About that grid

Once more about the grid, my favourite flash accessory.

This was the setup with my intern Friday:

The subject will be lit with a single flash, on the left side (as seen by us), on a light stand, set to 1/4 power and fired using Pocket Wizard radio triggers.

I want drama., Sine the lamp will not appear in the photo, I do not need to see all that ambient light. so let’s kill the ambient light.

How? How do I make the ambient part go darker? Smaller aperture (=greater “f-number”), or faster shutter, or lower ISO. I used 100 ISO, 1/125th sec, f/8, to get this:

This is not bad: Rembrandt lighting with one flash. But I want the wall to be dark.

Why is it light? Not because of ambient light, Nope, it is simply because the flash throws light al over the place. The wall is lit by the flash.

So then I fitted this Honlphoto 1/8″ grid to the front of the flash (using a Velcro “Speed Strap”, also from Honl photo):

Which gives me this, since the flash is aimed at the wall outside the picture:

Straight out of the camera (“SOOC”), that is a pretty good result, eh? (*)

Remember: lighting a picture starts with no light, and then adding light where you want it. And only where you want it.

 

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Foot notes:

(*)I am Canadian

 

 

2 thoughts on “About that grid

  1. “Which gives me this, since the flash is aimed at the wall outside the picture”
    Sorry, you lost me here Michael. Why you would the flash aimed at the wall outside the picture? Shouldn’t the flash (with grid modify) be aimed directly at the subject?

    What am I missing!!!!??!?!?!? LOL

    • Aha… well, the light that does NOT hit the subject also does not hit the wall behind him. But it hits the wall elsewhere, outside the image., Otherwise the wall would be light

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