Spot light effect with flash on party photos

[tesa_bof]

Hi! I'm wondering how to achieve with the on camera flash the effect seen on party photos where only the center of the

image is lighted with the flash, like a spotlight effect over the subjects with soft shadow borders... any kind of particula add-on

or diffuser on the flash? just using the flash zoom? any particular distance?

 

I can't post example images from other photographers so I hope you know what I mean :) Thanks a lot!

 

Tesa

[craig_shearman1]

<p> Zoom flash zoomed all the way in to telephoto setting while using a wide angle lens might get you there. Beyond that use a snoot or a grid. You can make your own snoot out of cardboard and some tape.</p>

[twmeyer]

<p>You <em>can</em> post a link to the website that has photos that employ this effect. It could be a zoomed, gridded or snooted flash as Craig says, or it could be a vignette or other post-production effect... t</p>

 

[michaelmowery]

<p>provide a link to the pictures </p>

[tesa_bof]

<p>Good answers, thanks! Here's a link, I can't find another example right now, I don't know how to search... http://nicolasgolub.com/boda/bernardita-beto-%E2%80%A2-boda-en-estancia-causana-%E2%80%A2-cordoba/<br /> Its the penultimate picture, the one with the guy laughing. <br /> I thinks it's not made in post, because no light reaches the background, only he is correctly illuminated (they would have to do a mask to achieve that on post...) so, I want to do it on camera, and have the flash only reach the closer characters on the shot... I tried using the wides angle I have (18mm on a Apsc) and full zoom in (105mm) and got a little vignette, but not enough, so I'll try doing the grid! Any other suggestions?<br>

Anyway that's not exactly what I was talking about becasue you can't see the spotlight shape (like a very hard vignette) but I can't find any other exampless</p>

[michaelmowery]

<p>what ever flash was used is not on top of the camera. It appears to be a second light probably held by an assistant. What was used to minimize the spread of light has already been answered. I will just add that the closer you place that off camera flash to the subject the less light spread and faster light fall off. He did not use the double lighting for all of his pictures so he already knew what he wanted and the results that would be achieved. If a grid was used I would imagine he had some kind of modeling light in order to better aim it.</p>

[Marcus Ian]

<p>Others have suggested several means to achieve this, I'd just add one I've seen (though I've never really tried myself). Simply take a full size (or half, depending on the specific 'size' of the intended spotlight) sheet of card stock, tape it into a cylinder and slide it onto the flash head. The tightness of the spot can be easily increased by sliding the end of the card stock further from end of the flash. Your ETTL can set proper exposure. <br>

The advantage to this technique is that it is simple, effective, doesn't modify the flash output, and doesn't require flash fiddling (with settings or manual zoom), or shooting with the flash off the camera - so easy on easy off - important if you only want the effect for specific shots. -you'll just need to remember that the 'spot' size stays the same regardless of your zoom lens's FL - oh, and the 'maximum tightness' is somewhat limited... not a big deal @ 24mm, but by 50+ it will take up most of the frame.</p>

<p>Even in this day and age, it still impresses me what can be done with a simple sheet of cardstock :) - All it takes is some practice!</p>

<p> </p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>If you're talking about the next-to-last picture where the guy in the white shirt is leaning way back, I would not call this a spotlight effect and I doubt that it was intentional on the part of the photographer. I very much doubt that he was using a grid or snoot. This is simply a matter of the flash not having enough coverage to cover the wide angle lens he was most likely using. Being in the middle of a bunch of people on the dance floor, he was probably as wide as his lens would go. If you're talking about the picture before that of two people dancing, probably the same thing. In both, he might have his flash tilted up a bit to "feather" the light so things in the foreground don't get blown out. My guess is the flash probably was on the camera.</p>

[bob_bill]

<p>My snoot has a silver and a black side and each produce a different light falloff. Zoom the flash before attaching. With the silver have done 100' bounces (each way). It folds flat and takes no room in the bag. </p>

[tesa_bof]

<p>Thanks you all for your time answering!, <a href="/photodb/user?user_id=1471453">Michael Mowery</a>, what do you mean with "double lighting"? two flashes?<br>

I finally did a grid from black straws and got some interesting results on some pics, nothing too different from a vignette on post... I'll have to keep on practicing :)</p>

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