Quote:
Originally Posted by Palladius
Wow, that is good! What are the bits of cardboard for, though? I kinda get why you'd need to block light going directly from the flash to the camera, but when would you want to do this, since it's only in some set-ups (like scheme 9)?
Also, what's the cardboard in Scheme 13 for?
|
Those are generally called gobos and there's a bunch of different reasons for using them. Gobo is often explained as "goes between", but no one seems to be ENTIRELY sure of where the term originated. It's function is to shape light by blocking it from anywhere you don't want it to be.
For example, in Scheme 13, my best assumption would be without the gobo the flash was either reflecting something they didn't want reflected or was washing out the reflection so they put something there to block it. Hard to say without being able to see an actual set up shot of how it was angled.
Typical uses of gobo:
1: Prevent lens flare on lights intended for the background
2: Prevent washing out of solid objects when lighting for reflective objects (Common example is wine bottle and label)
3: Vice versa, prevent direct reflection on reflective objectives when lighting for non-reflective surfaces
4: To make pretty shadows
5: To keep a background dark when lighting for the subject
Here's an example of number 5:
My designer friend wanted a strong dominant shadow in the background to capture some pinup style, but I wanted broad lighting to create strong cross shadows without any rim lighting to try and capture a flattened pseudo vintage painted look. My solution was to use my ringflash as a fill light to create the even lighting and strong shadow, and use my main flash as a broad side key light. I then stuck my 32 inch reflector black side toward the flash right next to it to prevent the key lighting from spilling and washing out the shadow in the background.