What Chuck Does

Spilling Light

Like a spoiled child, light does what it wants unless you control it.

It’s almost fluid in its ability to get places that you don’t want it to go. Yesterday I had a lot of trouble getting blown highlights in my neck and under my chin. It wasn’t until today that I experimented with an umbrella, a large softbox, and the Lumiquest Softbox III that I finally realized how much the light needs to be controlled.

The challenge is that the highlights need to appear on the neck and the chin BUT preventing the light from spilling onto any part of the face above the chin.

The solution was a soft light held close less than 12” fromthe chest with a “barndoor” positioned above the SB-III like the picture below:
 

1. Without the barn door, the light spills too easily onto the face, filling in the shadows otherwise created by my left cheekbones.
2. The SB-III needs to be held pretty close to the chest. It’s odd, but I wouldn’t have expected the light to spill THAT much into my face. I suspect that the light is reflecting off my shirt and unless the source is held close to the chest, the face gets too much light.
3. I don’t have the same facial structure as Anne. I have round cheeks and a double chin. FML. It’s difficult to produce shadows from a fat face.

Anyway, I’ll post a sample of the new results shortly!