Quote:
Originally Posted by Benji
Austen,
Yes the power level of the fill is important. If it is too powerful your images will all be flat lit. If it is too weak you shadows will be black and look unnatural. I usually try and have the fill light about 1-1/2 to two stops less than the main light. Any more and the shadows tend to get real dark.
Ben
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Sorry Benji, but I am still missing something here
...........
You said that you set the fill light up first, which I understood, then you said that you meter the main to be one to two stops brighter, which again I understand, and then you set the aperture to suit the main, yep...understand that.
What I'm not sure of is why does it matter what level you set the first (fill) light to ?
If it's "bright"...which gives a harsh shadow, won't that shadow then be lightened when you add one to two stops of "extra" light from your main, and then the whole scene exposed correctly as you stop the aperture down ?
Conversely, if you were to set the fill light "dim", the main light would be correspondingly "not as bright as before", and once again the exposure would be taken care of by opening up the aperture ?
These two scenarios make sense (in my mind, which is frequently away in a place of its own) if you don't care about the final result of the aperture ................
But I can see the starting point of the fill light is relevant if you're aiming for a "target range" for your aperture ...............
I'm rambling now...
!!!
Have I missed something ?? That's really possible......But I generally do remember to take the lens cap off now !!!
Many thanks,
Austen.