Ebook Understanding Light Shapers With 50 Examples
Ebook Understanding Light Shapers With 50 Examples
lighting school
Introduction
In this eBook, you will discover the potential of broncolor light shapers with simple 1-light setups. Get
inspired by 50 photographs of the same object lit differently. broncolor lighting instructor Urs Recher
provides you with valuable insights on what a single light can do. The classic white egg on white
background challenge will have no secrets for you anymore.
Happy reading,
your broncolor team
About the Author
For more than 20 years, Urs Recher has been the
photographic eye of broncolor. He is responsible
for the company‘s advertising photography and
shares his fascination for light with his professional
colleagues around the world who attend his
seminars and workshops.
Our goal is to produce state of the art products, housing in a corporate and modern design including
broncolor‘s technological innovations and guaranteeing an unbeatable quality standard. This is also
what you expect from us in your daily work in the studio or on location.
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50 Content
The Litepipe P can be used with
a light angle of 360 degrees. In
this situation, however, I only use
01
a very small opening made with
the included counter reflectors,
creating nice gradations towards
both sides of the egg.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Litepipe P with counter reflector
A snoot on a Unilite lamphead is used in the
lowest possible position. The light is just reaching the
entire egg while the table is only illuminated by the
02
reflections of the white object itself.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Snoot
Small mirror
This shot is realized with nothing
else than a standard reflector P70.
The perfect parabolic shape and
03
the right amount of texture of the
reflector guarantees a very even
illumination without stains and a
nice light gradation towards the
edges.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Standard reflector P70
A very mystical and lovely illumination. A Picolite with
narrow grids is positioned very low, just above the
table‘s surface and aiming at the top of the egg.
04
Lovely gradations that are typical for honeycomb
grids shape the object. A larger light source such as
a P70 standard reflector, would never create such
precise and fast gradations on an object of only a
few centimeters, even when combined with the most
narrow grids.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Picolite with narrow grids
The Litestick is basically nothing
else than a linear flash tube of
about 30 cm length. It is shipped
05
with a reflector, but here I remove
this part to increase the hardness
and the precision of the light.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Litestick with reflector removed
The Picobox can be understood as a very small but
super precise softbox. Here I tilt the acrylic diffuser
away from the object and more towards the camera.
06
The edge transfer of the Picobox creates a lovely
gradation on the illuminated side of the egg, increasing
the three dimensionality of the shot.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Picolite with Picobox
Small mirror
The softlight reflector P is a classic
light shaper for portrait and beauty
photography.
07
Due to its form it is not reflecting
the light evenly like a parabolic
shaped reflector or a softbox. The
reflections have rather the form
of concentrical circles, revealing
a lot of texure and nice, soft but
contrasty gradations.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Softlight reflector P
Here a Para 88 is set up with the lamphead in the
defocused position. Therefore, the centre of the
parabolic reflector becomes darker. This means, that
08
when the Para is positioned right behind the camera,
the flat light in the camera axis is reduced and the
object appears soft, but nicely shaped.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Para 88
This shot may represent the
normal use of the Balloon. With
the distance between the Balloon
09
and the object you can easily
and very fast define the contrast
between the light that hits the
object directly and the indirect
fill-in light. As the light shaper is
perfectly round, the shadows are
very pleasant in all directions.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Balloon
Black cardboard
When working with a snoot, you basically only use
the light coming directly from the flash tube. There
is no “softening“ reflector or diffuser around. Beside
10
this, all the light that might hit the set indirectly via
reflections from the studio walls, is eliminated. The
result are razor sharp, dark shadows.
That‘s an
easter egg.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600S WiFi Happy you!
Unilite
Snoot Congrats ;-)
Another example illustrating
the unlimited possibilities to
create graphic effects with the
11
Picolite. Here, this tiny lamphead
is combined with a projection
attachment. The integrated
templates block the light closest
to the camera, leaving the egg‘s
belly in a shadow.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Picolite with projection attachment
White cardboard
Even if the Striplite is a very narrow
light shaper, its acrylic diffuser has
a light angle of 180 degrees. In order
12
to increase light control by limiting
this light angle, I use the Striplite
here with honeycomb grids.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Striplite with grids
The Edge Mask is available for all
rectangular softboxes. They are
used for continuous contour lights
13
all around an object (e.g. hair light).
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Softbox 60 x 100 with Edge Mask
Certainly not a typical use of the
Litepipe P. But playing with light
shapers and setting them into
14
the strangest positions often
reveals new and unseen light
characteristics.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Litepipe P without counter reflector
The size of the Ringflash C is
increased by mounting the Beauty
reflector. This makes the light
15
somewhat softer (essential when
you shoot not a matt egg but
maybe rather shiny skin) and the
typical shadow contours wider.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Ringflash C with Beauty reflector
Here I use a Picolite with narrow
grids as backlight. Even when
using the extra narrow grids on a
16
standard reflector, the illuminated
area would be much larger. So,
if light control on small sets is
required, the Picolite system with
all its accessories is the right (and
possibly the only) solution.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Picolite with narrow grids
The Litestick is shipped with a
reflector. To position the linear
flash tube as low as possible, I
17
remove the reflector here. I simply
put the Litestick on the table and
as the flash tube is so narrow,
almost no direct light reaches
the table. Horizontally, the light
shaper is long enough to create a
pleasant soft gradation around the
egg. To separate the egg from the
background I use a mirror on the
left.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Litestick with reflector removed
Mirror
Unbelievable light control with
the Picolite and its projection
attachment. Here I use a round
18
aperture mask inside the
projection attachment. The
integrated template blocks the
rear part of the perfect light circle.
By defocusing the device, the
edges of the spotlight could be
made softer as well.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Picolite with projection attachment and round aperture mask
Having a large Fresnel lens, the Flooter can be used to
receive dominant and strong spotlights. Also, it is my
preferred way to imitate sunlight in the studio.
19
By changing the lamphead’s position inside the
Flooter (focusing) you can fine-tune the shadow
characteristics until they look like natural sunlight.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Flooter
White cardboard
It‘s always interesting to analyze and understand the
light and especially the shadows of a super narrow
softbox. A 30 x 120cm Softbox can actually only be
20
called “soft” when you refer to the long side. In the
other direction the box has just the dimension of a
standard reflector - the fact that the light is diffused
does not mean, the light is soft.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Softbox 30 x 120
Having a light angle of 360 degrees,
the Balloon is normally used for a
very even illumination. However,
21
when you bring the light shaper
very close to your object, you
receive a fall-off according to the
inverse square law. At the same
time the shadows become nicely
soft and perfectly round.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Balloon
A Picobox is positioned just like a “light emitting
extension“ of the table. As the light shaper is very
precise, the surface of the table itself is not reached
22
by the light in contrast to the object.
The light comes from very low, so the top of the egg
remains in the shadow.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Picolite with Picobox
White cardboard
Here, the smallest member of the
Para family is positioned on the
side and directed slightly away
23
from the object. This explains the
slow light fall-off on the table
behind the egg. As the lamphead
is in a defocused position, the light
still shows three-dimensionality
that is unique for this type of light
shapers.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Para 88
The diameter of a Litestick‘s
linear flash tube is just about
1 cm. Therefore, the light is very
24
hard and precise in one direction
(and relatively soft in the other
direction). Here I position it just
below the table: The egg receives
all the light while the table itself
remains almost completely in the
shadow.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Litestick with reflector removed
The Sunlite set is a linear U-shaped flash tube with a
four-wing barn door. 25
If this flash tube is directed exactly at the object,
the shadows are extremely hard and sharp. A larger
distance between the light shaper and the object is
beneficial for this effect.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Sunlite set
A big stage for a small object!
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Picolite with Fresnel spot attachment
The Fresnel lens of Pulso Spot 4
is here replaced by the 150 mm
optical snoot. This snoot has 4
27
integrated templates which allows
to project any shape or pattern of
light onto the object. In principle,
you can almost illuminate every
single pixel individually, if needed.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Pulso Spot 4 with 150 mm optical snoot and
integrated templates
When working with a broncolor
Balloon in a reflective environment,
you can easily and fast adjust the
28
contrast between the soft light
hitting the object directly and the
diffused indirect light.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Balloon
White cardboard of around 60 x 90 cm
A light shaper with a diameter
of 222 cm (87.4 in) illuminating
an object of just about 7 cm
29
(2.75 in)? sounds like the flattest
of all possible lights - if it‘s not a
Para. Para reflectors, especially
when used with the lamphead in a
defocused position, surprise with
a very three-dimensional light,
which shapes objects very nicely,
even when used right behind the
camera, like in this situation.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Para 222
The Ringflash C is used here without any accessories.
This light shaper is known for its shadowless
illumination. However, if you look closely at it, it is a
30
slightly different story:
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Ringflash C
A Striplite with its precise acrylic
diffuser is positioned as a light
emitting extension of the table.
31
The light shaper is tilt in an angle, so
that no light hits the table directly.
This position illuminates mainly
the centre of the egg, creating nice
contours in all directions, which
shapes the object nicely.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Striplite
Reflective carboard
The Litepipe P can be used with
or without the textile counter
reflectors. When these parts are
32
removed, the light angle is fully
360 degrees and the indirect light
can be used as a diffused fill-in.
Here, however, I use the counter
reflectors to limit the light angle
and to get a dark background
behind the egg.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Litepipe P with counter reflectors
The Boxlite 40 can be understood
as an extremely even and
seamlessly lit acrylic light shaper.
33
It creates perfect reflections
on shiny objects or can even
be integrated in the photo as
a graphical element or shine-
through light.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Boxlite 40
When you need light control over
small sets, it is essential to have
the corresponding small light
34
shapers.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Picolite with Fresnel spot attachment
The Satellite Staro can be
understood as a perfectly round,
acrylic softbox.
35
But unlike the textile softboxes
and Octaboxes, the Staro is heavily
centre-weighted. As a result, the
light appears stronger, and the
shadows have a better definition.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Satellite Staro
A snoot limits the light angle
drastically. But unlike honeycomb
grids, it does not do this gradually,
36
but very harsh. The edge transfer
of a snoot is even sharper than the
one of a Fresnel. Only a projection
attachment is even more precise.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Snoot
Mirror
The softness of a light shaper
depends on its subjective size.
When using a softbox far away
37
from the object, it converts the
softbox into a hard box. Diffusion
alone does not soften the light.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Softbox 90 x 120
A Picobox is set up just out of the
picture frame. Even if it can be
seen as a very small softbox, this
38
short distance makes the light
relatively soft. A lot of reflection
from the white table back to the
egg reduces the contrast and
makes the light look even softer.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Picolite with Picobox
The light of the Ringflash is
known to be shadowless and
very even over the entire set.
39
Adding honeycomb grids to a
Ringflash C, however, allows you
to direct the light and to illuminate
certain areas more than others.
The light can be understood as a
directable spot without disturbing
shadows.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Ringflash C with honeycomb grid
The Pulso Spot 4 is originally a
Fresnel spot. The Fresnel lens,
however, can be replaced by a
40
150 mm optical snoot.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Pulso Spot 4 with 150 mm optical snoot
Linear Gobo
This is the smallest softbox of
broncolor, just about double the
size of a standard reflector.
41
The fact that the light is diffused,
does not mean, that the light
becomes soft at the same time.
Softness comes from the size of
the light shaper, not from diffusion.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Softbox 35 x 60
The Litestick is a linear flash tube
with a length of 30 cm. It comes
with a reflector that allows to limit
42
the light angle and to direct the
light. Here, however, I use it open to
get clearer shadows.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Litestick with reflector removed
Certainly not the standard use of a
Ringflash C. I mounted the grids to
the Ringflash C and placed it very
43
low above the egg, just outside the
picture angle.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Ringflash C with narrow grids
The spot effect of a projection
attachment is not as sharp as the
one of a Pulso Spot 4 or Picolite
44
but certainly more precise than
any Fresnel lens. I position the
egg here at the very beginning of
the illuminated area to show the
rather soft edges of the light beam.
The light angle is very narrow, no
indirect light illuminates the black
shadows.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Projection attachment
In this example, the templates of the 150 mm optical
snoot for a Pulso Spot 4 are relatively wide open. The
spot is perfectly focused and illuminates only the
45
very top of the egg and a few centimetres of the table
right below and behind the object.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Pulso Spot 4 with 150 mm optical snoot and integrated templates
A Striplite is positioned very low,
just out of the picture angle and
slightly behind the egg.
46
Due to this position and its narrow
acrylic diffuser, the Striplite cannot
illuminate the front of the object
but it creates nice highlights on the
top and around the “shoulders“.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Striplite
Here I use the Litepipe P without
its counter reflector and, therefore,
with a light angle of 360 degrees.
47
But as I position it very close, just
next to the egg, I do not have to
worry about the indirect light.
Light falls off with the square of
the distance and the reflections via
the studio walls are so weak, that
they will not lower the contrast.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Litepipe P with the counter reflector removed
The largest of all broncolor
softboxes is placed in a way that
about two-thirds of the light
48
source is behind the object. This
accounts for the uniform, beautiful
and long gradation that perfectly
shapes the egg.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Softbox 120 x 180
Here you see the light from a
P70 standard reflector equipped
with its very narrow grids. The light
49
leaves the reflector in an extremely
narrow angle and almost parallel.
The light fall-off is very fast and
as there is almost no indirect light
bouncing back from the table or
the environment, the shadows are
as dark as possible.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Standard reflector P70
Extra narrow grid
When high contrast and perfectly
centrical gradations are needed, it
can make sense to use a bare flash
50
tube as light shaper.
broncolor equipment
Scoro 1600 S WiFi
Unilite
Matt protecting glass
Product index
B R
Balloon 09, 21, 28 Ringflash C 15, 30, 39, 43
Boxlite 40 33
S
F
Scoro 01-50
Flooter 19 Snoot 02, 10, 27, 36, 40, 45
Fresnel spot 26, 34 Sunlite set 25
Softbox 13, 20, 37, 41, 48
G Softlight reflector P 07
Striplite 12, 31, 46
Gobo 40 Standard reflector P70 03, 49
Satellite Staro 35
L
Para 88 08, 23
Para 222 29
Picobox 06, 22, 38
Picolite 04, 06, 11, 16, 18, 22, 26, 34, 38
Pulso Spot 4 27, 40, 45
Projection attach. 44
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