Focus On Lighting Photos Focus on the Fundamentals.pdf

So far, so good. But we’re missing
something hugely important
here, and that’s what we mean
by diffusion. Diffused light means
the photographer scatters the
light into many different directions
at once. Diffused reflection
means that the subject reflects the
light in many directions. Imagine
nonglossy white paper. Diffused
light means that the light strikes
the subject from many directions.
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<strong>Focus</strong> <strong>On</strong> <strong>Lighting</strong> <strong>Photos</strong>
Diffused lights are always big
lights, at least compared to the
size of the subject. Putting a piece
of translucent plastic over our
flash diffuses it a little. Hanging a
large piece of the same material
a few feet in front of the light diffuses
it much more. As far as the
subject can see, the big diffusion
sheet is the light, not our tiny little
flash.
Light pLacement matters
As we’ve seen, placing the
main light farther away from
the diffusion material makes
a more pleasing highlight
on the bottle. But raising the
light a bit gives us a highlight
that runs the length of the
bottle instead of in bits. It’s
a very small change but an
important one.