Light Diffusion

Ok- say you were shooting food and you wanted to shoot it with very shallow DOF- say 2.8, but you needed the

strobes because you were shooting in a very dark space with no natural light...and you wanted nice soft shadows

and not huge dark shadows under your plates...

 

How would you diffuse your strobes? I have softboxes (1 large, 3 medium) , but I need softer light and less of

it- what would you do? Thanks!

You have several options, actually:

 

* Ensure your camera is set to ISO 100 (assuming you're shooting digitally - if film, use ISO 50 if you can find it)

* position the strobes further from the food (this is where knowing the inverse square law of light helps) - will create a more even wash, too.

* dial the strobes' output down

* Add another layer of fabric between the softbox and the strobe to diffuse the light again.

 

Or, more likely, a combination of some of these. Hard to tell you what to do without seeing the space and the existing ambient light...

Oh- sorry- I should have told you that I'm shooting at iso 100 with the strobes as high as I can and they are all the way down. I've also put a scrim in between the largest softbox and the set but it's still not enough. I'm thinking that I need to add several more layers of fabric (any suggestions?) OR maybe I could build a set of some sort with 3 white walls and bounce. There is literally no existing light so replicating a nice bright place is proving tricky. I want it to look like I'm shooting with natural light somehow :) Thoughts greatly appreciated...

Ahhh

 

What settings do you have your camera at? - if youcan describe your entire set up it would help.

 

Thanks

I don't like totally diffuse light for shooting food, it doesn't produce the necessary specular highlights to make the food "glisten"

 

If your strobes are too bright to allow you to shoot at a large aperture, try some 2- or 3-stop neutral density gel over the lights. I have to use it all the time in my very small studio where even the lowest power is often too high.

 

<Chas>

Aw hell - I totally forgot about adding a gel.

 

Thanks for the reminder Charles :-)

Take a look at the Lighting Themes http://www.photo.net/photography-lighting-equipment-techniques-forum/00BjHh

 

Start with the one on creating diffused specular highlights. You'll see that a large softbox (if it really is a large one) is all you need, provided that you place it close enough. If you really do need more diffusion then use plain white shower curtain, or more than one, in front of the softbox.

 

I'm by no means a food specialist but I've done my share over the years. I have NEVER shot food with just diffused light, I might use diffused light as a fill but food generally needs harsh lighting. Whilst you're looking at the lighting themes look at Combining hard and soft light together, playing around with food (I think that's what it's called) and the one on creating daylight in the studio. Then read the rest.

Charles & I posted at the same time. He's right.

Definately do a mix of hard and soft light and if your strobes won't dial down enough for your shallow depth of field then shoot with a tungsten balance using just the modeling lights without the strobe firing. Pick the f/stop for your DOF and then choose the correct shutter speed for the proper exposure.

 

Isn't this very shallow DOF thing becoming a bit dated by now?

*Isn't this very shallow DOF thing becoming a bit dated by now?*

 

Isn't it just. I think it all started because photographers shot food on 5"x4" or larger with plenty of tilt or

tilt/swing to get sharp focus throughout, then other people tried it with small cameras, didn't have movements so

created a new style. Thankfully we've moved on from that.

Ok- thanks for all of your replies! Charles would you mind telling me what brand of ND filters you use- does it matter?

 

And sadly (I guess) I have not moved on from shallow DOF- I still love it and shoot that way a lot- I think things looks pretty with very diffused light- not that one side can't be brighter, but still soft- just a personal opinion I guess...would be much easier if I loved shooting at f8!

 

Thanks again!

Then use the light from your modeling lamps for your shallow depth of field still-life food shots. That's the simplest and

certainly the cheapest solution.

I use Rosco ND gel that I bought at a theatrical lighting supply. It's about USD7 per 24 X 30 in sheet. Don't buy pre-framed gel kits or from your photo supply unless absolutely necessary.

 

There's generally some kind of stage and theater lighting and supply place in most metro areas, a quick google search will help.

 

<Chas>

A 100mm or longer lens at f5.6 will still give you pretty good bokeh. Also, you could put an ND filter on the lens. I also agree with the others that some hard light is good. A honeycomb grid will eat up a good deal of power and provide a bit of diffusion.

Agreed on the combination of soft and hard lighting, but all from one main source. Use at least a large soft box,

extra large if you have it plus one large white reflector.,

 

Then add small reflectors positioned to throw specular highlights when light from the soft box bounces from the

reflectors into the product where you decide you need them. You can actually make these from aluminum foil that

has been "crinkled" and then unfolded and shaped as needed to create the reflections.

 

I usually use the soft box from a rear or side position, the large white reflector sited to kick soft light into the front of

the product, and then the foil reflectors somewhere in front as needed, but out of camera range.

 

Using only the one light powered down should offer you the limited depth of field you are wanting.<div></div>

Here's a shot done several years ago with a shallow focus. The DOF is only 1/2 of the grapefruit face, maybe 3-4 inches. This was shot on 4x5 film with a 450mm telephoto lens (35mm equivalent of 135mm) at f/8.

 

There is a mix of soft, overall fill and harder light from a fresnel spot, see the highlight on the right top of the grapefruit at the right in the foreground.

 

I don't subscribe to the idea that one light source is always best. Usually you'd want a single key light but kickers and background area lights can come from other directions. Often you can light the subject/foreground completely differently than the background area.

 

In this case there was a medium 3'x4' softbox overhead for fill....a 13" fresnel spot from rear of the subject and camera right as the main key light. A bare 11" reflector from high camera right for the background and out of focus citrus and flowers...and white fill cards on camera left. The key light for the subject and the key light for the background of the set were several feet apart and came from different directions.

 

The desired look for this shot was a bright morning light. One advantage of using a shallow DOF is that it makes it easier to light the background areas with less concern about the direction and type/quality of the light used compared to the light on the foreground and subject.<div></div>