haha!
So a diffuser doesn't make your light soft, but an umbrella will ?
its the size of the umbrella making it soft, the white fabric makes it diffused. If it were the same size but silver it would be soft and specular.
Yessssssss
scrims, flats AND a studio for the scrims and flats (they need space)
Brilliant (pun intended).
Comedy gold, as ever. Without the comedy, obvs 😉
I've had heated arguments why I don't use Lights X and have my Way for doing stuff with Lights Y ... Or Why I use Video Lights for most of my Images :O
It isn't that I don't own a Profoto A1 1000 bucks flash to freeeeeezeeee evrything or do some amazing macro styled setup thing....
but I don't want to carry around that expensive and heavy equiptemnt on a daily and most of my really nice stuff isn't even happening in controlled environments... I do Pet/Animals mostly and they just absolutely would hate any Flash .... there is a Reason why in Aquariums and Zoos flash or huge lighting Photography is prohibited.
The amazing thing is when you limit yourself you discover stuff, not everything can be solved with money, expensive lights or so. The Art of Photography is like you said the ability to controll it, make use of it and see stuff others wouldn't directly but you know from experience.
It is then that you can fully use the more expensive stuff.
for comparison I djay a lot and I was a certified teacher within a School for Djaying for a huge ass long time. My best tipp for everyone was, get a good lok into any system like cd, digital, vinyl and tape. But also get a hold of the lower end stuff, learn to use anything and not just the AAA Club Standard setup. This'll set you up from the rest. when you are able to use any player like an Instrument for your own amusement.
maybe next time put example next to what you are trying to communicate so people withh no knowledge of photography begin to grasp the principles!
Only true light in life is Jesus
But he won't like where I fit the lighting stand!
@@veivoli LOL, yeah, that could ba a issue, but buddy, every time im underexposed, i'm pullin' out my holly man cross to get that heavenly light above everything and i'm good😉