Photography 101

A Beginner’s Guide to
Flash Photography
Modifying the Light of Flash
(Part 36B)–

Softening the Shadows

The need for softening the shadow in a photographic image became a subject of research and experiment not by the engineers that designed the electronic flash, but by the brainy photographers that identified the “less than ideal side” of this high-tech gadget. The race for discovering ways of eliminating the deep shadows became so important and popular that it becomes a million-dollar industry today.

Coming in different make and design, these light modifiers are confusing to many newbie photographers as to which one to use for their desired effect. Nevertheless, it is adopted as a standard flash accessory. In some respect, the stature of an event photographer is often gleaned by the type of flash modifier he uses.
To help the reader understand the occurrence of soft and deep (or harsh) shadow in an image lighted by flash, we will review some basic laws of physics.

•There are two factors that affect shadows in a photographic flash image:

1. The overwhelming factor that determines the “softness” of the shadows is the relative size of the source of light compared to the subject. If the light source is substantially larger than the subject, a “soft” shadow is attained. (See Illustrations)
2.Another factor is the source of Light-to-subject distance. The same soft box in our illustration placed at 5 feet distance from the subject provides  a very soft shadow compared to a distance of 10 feet to the subject.

•How to convert a small  electronic flash into a larger light source?

1) By a Soft Box – Light of flash is refracted to a larger piece of translucent material (normally a special kind of white fabric). That material diffuses the light and effectively becomes the larger size light source, substantially bigger than the flash itself, thus producing soft shadows.
2) By Bounce - By aiming the flash to a nearby larger surface (maybe a ceiling, wall or umbrella), the bouncing light from that surface becomes the large light source. This technique called  “Bounced Flash” provides the softest shadow because of the inherent large area of bouncing walls or ceiling.

A Mistaken Belief
There is a common misconception that: “When the light of flash is dispersed and spread to a wide area, it becomes soft.” This is not true. The truth is: when the flash is aimed into the ceiling, the ceiling becomes the light source.  The reflected light that illuminates the subject comes from a large source (the ceiling), therefore it has inherent soft shadows.

From Our INBOX

Hello Mr. Rivera,

 I am a novice in photography. I have a Nikon D90. I am presently discovering the beauty of taking pictures. I am a reader of  your column – “A Beginner’s Guide to Flash Photography.”  I hope that you can help me by furnishing copies of your previous columns about  this topic? You can e-mail me or send me the links.
Thank you so much,
I hope you can help and God bless!

Ramses Jingco

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Hi sir Benjie,
 
Do you mind if I request copies of past issues of “A Beginner’s Guide to Flash Photography”  beginning from your first issue that came out last October 2007?  FYI, am very interested to learn more about flash photography and found your article very informative and helpful.
 Thank you and more power to you!
 
Best regards,
Jimmy Co

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Dear Jimmy and Ramses,

Thank you for writing. You can log on to http://www.encyclopedia.com  or go to  http://www.mb.com/lifestyle/pictureperfect. My column comes out twice in a month.  You can also log on to our main website: ttp://www.mbpictureperfect.com/

More Power to both of you,
Benjie Rivera