Feathering Light: The Secret to Perfect Portraits Revealed!

[@billydonerson1581]

I like direct. It gives her skin that pop! Both look great!

[@claudiodesat1442]

You are correct, and I had noticed this, as well. I think this misconception derives from more light being bounced around, particularly in locations with white walls. That in turns creates a degree of stray ambient light, which appears to soften the contrast between light and shadows.

[@JohnGress]

Ah that is a good point. A previous commenter said that it may have been a very cheap uneven softbox. I think I might like your explanation a little more but maybe it was both!

[@jay10242]

I like how you take the crops in a shot. The green velvet chair example. The light brings it to life but it's not distracting. And of course your color palette with the texture is always amazing.

[@JohnGress]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

[@Paparazzionsite]

Amazing work! Do you mind sharing the brand and color of the emergald green paint used? ❤ ​@@JohnGress

[@Elassyahmed]

For me, feathering is to primarily avoid having a hot spot from the modifier as pointing it away means the hot spot will hit a point camera left in case of your first shot. What is also at play here is the inverse square law, because of how close the modifier is to the subject (still referring to the first comparison shot), the feathered position causes a quick drop of intensity from her right to left shoulder, and the position of the softbox can not 'see' the left side (camera right) of her face, hence the increase in contrast of the two factors combined.

[@JohnGress]

By hot spot do you mean the face of the modifiers significantly uneven?

[@Elassyahmed]

@@JohnGress that's correct. I use relatively cheaper softboxes (Godox and Neewer), and although they have two diffusion layers, at the center, light is still a bit hotter than the rest of the surface of the last layer of diffusion, hence why I feather it away so that hot spot is shining away from the face/body of the model

[@ringoffireguy]

This was very helpful. Thank you. Even though I already know about feathering light, I continually fall back into my same bad habits and put it directly on my model. This reinforces the fact that I need to get out of my bad habits and think more creatively.

[@JohnGress]

That’s great to hear! I hope it helps!

[@StoicJason]

Saw the building shot with the train and said “Hey I’ve been there!” Another great video, John.

[@JohnGress]

Thanks! You're welcome anytime!

[@gregorylagrange]

Good to know what feathering is and what it does. And you should also experiment with what differing degrees of feathering does by rotating the light different amounts between directly at the person to directly across the person. Just like with window light how the light has a different look and affect from standing in the middle of the window to moving back and moving forward across the window plane. As well as small changes in moving closer to away from a window to see where there's a unique distance where you get good contrast with softness to the shadow. While other distances look like a choice of you get softness but low contrast, or contrast but little softness.

[@stewsview5164]

Since I control my studio light so much I always use a softbox with a grid so I am using the light directly on to the subject. I honestly never tried non grid single key light softbox before. I think I might have to try it out to sculpt the body in a different way than I normally do. Love your videos. Love your information. Totally love your studio. lol

[@stupendously_creative]

Very great breakdown

[@JohnGress]

Thank you so much!

[@jackhowdeshell2529]

Great refresher to your in-person workshop, the "L". Thank you.

[@JohnGress]

Thanks Jack! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@leedodge4227]

Many, many years ago a teacher showed us how to feather lights (with 10" tungsten reflectors). Use the falloff to your advantage, not disadvantage.

[@user-ss8ip8zm9j]

Great information! I'm going to enjoy practicing this technique. Thank you John!

[@JohnGress]

Wonderful!

[@codythep]

Dude, screw the feathering, your KZbin setup is incredible! Would even love a video on this

[@JohnGress]

Ha! Thanks. There is a video! New KZbin Studio & Office Tour - Interior Design LED Lighting for my video Setup kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqGcaaeLmpp9qc0

[@mpn3rxm]

Thank you for explaining this in detail....The "L". I have seen many others talk about it but never actually walk us through it.

[@JohnGress]

You're welcome! I hope it helps!

[@mpn3rxm]

@@JohnGress Yes, it already has... its a small tweak for me, but a key step when trying to get it right in camera

[@QuantzPhoto]

So much good information in this video! Thanks John!

[@JohnGress]

Thanks James!

[@Mowikan]

You have such great craftsmanship. Great video again!

[@JohnGress]

Thank you so much!

[@carolinamaristad9369]

You are my favorite photographer and mentor❤❤❤❤

[@JohnGress]

Thank you so much!

[@silvinaslatopolsky2121]

love your tutorials. Great educator. Thanks

[@JohnGress]

Thank you so much! Glad you like them!

[@ronin5th]

Thanks John. very informative. The images were exquisite.

[@JohnGress]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jmitchvision]

Great work as always brother!! I pray all is well!! 📷

[@JohnGress]

Thanks! Much appreciated

[@melvinwaldon7543]

First time watching. Love this video. Great explanation and well done. ❤❤❤❤📸📸📸📸

[@JohnGress]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@barkyvonschnauzer2188]

Perfectly clear. Thank you John

[@JohnGress]

Thank you so much! I hope it helps!

[@Maz-2393]

Informative video and liked the L explanation too. Thank you.

[@JohnGress]

Thanks ! Glad it was helpful!

[@luissalazar2021]

Great stuff, thanks for sharing

[@JohnGress]

My pleasure!

[@theJoeyDutch]

From practicing it myself, feathering is supposed to also show "an evenness in the light spread" on any subject.

[@lisamacophoto]

Does the "rule" of having the bottom of the modifier at about chin-level of the subject apply no matter how large the modifier? I'm thinking of my giant 7' umbrella with diffusion, which I love. If I have a seated adult whose chin is 3-3.5', I'd need pretty considerable ceiling height of 10' or more. What's the problem with the modifier being lower? you are lighting the body as well? So if I want to use the large modifier to light the body and the face, seems like I'm ok, right?

[@JohnGress]

HI Lisa, What I really meant to say is the majority of the modifier should be above the jaw, but it's better if all of it is above the jaw. What you don't want to happen is to have the majority BELOW the jaw, because that will cause the shadows to go up. The main reason why I say the bottom at jaw level is so that it guarantees the shadows go down.

[@lisamacophoto]

@@JohnGress Ah ha! Shadows going down not up makes perfect sense. Thanks

[@haseoxdualblades4126]

Awesome work. Thank you for the detailed information. What is your set designed of? Would love to try a set like this.

[@JohnGress]

Thanks! You're in luck... there is a video for this! kzbin.info/www/bejne/mnTOmKmeet-EpZo

[@eimclark]

Excellent John yet again. Sometimes when I have been feathering the light I can see the physical edge of where the light is hitting my background and this produces a somewhat obvious divide on the background rather than a smooth gradation. It's sometimes hard to make that divide go away when posing the model in the set. Are there key angles or position/distance guides like your "L" I could fall on to solve this when it happens? Thanks

[@JohnGress]

Thank you! It could be that your modifier is too small and therefore too hard and that is what causes that abrupt transition, but it might also be that you just need to rotate it more towards the camera and away from the wall

[@eimclark]

@@JohnGress I'm using a 120cm Octa or 120cm parabolic umbrella. I'll try angling more towards the camera as suggested. Many thanks for your reply

[@JohnGress]

@@eimclark Sure thing!

[@bobsykes]

That last shot at about 8:15 in the video is gorgeous. I love these one light techniques (okay, almost, but I guess a mortal human who only owned one light could use a reflector) are so practical. When you use your “L Technique” it clearly matters where you stand, relative to both the light and the model. Is the goal for you to stand right where the light is aimed directly? A last thought; a lesson or several about using these techniques with natural lighting in a variety of situations (outside the studio) would be really informative.

[@JohnGress]

Thanks Bob! I think that’s my favorite photo from the shoot too. You’re 100% correct about using a reflector rather than a second light. I should have made it more clear that my L is for when I stand perpendicular or 90 degrees from the cameras line of site. I should have included a diagram and made that more clear. But if you know what it looks like when they’re too far forward you’ll know when they’re not in it.

[@JohnGress]

At 407 in this video I start talking about an example that I show at 428 where I am not in the L on the left and in it on the right.

[@JohnGress]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmWZkodum9Zsabssi=wBOXy3dS5q3DvqHy

[@bobsykes]

@@JohnGressThanks.

[@MartinV.]

Great Video

[@JohnGress]

Thanks!

[@photozen8398]

When you feather the light it becomes smaller surface , harsher . when you directly pointing it to her the surface is larger hence softer. all boils down to how large or small is your light to the subject.

[@JohnGress]

5:15 kzbin.info/www/bejne/kImcdHt5qaqfhcUsi=VvNGbiLVRgEEOUIh&t=315

[@photozen8398]

@@JohnGress I never seen this great video before, DITTO…!! Makes all the sense.

[@femifos]

This is so insightful John. Thank you! Is that a one light set-up right?

[@JohnGress]

Glad to hear it! The photos of her are two lights.

[@acesofgambit]

wow thanks for this video. can you please do a fashion shot using real leaves shadows without using gobo. thanks

[@JohnGress]

Thanks! Not a bad idea for fall.

[@greggeis918]

What I’m curious about is are you just turning a round soft box into a thin strip box? That’s what I see as the model. Is that oversimplified?

[@JohnGress]

its a little oversimplified because the far side of the feathered softbox can see more than the far side of the strip box.

[@BerniceOlivia]

I rather saw the images not retouched when you compare them, texture now looks off. Because when you feather to just make a smaller light, why not use a smaller octa/dish.

[@JohnGress]

Not feathering a smaller modifier verses feathering a larger modifier would result in different shadowing.

[@Underthesnow31]

Super intéressant John 👍🏼 merci 😊

[@JohnGress]

Merci beaucoup! I hope you found the French sous titre aussi!

[@Underthesnow31]

@@JohnGress 😂😂 don’t worry I studied English at Uni , I don’t need any subtitles 😉

[@JohnGress]

You’re probably better at English than me! I just used chat gpt to help me add titles, descriptions and subtitles in 6 languages including French.

[@Underthesnow31]

@@JohnGress haha thank you John. In fact I noticed that some subtitles were wrong especially when you use the term feathering which is translated as "plume" in french (but in our language it only refers to the feather of a bird 😂) Anyway if you need help to translate some videos i can help you 😉

[@JohnGress]

Thanks! Ha, I bet whatever word you use in French for feathering is the word we should be using!

[@arangodan]

At 5:04, it looks like you get filled in from camera right from some light bouncing back from the wall

[@arangodan]

Feathering to get the same amount of light metered on you probably requires more power, which fill in that camera right side

[@JohnGress]

It was about 1.5 stops more light. The wall is about 9 feet away and mostly what is over there are black drapes. It is possible the light is bouncing off neutral gray ceiling or floor. But that’s not what’s causing the light to look harder it’s looking harder because of its decreased size.

[@mroblige1018]

Love it when photogs use dark skin models. So many complain and lie that it's hard to take photos and edit African American models. It's really not that difficult at all

[@JohnGress]

Photographing someone with a darker skin tone might require just a little more fill or exposure and that its...

[@photo2000]

I think whoever first came up with the claim that feathered light is softer than direct light probably missed physics class 😂... but from a medium where people think that a black beauty dish produces softer light than a white one, I guess we cant be surprised 🤷‍♂

[@JohnGress]

No comment! Someone else said this might have gotten started because someone was using a very uneven softbox.

[@photo2000]

@@JohnGress lovely shots btw John!! love the textures and tones, and model did an amazing job 👍

[@robertruffo2134]

Feathering only makes light softer IF you are using a cheap crap softbox with bad diffusion. That's where the myth comes from, because those cheap softboxes get better performance when feathering reduces their hotspot and leakage of direct bulb through the fabric when used head-on

[@JohnGress]

I suspected that but couldn’t really prove it.

[@WatchThatFirstStep]

What softbox would you recommend?

[@huanliu1449]

direct much better

Too close and too deep to produce the painterly feathered light effect.

[@henrycartier]

So to the painterly feathered light you need a shallow box (which size?) and more distance from it? I have always loved that look but not 100% sure how to setup such lighting