Week 11: Lighting - Diffusion

Photos of the Week

Week 11 Assignment: Lighting - Diffusion

This week I wanted to get into a little bit of Lighting. The first type of lighting we will look at is Diffused lighting, doing a comparison between direct lighting and diffused lighting.

I chose a couple different subjects to show the effects of diffused light on these subjects. The light in question is a simple off-camera flash, with a photo umbrella used as the diffuser. The first subject is the blue Beetle. The left image is without diffusion and the right is with diffusion. As you can see, without diffusion you create strong, dark shadows. It does depend on the look you are trying to achieve with your image, but for me, I find the diffused image more pleasing most of the time.

The next images of the apple show the same thing, except more noticeable. The shadow is dark and overpowering along with a smaller, brighter highlight (or catchlight), on the apple itself.

Then, in the final images of the sunflower, you can see how the undiffused light creates the hard shadows again. I don't believe most people would want to see dark shadows of petals from the front of the flower cast on the petals on the back of the flower. The diffused light creates a more even tone of color, a more natural look.

Coming Next:

Week 12 Assignment: Bugs Point-of-View