A hot spot is defined as an area of your photo that is significantly brighter than other areas of your photos, often with the highlights overexposed or “blown out”. This is also called clipping or clipped highlights. You can get hotspots in either wide-angle or macro photography.

Most photographers use only continuous source lighting in their studios. Artificial lights give a photographer more flexibility than natural lighting. They pass light through a diffusing material in the front. Front lighting is always the best light direction for a portrait.

So to reduce hot spots, it usually involves tweaking the light and making it softer. This can be done by moving the brightest part of the softbox away from the face. Feathering the light so that the edges of the diffused light source are hitting the face is simple to reduce a hot spot.

A strobe light or stroboscopic lamp, commonly called a strobe, is a device used to produce regular flashes of light. It is one of a number of devices that can be used as a stroboscope. The word originated from the Greek strobos (Greek: στρόβος), meaning “act of whirling”.

red

Strobe lights can become yellower as they age. If you need to backlight a portrait, you should stay as far away from the subject as possible. The more spread out a light is, the softer the light will become. You may need to use a fill flash or a reflector to eliminate shadows if you are using backlighting.

Yellow is NOT a common color for photography umbrellas.

The umbrellas can be white, or black lined with white or silver. The first type is called a shoot through umbrella, while the black-lined umbrellas are reflective umbrellas. A shoot through umbrella diffusers the light and spreads it out over a wider area.

Tonal contrast is the difference between highlights and dark tones. Which filter would you use to take a close-up of a flower? Panoramic photographs never require either special equipment or photo editing software.

Softboxes offer much more directional control of your light (less spill) than umbrellas. They also allow you to have rectangular catchlights in the eye versus round catchlights. Lots of photographers prefer rectangular catchlights because they look more like the natural light coming from a window.

The answer is adaptability. There’s nothing like a softbox when it comes to providing soft light for any style of shooting. Fashion, food, product, portraiture, you name it. Even when they aren’t used as the key light source, softboxes play an important role for fill, separation and edge lighting.

There are three major types of continuous lighting bulbs: fluorescent, tungsten & LED. All types generate great results, so choosing which to use is mainly a matter of personal preference. Fluorescent is generally easier to find in studio lighting and does not overheat, so that is what most studio photographers use.

A softbox diffuses the light into a pleasing soft, even light. When used properly, it reduces harsh shadows. The closer the softbox is to the model or subject, the softer the light appears, emulating window light. The shape of a softbox can vary from rectangular to octagonal to square to a long strip of light.

As a rule of thumb, the size of a softbox should be approximately the same size as your subject; meaning a head shot or half shot could require softboxes in the range of about 18 to 24″, whereas full-body shots could require multiple softboxes in the 48″ or larger range.

Rectangular: The most versatile softbox shape. It has wide application in product photography and portrait photography. These softboxes were designed to mimic window light, specifically.

When shooting portraits you want to keep the softbox on your subject’s best side. This is where it will provide the most flattering light. If you position the softbox above your subject it will cast shadows over their eyes and under their nose and chin.

You will need:

1. A lamp with LED bulb.
2. Two cardboard boxes.
3. Aluminum foil.
4. White trash bag (or white fabric/tracing paper)
5. Hot glue gun.
6. Clear tape.
7. X-Acto knife.
8. Ruler and pencil.

The closer the light, the softer the light. With a larger softbox, the softer the light, given the same distance. I have a 30″x40″ softbox, and place it anywhere from 10 feet to 1 foot from the subject, depending on how I want the light. The only time a softbox is *too* close is when it shows up in your picture!

approximately 8 feet

The intensity or brightness of light as a function of the distance from the light source follows an inverse square relationship. Notice that as the distance increases, the light must spread out over a larger surface and the surface brightness decreases in accordance with a “one over r squared” relationship.

Essentially, the Inverse Square Law (ISL) means that the farther the light is from the subject, the less bright it will appear. We know that, right. The closer we get to a light source, the brighter the reflectance of that source from whatever we are bringing close to the light.

These basic qualities of light are; INTENSITY, FORM, COLOR, DIRECTION and MOVEMENT.

The quality of the natural light can be hard or soft and may have a cool or a warm color tone. The natural outdoor light will also affect the camera exposure settings you use. For example, dark and light areas in the same scene can at times, cause your camera’s light meter to produce underexposed or overexposed images.

Lighting is a key factor in creating a successful image. Lighting determines not only brightness and darkness, but also tone, mood, and atmosphere. Therefore, it is necessary to control and manipulate light correctly in order to get the best texture, vibrancy of colour, and luminosity on your subjects.