Welcome to the OPG talent podcast exclusively featuring photographers and videographers in our community. In these episodes, you'll hear success stories from the many incredibly talented group of creative individuals.
Unmasking the Magic of Light Modifiers in Wedding Shots
•Jason Groupp
Audio Player
00:00
00:00 | 14:45
Imagine effortlessly crafting soft, radiant light that accentuates intricate details, softens shadows, and enhances skin tones in wedding photos. With the indispensable tools of light modifiers, that vision can become a reality. Join me, Jason Group, in this engaging episode of OPG's Tips and Tricks where we will demystify the world of light modifiers. We'll shine a spotlight on the popular soft boxes and versatile umbrellas, revealing their ability to create gentle, even illumination that minimizes harsh shadows, perfect for capturing the delicate details of wedding attire. Furthermore, we'll unveil the unique capabilities of beauty dishes, and how they produce soft shadows and an enchanting radiant quality to enhance skin tones.
Looking to create dramatic spotlights that make your bridal portraits stand out? We'll dissect the workings of grids and explain how they can transform your wedding photography. But this isn't just about the tools, we'll also share the do's and don'ts, helping you avoid common pitfalls. You'll learn how to properly use light modifiers, from positioning a beauty dish correctly to getting the most out of an umbrella. If you're looking to elevate your wedding photography, this episode is a goldmine of essential tips and tricks. Tune in and let us illuminate your path to unforgettable wedding photos.
Speaker 1:
Hey there, welcome to OPG's Tips and Tricks. Here I'm going to share some quick tips and some tricks that I think you'll find very useful. Let's get right to it. All right, let's move on to the next episode of Tips and Tricks. I'm recording this almost the same time as the last one, so I hope there's some continuity here. Or maybe you're listening to these and skipping around. Whatever, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:
This is part of a series about flash and off-camera flash and continuous lighting. This one is going to be a little bit more in-depth than the last one, and I hope you enjoy it. So I'm your host, jason Group, and today we're diving into more wedding photography tips and we're going to explore a fundamental aspect that evaluates your wedding photography, and we're going to talk about light modifiers. Today, light modifiers are an indispensable tool for wedding photographers, helping them shape, soften and control light, and they help you achieve stunning and memorable images. And we're going to delve into the world of lighting modifiers and some of my favorites, and truly, the search for the best lighting modifier never ends. It's kind of like the Greek off-shot that I talked about in the last episode. All right, understanding light modifiers. Before we get started, let's talk about what light modifiers are, and obviously they are accessories or tools that alter the quality, direction or the intensity of the light. They're going to empower you to transform harsh direct light into soft light, diffused illumination, and they come in various shapes, sizes and materials and each serve a specific purpose in wedding photography, and every company will tell you they're the best ones. Some of them are. Let's talk about the different types of light modifiers to begin so.
Speaker 1:
Soft boxes are definitely one of the most popular ones. They're well used across a broad range of different kinds of photography, but very popular with wedding photographers. They're usually rectangular or octagonal boxes. They house a light source such as a flash or continuous light. Sometimes you can put different kinds of lights based on how you mount them, and feature a diffusion panel in front. Soft boxes are used to diffuse light and create gentle, even illumination that minimizes harsh shadows. They are ideal for portrait shots, capturing intricate details of wedding attire product shots and creating flattering soft shadows for the bride and groom. Great way to start. Soft boxes are very popular and you can use them for a lot of different things.
Speaker 1:
Umbrella's I should have started with that one, but umbrellas open up quick and are cost effective. They come in two main types shoot through and reflective. Shoot through umbrellas direct light through a translucent material providing a diffuse glow. Reflective umbrellas bounce the light into their interior surface, offering softer, more even lighting. And umbrellas are versatile because they can be used for a variety of different scenarios group shots and outdoor portraits.
Speaker 1:
I should have started with umbrellas because if you're just getting started with OCF and you're just looking for a cheap way entry points into softening your on-camera flash. Umbrellas are a great way to go because they're generally cheaper. Their quality of the build can range depending on how much you spend on them, but I like them because they open up quick. You don't cry when you break one of them because they're inexpensive and you have lots of different choices. There's even umbrellas that turn into soft boxes where you shoot through it and then there's a diffusion paddle in front. Those are great because they really open up quick and they have a small footprint because they're your flash that's inside of the umbrella unit. I like those a lot.
Speaker 1:
If you're just getting started, go with an umbrella, give those a try. They don't diffuse the light as much and they don't give those nice softer shadows. But for large family portrait a great big umbrella is just an awesome way to spread a bunch of light. It's going to be super even across from. There's no hot spot in the middle of them. You don't have to worry about how the light is being diffused like you would in a softbox. Start with an umbrella and you can get them on Amazon or different places like B&H or Adorama for $5, $6, and a big umbrella is going to cost you a little bit more money, but that's a great place to start Again. You don't have to worry about them breaking and stuff like that, and they open up super duper quick.
Speaker 1:
Moving on to beauty dishes, beauty dishes are shallow bowl shape reflectors with a central deflector. They produce unique, striking light with soft shadows and a subtle radiant quality. That's the best way to describe it. That's what a beauty dish is. They're excellent for capturing bride's beauty and highlighted facial features. They create a flattering wrap around light that enhances skin tones and minimizes imperfections.
Speaker 1:
It's an essential tool to learn how to use correctly, but all too often I see them being used like softboxes, which is incorrect and results in very harsh lighting. It's an important thing. Beauty dishes are tough and basically can only be used. They're called beauty dishes because the light on them, when done properly, is beautiful and creates a really beautiful shadow, but it's also like this hard and soft light at the same time. It gives you this really radiant light. Radiant is the best word to describe it, but generally that thing needs to be fairly.
Speaker 1:
I see it uses a softbox all the time. 10 feet away. They're using it like a softbox. It's really the wrong way to use it. It's going to give you not really the best results. I've tried it Sometimes. If that's all you have, it's great. For that, it's fine. You don't have a softbox and you're only bringing a beauty dish, it's fine. Let's talk to the umbrella. But a beauty dish really needs to be placed above, right above the subjects head. I generally don't use it for more than one person and it needs to be pretty close to the subject and generally you're focusing on much closer, not much more than head and shoulders type shots. That's where a beauty dish really shines and if you're curious what that looks like, just do some Google searches for that and I think you'll find the results of what I'm talking about here. But, like I said, all too often I see them use a softbox and it's just not the right. They're not softboxes, okay, moving on, then there's grids.
Speaker 1:
Grids can be used effectively and work like magic. They do require some learning, but they are perfect for those. Quote unquote create something from nothing scenarios. These honeycomb like structures attached to various modifiers. Grids limit light dispersion, focusing it on the subject while minimizing spill onto the background or other elements in the frame. Think of them as creating a dramatic spotlight. Quote unquote making them the perfect for those intense bridal portraits that really stand out.
Speaker 1:
Here's where I use grids a lot. It's again going back to creating something from nothing. You're in a scenario where you just need to do something a little different. It's an ugly background. You don't really want to highlight what's going on in the background. You really want to just go black.
Speaker 1:
Sometimes I'll put a light with a grid spots behind this couple to create like a spotlight behind them or a circular light pattern. Sometimes I'll use it just to illuminate a couple's face or groom's face. It's harsh light, so it's great for like guys lighting if you want to do a dramatic groom's portrait where you're just putting it on their face. It takes some finessing and again, you need to practice it A lot of times when you buy these grid spots, that kind of snap onto the front of an off-camera light. Sometimes you can stack them and really diffuse that light. And if you don't have a modeling light on your off-camera light it really is very tricky because you're kind of guessing and you're just going to have to chimp on the back of your camera. But it's really great for creating dramatic shots. It's also great for creating a little hair light on the back of someone's hair or maybe highlighting the side of a face, or it's great for detail shots as well. So that's where I use grids, best uses of light modifiers and weddings.
Speaker 1:
Obviously, portraits and formal shots. I talked about that before. Modifiers are mainly used for wedding portraits, family, bridal portrait settings. In general, like I said, large portraits are used at big umbrella. They're affordable, easy to set up and have a wide beam of light.
Speaker 1:
Candid moments I prefer to employ a combination of on and off-camera lighting techniques, as well as reception and dancing. So here's a great place for off-camera lighting that I love for reception and dancing. So quite typically, I will have two or three lights and I'll get through my bridal portraits, my family shots and my bride and groom shots, my couple shots, and then, once I get to the reception, I leave two lights on a stand and I will use that to light the room in various situations, one of them being just creating a sparkle of light in the background. I'll just light it right into it on a very low power setting and that creates some really nice highlights behind people dancing lights up the room a little bit. Sometimes I'll just bounce them right into the ceiling. It'll just give me a nice soft light across the dance floor and I can just shoot away. Low power, higher ISO, and sometimes I'll do one into the ceiling, one across the dance floor, creating some shadows. It really makes a difference, and it really makes a difference in stopping motion, as well as creating shots that people's iPhones are not gonna create, which is for me, really, really important. I'll also use them for toasts a hair light, a little softer light. Sometimes I can throw the umbrella back on. Sometimes I just put a diffuser on the front of it to give me a little bit of depth. So those are places where I'll use it too. They're also really great for detail shots with the softbox umbrella, with the grid spots, and then, of course, you should be playing and creating lots of different creative effects, test and experiment. Be mindful of shadows. That's why you should test and inspect and experiment first and stay portable.
Speaker 1:
My oldest mentor and I think I've said this before he used to say to me when I was first learning if you chimp it on the back of your camera and it looks like you don't know what you're doing, it's because you don't know what you're doing and they're gonna see that. They judge you on how fast you are. They don't judge you on how good you are. So day of the wedding, you gotta move fast and be nimble. That's where the learning, these techniques and the different things that you do beforehand. Then you just employ them the day of the wedding.
Speaker 1:
So, that being said, mastering light modifiers is a journey that can greatly enhance your wedding photography, and these versatile tools empower you to shape, soften and control light. Allowing you to capture the beauty and emotion of the wedding day is the best possible way. Portraits, candid moments, outdoor wedding to receptions, creative effects the more you play with these, the better you get, and I really, really encourage you to go out and play. The best time to do that could be the last half hour of a night. Go find some detailed shots that you can do that you weren't able to do earlier in the day. Play around with those flashes at the wedding reception and, again, you can throw a lot of them away, but the one thing that they will see is God, this guy's really working his butt off for us, and that will always go a long way.
Speaker 1:
So that's all for today's episode of Tips and Tricks. Thanks for joining me. I hope this inspires you a little bit, and remember that light modifiers your allies in crafting unforgettable images. Keep experimenting, keep learning, and may your wedding photographs continue to shine. We'll see you on the next episode of Tips and Tricks. Take care, everyone. ["tips and Tricks"]. All right, that'll do it for this episode featuring OPG's best of the best. Would you like to be featured in an upcoming episode or do you have a suggestion for somebody you'd like to hear from in our little community? Please email me, jgroup with two P's at OrionPhotoGroupcom. That's jgroupatorionphotogroupcom. I look forward to hearing from you and hearing your suggestions. We hope that you enjoyed this episode and I look forward to hearing from you and your story. That's it for now, and we'll see you on the next episode. Have a great day.
