On this tutorial from the Intermediate Flash Images course, you will study in regards to the two-light setup. In earlier components of the course, we used a single flash to gentle our topic, with the addition of a reflector often. Now you are going to discover ways to add a second flash to your photos.
I bear in mind once I first realized off-camera flash, it was solely a matter of days till I used to be bored and chomping on the bit to discover ways to add extra flashes into the body. By including the additional flashes, I opened up a complete new world of management and creativity to my pictures. I have never seemed again since then.
Tools
First issues first, so as to use a second gentle in your setup, you would possibly want so as to add some tools to your digicam bag. The primary and most evident factor that you will want is a second flash. More than likely you will need to get the identical form of flash that you’re already utilizing to make issues less complicated and to be sure that all the pieces works collectively. You may additionally need to get a second gentle stand and umbrella holder on your second flash.
When you’re utilizing a set off system that requires a receiver on your slave flash, you will additionally must get one other receiver to set off your second flash. In fact, for those who’ve bought the Yongnuo setup from the Introduction to Flash Images course, you will not want a second receiver for the reason that flashes have the receivers constructed into them.
Find out how to Use a Second Flash for Fill Gentle
After getting all of this tools collectively, it is time to get began. The commonest manner to make use of your second flash is as a fill gentle. Up thus far, we have been utilizing a reflector as a fill gentle, so, what is the distinction? In my expertise, a reflector is the cheaper choice, and it is also often faster to arrange, so I believe it is a guerilla kind of lighting instrument.
The benefit of utilizing a second flash for fill gentle is that you’ve got a lot extra management over the sunshine. You possibly can finely tune the brightness of the flash by adjusting the facility up or down, and with some flash methods, you possibly can even management the facility of your lights with out having to depart your capturing place. This helps to keep away from the fixed strolling backwards and forwards between your digicam and your gentle to regulate the settings. You may as well connect any lighting modifier if you wish to change the feel, dimension, or color of the sunshine that you just’re producing.
The Two-Gentle Setup in Apply
So now that I’ve satisfied you the way superior utilizing a second flash is, we will convey again our mannequin and present you how one can get began.
We will begin with a quite simple loop lighting. On my fundamental flash, or my key gentle, I am utilizing an 18-inch softbox.
Let’s take a photograph with simply this one gentle and see what this appears like.
That appears nice. It is fairly normal loop lighting. It is slightly bit onerous, and that makes me need to convey again a bit of sunshine into the shadows. That is okay as a result of we will do one thing about that with our second flash, our fill gentle.
So we will use some fill gentle once more, however as a substitute of utilizing a reflector, we will use a second flash with an umbrella. I desire to make use of a very delicate fill gentle since you sometimes do not need to create extra shadows along with your fill gentle—you need to fill in shadows. When you use a tough fill gentle, it will give double shadows, which may look actually unnatural.
We’ll herald our fill gentle reverse our key gentle.
Let’s take a photograph and see the way it appears.
All proper. It is slightly bit under-lit, which I do not love, so I’ll convey my fill gentle up a bit increased and level the umbrella down just a bit bit. The 2 lights are about the identical distance away from our topic.
Okay. Let’s examine how that adjustment appears.
That appears actually cool. So what we have accomplished right here is totally obliterate the shadows in her face. The one downside with that is that it is made her face slightly bit flat—it is lacking a few of the dimension now. The rationale for that’s that each of our lights are set on the identical energy output. At present, they’re each set at 1/eighth energy.
To be able to create some depth, we’ll must convey again some shadows. The simplest manner we do that’s to decrease the facility of the fill gentle.
I’ll alter my fill gentle all the best way down, as little as it goes, to 1/128th energy. Let’s take a photograph and see how that appears.
All proper, the shadows are undoubtedly again. Actually, I can barely inform that there is a fill gentle in any respect. So let’s return as much as 1/sixteenth energy. So now, our key gentle is at 1/eighth energy and our fill gentle is at 1/sixteenth energy. One other approach to say that is our fill gentle is half as highly effective as our key gentle, which supplies us a lighting ratio of two:1. This can be a fairly widespread lighting ratio.
Let’s take a photograph and see how this appears.
Excellent. Now we’re beginning to convey these shadows again slightly bit extra. So let’s take that even slightly bit additional. Let’s convey our fill gentle right down to 1/thirty second energy, and take a photograph.
Excellent. A little bit bit extra shadow. Our key gentle did not change in any respect. It stayed at 1/eighth energy the entire time.
I wish to get my key gentle set, after which convey within the fill gentle and play with the positioning and energy output till I get it simply to the place I would like it. I actually favored the look of the fill gentle at round 1/sixteenth energy. That gave us that lighting ratio of two:1, which I believe is a very lovely lighting ratio, particularly for portraits of ladies.
Conclusion
In order that’s how one can use a flash as a fill gentle. As you possibly can see, utilizing a flash as a fill gentle is so a lot better than utilizing a bounce card since you get so far more management.
In fact, we may use a special modifier on our fill gentle if we needed to. You have got a lot of artistic freedom if you’re utilizing two flashes, relatively than one flash and a bounce card.
When you thought that this two-light setup was actually enjoyable to study, simply wait till you get to our subsequent tutorial. We will be including one extra flash for a complete of three lights, and what I think about crucial lighting setup of all.
