Secret modifier PRO Photographers use: MASTERING Sharp Hard Shadows

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

For the final show and MORE secret sauce head over to here www.patreon.com/tinhouse

[@Canutephotography]

You uploaded the patreon video here

[@sjenkin88]

Really like the video, thanks for sharing.... but you've uploaded the Patreon video... We're all getting the secret sauce for free!

[@JeffDiffner]

I absolutely love the "classes" you've been doing with your past few videos.

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

More to come!

[@katymapsa]

You're very quickly becoming my favourite photography channel to watch with these recent videos, really good insight into the process.

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Awesome, thank you!

[@allenfunstuff]

I'm really enjoying your recent videos. Reminds me of assisting commercial photographers in the 1980s only with new tech and digital imaging. Bravo 👏😊 really fun getting to learn commercial photography in the digital age👍

[@ChrisThe1]

These last few videos have been incredibly informative. These are things I legitimately didn't know and wouldn't have known where to find. Thank you sir

[@justinparker1148]

Looks like this is the Patreon version of the video…

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

It is haha

[@haakon_b]

Psst

[@AdamHinckley]

Uploaded by mistake?

[@Twobarpsi]

Even though this isn't my genre, I'm completely fascinated watching you do this!

[@krassydimitrov]

That's it, Scott. This is the gold. I love the thought process you show in these.

[@Jay-sr8ge]

We got the secret sauce 🤭🤭. Crazy how before you added the modifier I was thinking something similar but more of like a snoot. Wonder how that'd work 🤔

[@dvdragon]

I just wanted to say that I noticed the video work on your website for the first time. It is amazing and it it has the same signature look as your stills. Cheers!

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Thanks, it will be getting a big update soon

[@AndreSjoberg]

Yeah, thanks for sharing the special sauce *outside* of patreon ;) there was a weird bit in the previous video as well, moving a bit fast this close to xmas, or maybe it’s our special holiday gift coming in early :)

[@crowla9139]

I've started doing a similar sort of thing where I essentially create a hardbox with cinefoil, but I also turn the fixture vertical to reduce the effective area of the flash tube to appear as a small strip rather than a ring shape, then I just wrap the cinefoil over like a hood. The profoto hardbox is silly money for something you can make yourself in less than a minute.

[@nerb.p.1928]

I really really like those "how to". Love your channel, anyway.

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Glad you enjoy them

[@oleleclos]

Other ways to do this are snoots, fresnel spots and projector accessories, all of which utilise the light much better so you don't need 3200 WS to do this 🙂 For most of my career I never had more than 2400 WS in one pack. Only got a 5000 WS pack towards the end - but never a head I could fire all of it through in one go.

[@JonnyBarrett]

Dudes about to end Karl Taylor's entire career 😅

[@mfuller1093]

Interesting stuff, As a non studio photographer I recoqnise so many of these techniques which all come from Theatre Lighting ( I was a LD and LX tech for 35 + years) In a Theatre situation the Lamp would usually be a 2k Zoom Profile with iris closed to small aperture from a high 45 degree angle, we call cinifoil '' black wrap" and with a bulb in a hole a " doughnut" . I thought studio lighting was a very different thing to stage lighting but it's really not , Just a much smaller " stage " area. I reckon the studio lamps are more expensive though.

[@MsLivetosmile]

These are my fave kinds of videos! More lighting tips please :)

[@bryanquick2709]

Your process videos are invaluable. Thank you!

[@juliangiambelluca8809]

Thank you Scott you’re the best

[@kmulhall8233]

I'm sitting here, taking a break from culling and editing work from three different sporting events, ( for work), on a mission to learn more about your black art of product photography, when midway through, you force my hand to enter the google machine to look up, Blue Peter. 😉 Well done, all round. Great video.

[@aaronthecameraguy]

Great stuff Scott.

[@HLLeRoy]

Terrific. Great tutorial.

[@TomWindeknecht]

Great video again! Thank you!

[@doantalentmgmt]

Looks like your first set up with barebulb mightve been fine but you mightve had light bouncing off the white ceiling which filled in some of the shadows so maybe barn doors to flag off the top part of bulb preventing light hitting the ceiling could give same results?

[@WegmansLover]

Have you tried the Broncolor Sunlight set? I like what that does as well. The cinefoil in the reflector is a great trick ! Thanks for sharing. I saw your work recently in the world which was cool to get to see.

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

I have one on backorder haha

[@davidburton2294]

Like the 'secret sauce'!

[@bobdamico1099]

Funny every photographer thinks they a have secret lighting technique or piece of special sauce equipment but the real secret is in the eye of the particular photographer. When I first started out many moons ago I used to assist for a photographer who made his own unique softboxes (this is before all the commercial ones that are now on the market). He had me hide them when any other photographer came by the studio, because they were his secret sauce. Later in my career one of my favorite times was giving workshops where I gave away all the secrets I knew, interesting no matter what, they all took away just what inspired them.

[@rogerdion]

Hi Scott, I have the same lens you have, what rising gel goes on those lens, what's the best make? I thank you in advance.

[@Alptraumification]

Scott, what's the brand of that compendium you got on the glass?

[@johannguasch754]

For those who find black foil expensive. You can also buy third party reflectors and spray paint it with BBQ/Grilling black paint. They often come in matte black. Happy shooting.

[@chakk0]

Profoto user here again, get a pro head, remove the dome, turn the pro head so that the tube shows it smallest side to the subject, put around some blackwrap - done 😊 you could see the shadow of the hair on your arm with that

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

I love the profoto hard box. That modifier alone makes me consider a brand swop

[@chakk0]

@@TinHouseStudioUK you can diy it with a clear done, black wrap and some velvet

[@vperalta]

How do you take great photos with the settings your using? I worry about diffraction if I go over f11 maybe f16. Is it the lens your using?

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

I make sure the subject matter and composition are good, the narative is great and the style works for me BUT I don't ever think about diffraction. Clients don't even know the word, let alone what it looks like.

[@AllesWirdGut1502]

@@TinHouseStudioUK Nevertheless, images are significantly sharper at f11 than at f32. And there ist no reason to step down to f32. Stepping down didn´t increase the contrast... the reflector did that ;-)

[@jpdj2715]

when at 1:30 you start raising the strobe head, my immediate thought was, oh oh, you are increasing bounce light off the ceiling that will water down the darkness of the shadow (make it lighter). Putting the reflector on the head takes the ceiling-bounce out of the equation, but as you started to say, it makes the light's diameter larger. This again you mitigate with the large distance that you again mitigate with 3,200 W.s. The cine foil is exactly what the doctor ordered. In another comment you answer about a snoot not doing it for you. My hypothesis is that the snoot's opening, depending on the design, works like a small aperture that disperses the light.

[@bentonpix]

What you're showing certainly works if you have the space to move your flash head far enough away from your subject, but if you don't have the luxury of a spacious studio, the absolute best light source that I've found for creating sharp shadows is an open face, low power COB continuous LED video light. The light emitting element of a 40w COB LED light is a very small diameter disc and it creates a beautifully sharp and clean shadow. Higher power COB LEDS can be too big (soft) when close to the subject and flash tubes (as I'm sure you're aware of) have a problematic doughnut shape or have a diffuser over the tube which makes the light source larger. Exposure times for lower power COBs are offset by closer working distances that is possible with the smaller light source.

[@emerysnap]

Thank you….i was trying to figure out how to turn my profoto B1 into a q flash. I'm trying this tomorrow. If it works I owe you a beer.

[@codyconrad7333]

I'm curious if a grid over a reflector would provide the hard shadow and pressure the specularity?

[@Popa_Bogdan_Light_Drawing]

thank you!

[@playingvideojames]

This is totally great. Just so i understand what is key here: just in terms of light, can the exact same look be achieved with constant light and slower shutter speeds?

[@playingvideojames]

My thinking is that it would be MUCH harder to achieve intentionally, but if conditions were right, then maybe?

[@johnfynphotography7928]

With a constant light and slow shutter speeds, you would pick up ambient light potentially.

[@AlternativeElvis]

Hey mate, have loved your content for years now, just wondering if you didn’t have such powerful lights and could only use f8, could you get the same result by focus stacking? Cheers

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Unfortunately not, but there is a video on this next week using the exact same sweet.

[@robertstanley7928]

Great video, thanks Scott. What happens when you do it with a larger object? I can do this with a small object, but I tried to do this a few months ago in my studio with a lens standing on it's end and the shadow was hard at the base but got soft pretty quickly. I was shooting on white paper in a fairly small studio with white walls, its it due to light reflecting around the room? Thanks!

[@mcattack2009]

Thank you for this. Would a snoot not be a good option vs the black lining? Focus all the light through a small hole

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

No, but I’m not sure of the actual reason as to why. But we tried the snoot and then an optical snoot before doing this.

[@crowla9139]

@@TinHouseStudioUKTo save on cinefoil and time would it be worth sacrificing a reflector and spraying the inside with heat resistant stove paint? To be honest I'm surprised nobody sells that.

[@imjooboy]

Would a snoot be good for getting a small point light?

[@cyrohan21]

yay, finally hard light bts

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Hope it helps

[@cyrohan21]

@@TinHouseStudioUK Absolutely helpful!! Thanks :) Would also love to see how 'hard light shadow' has such saturated colour, they are beautiful. Or can I see how you did it in one of your workshop videos?

[@kevinsolie2208]

Does the high f-stop cause any sharpness issues? Also would a snoot work in certain situations? My makeshift "studio" has lower ceilings and prevents me from having the point light far enough away. Thanks.

[@doantalentmgmt]

hey! Thought i'd chime in and possibly give insight here. From what i've read 35mm lenses tend to lose sharpness on the extreme end of the aperture range due to diffraction which has something to do with sensor size. The smaller the sensor the more evident the diffraction in the extreme ends of the Fstop range but i think you can fix it in post. I think Scott talks about this in one of his videos. With a smaller studio you can definitely use a snoot or anything really, like a card board with smaller hole in the middle placed in front of the light, to make your light source smaller without moving it back farther or higher.

[@justindoherty359]

Bang on video Scott! ty for all the instruction you are making us all better!

[@roxikoko3744]

Would the Bowens Universal Spot Attachment do something similar?

[@cafellemusic3295]

Could you also use an optical snoot with or without a gimbo that makes it even smaller?

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

No snoots and optical snoots do something very different.

[@scottcunningham4115]

Thanks again Scott, however after you did the silly foil the preview of the shot disappeared at 7 min 50 seconds so we didn’t get to see the difference 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@steveh8658]

I suspect the final image is the really nice one that mysteriously appears at 5:18.

[@etiennelainephoto]

With the foil in the reflector, whats the difference with this vs a snoot?

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

light spread and look of the bulb

[@AlexandruRoibu]

have you tried spray painting the inside of a reflector with black matte paint?

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

No they cost £200 each haha

[@AlexandruRoibu]

@@TinHouseStudioUK got it :)) the godox ones that I use are like 20 euros, i'll try with one :))

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

yeah, check the paint is very heat resistant and non flammable as its a short bursts of intense heat.

[@kristofbarta2964]

I’ve made one of those. The flat black still reflects but not as much. This foil is probably catching more light due to the crumples.

[@someblokecalleddave1]

Yeah that's pretty decent. There's a couple of other things you could do to improve it further and there's also a bunch of other factors that you've not mentioned that most people wont pick up on that'll make their attempts at this unachievable. Pretty good though.

[@kiwimike2330]

You’re so old school, it’s much easier to use an COB LED with a spotlight attachment.

[@rafibenatar2519]

Great demonstration 🙌👍🏻

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Thanks\

[@junior90210]

How you remove that harsh texture from backdrop paper? In post manually?

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Ill make a video

[@TomWindeknecht]

Thank you! I can't wait to watch it. @@TinHouseStudioUK

[@pitchygroans]

Nice! Why not a snoot instead of the hardbox?

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

I’m can’t answer with any science other than “it looks bad” but I actually don’t know the why behind it.

[@fanjan7527]

@@TinHouseStudioUK I have a feeling that the light, even though a snoot is black inside, it isn't as much a "black body" as the hardbox you created. I think the hardbox doesn't bounce the light around as much. OR, that is just some sudo science of light paths I conjured up 🙂

[@MrAprrc31]

@@TinHouseStudioUK I would be interested in knowing what the snoot & optical snoot you were using and what those two were giving.

[@chase.wilson]

Like others have suggested, using optics to focus the light is going to make for a sharper and more reproducible crisp shadow line. What that reflector is doing is focusing the light output forward, but as he said in the video, it's making the "source" bigger - and therefore softer. You could simply move the light further back, now that you're output has increased (if you have the space), or you can add an optical focusing attachment to get closer to a parallel beam. Dedolight has lights and parallel beam modifiers. It's just too bad that they're movie lights, and therefore not that powerful.

[@benharris3949]

The stuff I’ve seen people do with Dedolight is phenomenal

[@jameshogge]

I'd imagine a fresnel lens over the reflector would do a better job. You'll have as much useful light as you do with the reflector but it will be as though the light source is infinitely far away

[@baxslatton]

This is a genuine question because I’m a noob. What’s the purpose of your flash going off with the COB light? Is it to add a bit of fill overall?

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Without the flash and the cob light on the frames still pitch black. So although they make the video visable, for the still they have no affect:

[@baxslatton]

@@TinHouseStudioUK ahh ok. Thanks for that!

[@AllesWirdGut1502]

I didn't understand why reducing the aperture should increase the contrast. You achieved the darker shadow by mounting the reflector, which did reduce reflected light on the ceiling and walls, rather than by reducing the aperture.

[@dummatube]

Why angle it down - it’s a non directional point light source! Sorry Scott - I couldn’t resist this ! 😈

[@benharris3949]

I’m going to need a standard reflector, duvateen, and some glue…

[@01r1sh]

The final shot was missed off the video? Otherwise a great tutorial.

[@Bank-E]

DAMN, I'm broke 😂 guess I won't know the secret just yet 😅

[@Noname-yu8qw]

Wont a snoot do the same?

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

No, but I dont know the reason why haha

[@Noname-yu8qw]

@@TinHouseStudioUK heh make a comparison

[@gohumberto]

What does AI mean for the future of Product Photography? My guess is that it may be one of the easier branches of photography for AI to dominate. >>> Generate image of Ice-cold Coke Can, with matching red background and high contrast.

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

cant be used in adverts due to usage issues so not an issue unless the law changes.

[@gohumberto]

@@TinHouseStudioUK By "Usage" do you mean adverts must use real products in their campaigns? So Coca-Cola Co. can't use AI in-house to generate their own "Product Photos"?

[@mtmccornack]

I had a long internal conversation with myself about what triggered me more... cutting that fancy $ black foil... using good ✂️ scissors, or not having your trigger on in the first place? ( I jokes of course) I gotta get my hands on some of that foil... I only found out that product exists 6 months ago, not the kind of technique that my fellow Oregon/Montanan nature photographers use on their daily, if you know what I'm sayin'

[@sgroadie6367]

You didn’t show the final result pic. Also, a snoot does the same job to get a small bright light…more expensive but also more elegant.

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Click on the link at the top to see it, we messed up the edit haha. Snoot gives a very diff look, but a lot of people commented so I will make a video on it.

[@3DThrills]

Patreon bait 'n switch

[@holdmacat9932]

Ah yes, cause I have 6m roof in my house

[@global001]

The shot with the cine foil wasn’t shown so we can’t see the difference which gives you the job vs the previous shot without it…..

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Click on the link at the top to see it.

[@global001]

@@TinHouseStudioUK thanks.

[@JohnMacLeanPhotography]

7:50 you didn’t show the final!

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

click the link at the top

[@stephanfriesinger142]

Or just use a snoot modifier. 👍

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

A snoot doesn't do the same thing, had a few people mention this. I will try and work out the science behind why.

[@stephanfriesinger142]

@@TinHouseStudioUK Looking forward to your findings! Thanks!

[@AdamHinckley]

5:16 just cut off what you was saying, 8:27 you shared it on youtube

[@danwongphoto]

lol @ 5:16... was enjoying it otherwise! ;)

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

theres always a gremlin in each video haha

[@TungstenOvergaard]

This is like teaching how to ride a horse when Ford factory was delivering its first cars.