Setting lighting ratios

[@MikeJamesMedia]

You two make a great team. Daniel shooting excellent photos and giving precise technical information, and Marisa, assuming any number of roles, depending on the scene, while also being "ham-o-matic" in the background. When something is fun, like your shoots, it makes the technical info much easier to absorb. (for me, anyway) Love you both!

[@danieljackson654]

How wonderful is Marisa's attitude. Bravo.

[@Drinckx2]

Thanks for the post: great info for anyone using active fill-in. With the fill 3 stops below key, that would be a 1:8 ratio. As it is also common to position your fill on-axis, it’s useful to mention that the fill will be adding light to the key as well as the shadow; not much if 1:8, but quite substantially at 1:2. TTL may take care of that, but on manual, you might want to reduce the overall exposure to compensate (while maintaining the desired ratio difference).

[@tweed0929]

Your attitude is great. No filler speak, right on point, short, all-in-all nice tutorial. Glad that KZbin notification popped up your channel in my feed.

[@KevinRusso]

I don't do the ratio thing either, but I have found over the years that I like my fill light to add 3 tenths of a stop to the overall exposure. So If I want my main light set to 5.6 with a meter and I need to add a fill light, I just keep adjusting the fill light to I get a combined exposure of 5.6 and 3 tenths. I can then either choose to work at 6.3 or dial both lights down using the software that will drop both lights together down till my meter reads 5.6 again.

[@GarryM66]

Happy Christmas everyone 🎄🎅🏼

[@peaceisnice]

Ha! Not only was that very informative, Daniel (I had no idea TTL was a workable option for multi-strobe shoots) but Marisa was hilariously entertaining.

[@patricktueth2637]

Learned lighting via ratios way back when. Great nuts & bolts explanation of how its done. You made the process very easy to grasp. Loved the tip on using a larger fill source size. Thanks.

[@ggarciacota]

Great video Daniel!! Very clear and simple explanation. Great model too. Thank you so much for making it and sharing.

[@H82Miss]

That was helpful. Thanks Daniel. Merry Christmas to you both.

[@robertway2858]

With both the key light and fill light, would you expect two distinct catch lights in her eyes?

[@DanielNortonPhotographer]

I would not

[@sbai4319]

Merry Christmas and thanks Daniel and Marissa! 🎊 🎉

[@chuckmower]

Thank you, this helped me clear up some of the problems I was having with getting look I have in my head when I shoot portraits now. Something just clicked after watching this one. 🙂

[@DanielNortonPhotographer]

Excellent!

[@josephchan4198]

Awesome!! Thanks for having the class. Happy Holidays. See you next year!

[@michaelspain7621]

Great & simple demonstration on the approach to key lighting. I was glad you showed using TTL as well as manual, it made it more understandable for us beginners

[@charleyl264]

That's a great tip, Daniel. Thank you and Marissa. Have a great holiday.

[@jimgsewell]

Love you Daniel, and I always learn so much from you, but 2 stops is 1:4. If your main light is 100 units bright and you reduce your fill by 1 stop to 50 units, then reduce it one more stop (for a total of 2 stops) it is now only 25 units bright. You are the professional, so pro photographers may call that 1:3, but mathematically it is 100:25 or 1:4. Hope your holidays are wonderful.

[@harpenfluit]

You are right. A 4:1 ratio is a 2-stop difference from the highlight side to the shadow side of the face. 3:1 ratio = 1.5 stops. 8:1 = 3 stops brighter.

[@MichaelChapmanNatchez]

Exactly.

[@sols9449]

Great video. I do this all the time I just didn’t know what to call it Ha. I’ll also use a bigger light source and just move it back more.

[@1BigBucks1]

Marisa's Robot! 🤖🔥

[@michaelschmitt5413]

Another helpful video. I like something like a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio. But to be honest, I tend to be less intentional. Moving forward, I'm going to be more intentional.

[@ShaneBaker]

Thanks Daniel and Marisa for this video and indeed, all this year's videos. I always learn something!! Season's greetings to you both.

[@jakobhovman]

Thank You for another workflow demo. I used 2 flash units in the same umbrella...Switching on 1 or 2units, gave me a manual half/duble setting Can easily be extended to 4 units...!...Worst case: Use Christmas Tree as fill...! Winter Solstice Greetings to you both...!

[@alexanderbocker9649]

Great video and a nice tip with the fill being bigger then the key light. The ratios are a good starting point, but unless the modifier is the same size and the distances between the modifiers are exactly the same, the ratios are off right from the start. Anyways a great video, subscribed!

[@DanielNortonPhotographer]

Indeed, unless you are using TTL which measures the amount of light and thus compensates for the difference

[@winni223]

Nice addition to the recent video on separation light

[@antares2112L]

surprisingly, when you meter direct sun light and shadow light outdoors, you end up with 3 stops of difference, pretty natural 👍

[@lighthackerslimited]

Perfect explanation

[@250GTOAJ]

Good and useful information, Thanks Daniel and Marisa 😎👍🇨🇦🎄

[@charliegreen1989]

Great video Daniel. I’ve only just started to play about with an active fill but like it 2-3 stops under key. Will try the TTL way and see how it comes out as it’s a lot quicker method.

[@thomastuorto9929]

I agree, great vid. Like you just starting to play with flash. Watching this guy for a while now & only seen adjust on the fly sort of. I’ve done exposure comp with a 1 light set up &ttl but, So good info. I guess their is some kind of lighting ratio formula sheet somewhere? Y/N?

[@alexanderpons9246]

By accident I 've done it the way Seth does it(near lens/bare bulb) but using a larger modifier is better over all. Like always great information and key points to improve our game, thank you Daniel Norton.

[@FOTOLOCO_]

TTL is measuring light with the camera isn't it, so where are the lights placed does matter a lot. Is there another way to measure "TTL" on the lights?

[@mavfan1]

B1, A1 and A1X. I had a 2nd B1 that was dropped and I heard the lamp shatter but there was no real external damage other than a scrape. Profoto quoted me over $900 to fix. I passed.

[@sandbilly100]

Thanks, crisp and to the point.

[@younicbic]

Precious advices as always, merry Christmas you all

[@daemon1143]

Nice, thanks for that. I don't often do human portraits and when I do I'm unimpressed with my results, but this will help.

[@jerryrichards8172]

Fantastic Thank you

[@mikaelhylander6321]

Great video! Last shot when you raised the key light a bit looked amazing. How can the background stay so dark when as it looks from our (viewers angle) the 2:nd light is directed on the model and the background, I was thinking it would luminate also the background to some point.

[@EdwardKilner]

TTL is very helpful in setting lighting ratios. It should allow the lights to be adjusted in distance independently, because it controls the amount of light output from each light. So, you can easily increase or decrease the power by full or partial stops as required. You really love transferring the TTL result to memory and going manual from there. Never knew why until you said today your controller only allows minus 2 stops max. My controller allows a max of 3 TTL flashes, all I have.

[@kobiorama]

Great video. I'd like to also see a direction chart of the lights - 45 degrees fill? side? location of key?

[@photoquent]

Really interesting and very helpful. Would be great if you had an overhead camera to give a better idea of light positions. Have a great Christmas and New Year and thank you for all of the truly amazing content in 2022.

[@GilbertTV]

great video & information.. thanks Daniel & all the best for Christmas & new year

[@jamesrussell1967]

Great video!! Merry Christmas to both of you!!

[@petercdejong]

Thank you! Please more like this!!

[@kirkdarling4120]

There are a couple of ways to express ratios. You express them as "power ratios," according to how you set the power of the flash units. I was taught long ago "lighting ratios," which is a matter of how much light is actually striking each portion of the subject. In a lighting ratio, the calculation includes the fact that the highlight portion of the subject is being lighted by both the main light and the fill light. You expressed that when you said that the 1:4 power ratio provided a 3-stop highlight to shadow ratio. You know what you're mean, but that might have been confusing to someone new at it. The advantage of the "lighting ratio" is that it doesn't matter what kinds of lights or modifiers are being used...the lighting ratio would be the same. But, frankly, for me identifying the light ratio is like a chef writing down a recipe. He doesn't do it for himself, he does it for other people. I would only record the ratios I use in order to instruct an assistant to set up the lights for me.

[@timip3658]

I've tried shooting teathered with Lightroom and it doesn't show up the most recent photo automatically so I have to refresh on the computer manually which is annoying , anyone got any tips on settings that I supercharge ?

[@RS-Amsterdam]

Yo da man ! Like always .

[@MojoPapiFPV]

Why would you use TTTL in a controlled environment like studio?

[@DanielNortonPhotographer]

It is a simple and effective metering system

[@williamcahill617]

Merry Christmas all

[@overheadcam63]

Perfect. Just what I wanted to know. And yeah, I saw Seth do his voodoo magic with on camera fill. He makes it look so easy but then he's had a lot of practice. I'm better to go with the more dummy-proof method. :) Thanks folks!

[@stupendously_creative]

Love your videos

[@DanielNortonPhotographer]

Thanks!

[@DJCENTIF1]

Great as usual

[@gilbertsanchez4348]

Daniel great info. One question. Do you have VR activated or Not? Thanks.

[@danbrowning2418]

Almost too easy! Thanks.

[@pacorosso7400]

But ¿Who guarentee us that the TTL adjust actually a 4:1 ratio? ¿It is an "overall" apreciation of the TTL, isn't it? But if I read the reflected light from each side of the face ¿it is an 4:1 ratio? (no).

[@hawg427]

Why does the Profoto only go to -2

[@jakobhovman]

Hullo h...-1= half, -2 = Quart. -2 is 1/4 light...Enough difference for most. PS: Any extra diffuser on Fill light, will lower its output...Increasing the difference.

[@davidabarak]

REM lyric: "What's your ratio, Kenneth?"