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Re: What modifier to use?
Old 12-06-2006, 03:11 PM   #4 (permalink)
R_Fredrick_Smith
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkie View Post
The easy way out is to get a piece of cardboard and paint it flat black. I use an old light stand and couple of clamps and place it about half way between the subject and the light to block some of the light off of the hands. This works pretty good if your light source isn't too big. I will sometimes use a 24"X24" softbox or even use the light without a modifier to get the desired result.
I'm not sure that was really what he was asking about, but nevertheless it is an oft used principle that most beginning photographers know nothing about. Its basically subtracting light from the scene rather than adding it. I usually do it in Glamour when I want to deepen the shadows or add more shadows. I usually refer to it as the "black flag" technique. Here is an example with Malloy:

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Re: What modifier to use? 


For each of individual shots, there was a large softbox (7') in front, and I placed a large black reflector to the right side of the scene. You can see the result on the right side of the model, model, model, above.

I've sometimes used 4 to 6 black cards in the same shot (of various sizes and shapes). I also use a lot of them when doing product photography.

Cheers,
rfs
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