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How to get a "cone of light" on seamless background?


mood_lover

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Hi all, found this lovely still life by photographer J. Tasker:

Photo removed. Per the photo.net Terms of Use, do not post photos that are not yours. Use a link to the photo at a location where the photographer has put it.

I have a small Yongnuo 560-IV speedlite with 9" soft box I would like to dedicate to this task but can't figure out how to make the triangle/cone shape of light that starts small at the top and expands as it comes down. I love how it lands behind the flower pot and is the brightest point of that light. I will be doing this for portraits, not still life.

 

Also, I have a roll of cinefoil available (but not really sure how to use it) if that will help cut light from the sides like the reference. Is the background light a hard light? Soft light? I really don't know and would appreciate help, thanks!!!

Edited by Spearhead
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Soft light, as from a softbox, can't be shaped. You need to start with a hard source, such as your bare speedlight.

 

I assume you just want a spotlight effect. Put your YN-560 to its longest zoom setting and wrap a tubular 'snoot' around it to narrow the beam even further.

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Put a snoot or barn-doors on a standard reflector head.

Put the head on a boom.

Leave enough room between the subject & backdrop that it only strikes the seamless.

Swing the boom over & behind the subject adjusting the doors to shad the subject.

Position it angled back & down onto the seamless at a sharp angle.

 

What you're doing is angling a shaded beam down & back so the beams cross section strikes only the seamless.

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Your speed light head is shorter top to bottom than left to right. Use the narrower dimension. Zoom out the head. To make the beam more parallel, move the flash a bit from the wall and aim it about a 1/3rd down the wall. It's easier with modeling lights. Take a test shot and re adjust. You can roll some cinefoil into a snoot and tape it to the flash head if there is alot of spill. Since the photo you posted has been deleted, I can't tell if it passed behind the subject. You can clean it up in post with a pair of hard edged gradients or use the adjustment brush in Lightroom or dodge the bright area to even out the brightness. Or like here, just make it with a pair of gradients with the edges softened and dodged in the beam. Just a quick one, didn't take much time but you get the idea.

 

Beam.thumb.jpg.9cc8ef5fea15bc6c75e74730ca17dfd7.jpg

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