Laws of Light: Sphere

Hi, this is Jp. Morgan today on the slanted Lens We're going to start a series called the laws of light these were principles were taught to me [by] Charlie Pots at Art Center He was the head of the photo department our city college of design. [I] was taught these principles I've been building on them for 25 years And I'm now going to pass them on to you these truly are The laws of light the things that happen every time you turn on the light [you] can't change them. You can't make them Go [away], but you can control them and use them to your advantage, so let's see what they are. Let's see How you can apply them to your work, and it's really see the laws of light in action So let's get started see what we can do If [you've] not signed up for our business coaching class It's time to take a look at what the materials there can do for you We've got 16 hours of materials that will help you to change the direction your business organize it and get new clients Also, have once a month you get to mentor with me where you call in we'll talk about the issues You're facing and help you overcome them and help you to move forward so go to the [slender] lens comm and sign up for our Business coaching class today let me help you out Remember [the] camera is not your tool It's the object that simply records the light that you place in front of it Without light the camera can't work. So our tool as photographers as videographers is light [everytime] photographer or videographer Starts to light something they have to decide where to set the light so let's talk about angle of light if I take this light right here, and I set it at Camera Angle which is 0-2 camera, and I turn it on I get a Very flat subject there is no dimension. It's a round circle without dimension It's a white round circle. All I have to do is to move this light off from camera Axis and Dimension starts to be created as I move it around off from camera Angle now We've gone from 0 to about 60 degrees We now have 5 things that have happened Every time we turn on the light these five things happen When I put the light at camera angle directly at the [light] the [5] things happened But they happened away from [the] camera the camera didn't have the opportunity to see them, but when I move the light around Into a nicer angle and turn it on the five things happen on our ball here. Let's talk about the five things First off we have a high light side we have an incident high light. We have a core Which is a transitional area from the [high] [light] to the shadow side, and then we have [a] cast shadow [those] are the five things high light is simply that the area that is lit by our light the incident angle is the angle of Our light off the subject and the incident angle to the camera the core is a transition from light light to dark It's the area where the transition starts to happen Then the shadow side is after the transition has completed itself and now we are simply on a shadow side the drop Shadow is a shadow dropped onto the surface that our subject sits on or On to the subject surround it if there's more than one subject in this photograph Those five things happen every single time you turn on the light There's no way you can avoid it But what you can do is use them to [your] advantage you can put this Core where you'd like it to be you can change its position like I say as I move this light around That core is there But we get to change where and how it's used We have our highlight our incident highlight our Core our shadow side and our drop shadow. We still have that dimension our light is up and behind Even if I get this light up really high and directly overhead all five of those things are still happening. We still have our Highlight our shadow on our core So this creates dimension it creates the shadow the ball that was absolutely flat when the light was right at the camera Now has great dimension and circular Photography is a two dimensional experience in a three-dimensional world. This is a three dimensional object But if it's lit incorrectly it looks [one-dimensional] if it's lit correctly it now has a three-dimensional quality Even though we're looking at it in a two dimensional experience So now looking at these five things that happen every time let's look them in context of different qualities of light this is a directional light a Strong pinpoint light this light is a single small source It's going to have a harder core and a fast fall-off from high light to shadow because it's very directional [that's] how you can tell how hard a light is is How quickly does it fall off from [highlight] to shadow? The stronger and more pinpoint the sources the quicker it's going to fall off to shadow the softer and the more Soft of sources it's going to fall off much slower, and it's going to become bright too slowly into dark That's a much softer transition That's how you can tell a softer or made it more diffuse light, so let's look at this with a diffused light We now have that same wonderful five things that are happening. [they're] just happening here in a different way We still have a high light? We still have an incident high light? We have a core But look how soft this core is it is not very hard at all it's it's so hard to tell as that high light wraps Around into the shadow side and our look at our drop shadow is very soft It's got a bleed around it on both sides so all those five things are happening, but in a much softer sort of way So that's a much softer light you know there are things that love both [of] these types of light You know there are subject matters that love hard directional light they used to say cars could only be shot in that that you [know] end of the day beautiful light and then photographers went out and said look I'm Going to shoot cars in Direct Sun And they look beautiful [that] sheet metal responds to Direct sun If it's shot correctly so you can do some really interesting things [with] hard Directional light and there are some subject matters that just cry for it they want it there's others that need softer that need nicer light and so you have to make a Decision as a photographer as what do I want to [communicate] about my Subby and what type of light am I going to use? So we have our nice soft light from the side we can do the same thing by putting on soft light in from above Look how soft this transition is we've got the high light. We got the incident high light. We've got that core We've got almost have no Transition it just kind of slowly falls off to that and then the drop shadow on the on the ground but a beautiful light I mean these are done with soft boxes with Octa domes these are things this is a type of light [that] is very common and Certainly one that people use a lot These days it really is The go-to light for people they put up a Softbox makes you really soft light on people's faces because you see this beautiful soft highlight [into] shadows so let's talk about what creates different qualities of light a Hard pin point source of light comes from a light bulb a bulb something very small and concentrated the sun is so far away That's a small source of light a soft light comes with something large a large source this light right here Sees around the ball the reason this is soft on the left-hand side is because this side of the reflector is reflecting light into this Side of the ball if there's a pinpoint source it can't see around the ball But a large source does it reflects around the ball because it's large so it's that large soft area that creates a soft light Light can't look around Corners. It can simply have a bigger source that allows light to be able to spill around the corner so there's a big difference a pinpoint source can only see from one spot a big source allows you to see around and Softens the light on the person's face or on the ball. So there's different ways to create soft light bouncing and reflecting or Pinpoint is just directional aimed straight at the source So we've used a single light to create dimension using our [high] [light] instant high light core shadow and drop shadow But now we may want to create separation using the same light? We simply pan it onto the background and we've now created separation with our light We have a high light side which is separated from the shadow side [of] the background We have [a] shadow side that's separated from the high light side of the background so with that single light we've created Dimension in our subject matter it. No longer looks flat It's very round and we've created separation from our background so that [it] no longer sits in a one dimensional experience But now has become more [3-dimensional] because it's separated from the background So light creates separation we could easily do this as well by adding a second light This second light now does the very same things we have the highlight and shadow We've got the highlight and shadow and it creates that separation from the background [adding] a second light gives us the option to create separation, not just by value But also by color we could change the color of that background light that would create separation as well we also could turn light into a Rim light and create separation by putting a rim on the side of our subject matter we still have our three-dimensional experience here But we've got what's called a crossover core. I call it a crossover core You've got your core here, but now you've got a core rolling in from the back that crosses over again It's really important that you put that light in the right place [for] that to work. I think on this ball becomes too complicated It's better have that simple highlight to shadow but on people's faces That rim light can look very nice as you get rim in the hair and an area that you want to give it a little Rim light to separate from the background, so that's a way to separate as well now. We've got great separation we may decide [you] know what I really want [the] shadow side of my subject matter to be a little brighter all we have to do is simply bring in a Fill card and we get to decide now how much what's the ratio? We want a 1 to 2 ratio that means a one stop difference a 1 to 3 ratio Which is three stops so the closer? We get this in we [can] almost get [it] to where it erases our core almost erases our shadow side But as we pull it out the ratio becomes stronger We go to a 1 to 2 to [a] 1 to [a] 3 it becomes a little stronger [LI] take that fill card out So we get to decide How we want to communicate? With [that] shadow side of our subject matter and how much [filler] want to have in there the easiest way for us to fill in the side of our subject matter is with a bounce fill it takes the light that's coming in and It just takes that same light and puts a portion of it back on to the subject matter When we add a second light here We add a second core that's going to cause problems for us so we don't want to create a second light and add a second Light source, it's just easier [to] use a simple reflector So that becomes almost a go-to, or a simple setup for a photographer for videographer. You've got a key light You've got your shadow and your highlighting your core then you add a reflector on that one light back in that creates the ratio that you like and then a simple light on the Background [the] create separation for you You can get away with this you turn it and as a single light doing both of those things [but] it gives you two different ways to work [with] a [1] or [2] light [setup]. Let's look at some images to represent photographing a sphere There's the laws of light as they relate to a sphere you know everything in the world is a sphere a cube or cylinder In our next lesson we're going to look at a cube And how that relates to the laws of light eventually when we understand all three of these there isn't anything that we can't light? So join us for the next in our [series] on the laws of light on how to light a cube so keep those cameras Rollin keep on Clickin We've got a great download we're offering here at the slanted lens called stop motion basics for beginners Tricia's M takes all the information she's learned on how to do stop motion from how to shoot the stop motion to how to edit it and post it and put music to it on Instagram or YouTube It's a fabulous journey where she'll teach you everything you need to know to be able to do [stop-motion] if you're interested in stop-motion this Is going to teach you the process and what you need to do so go to the [slender] lens comm slash? Stop-Motion get your copy today Subscribe to the slanted lens like all my buddies here Did you could come and hang out with us? We have a wild time together me, and my buddies here my American buddies We have a great time together, so come join the lion slam and subscribe you can be friends [with] us do

Channel: The Slanted Lens

Views: 136,517

Keywords: TSL, The Slanted Lens, Photography, Videography, Photo, Video, Tutorial, Lesson, Jay P Morgan, Morgan, Laws of Light, Sphere, Photographing, Light, Lighting, Strobe Lighting, Continuous Lighting

Id: 6GJ4P1T7OHI

Length: 12min 34sec (754 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 13 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/sonofaresiii]

Moving lights to the side instead of the front to create depth and shadow is nothing new. I just skimmed the video, is there another "technique" he talks about that you're referring to? And what do you mean identify the incidental highlight?

[u/FernandoMol]

Not that this is a cinematography tenchnique, but is how you learn to draw. You start with objects like oranges and apples, and use a simulated lateral light to give them volume.

Here I think is more to understand how the quality and direction of your light can change the sense of deep in a 2D screen.

[u/TybotheRckstr]

I wish he would have lit himself better. In the dark stuff he is way too dark. He also needs to raise his lights higher because of his glasses.