By zooming the light in this manner, I can focus the light to hit Pete in the back of the head, and not spill over onto the background or onto the other side of his face. So, I set up a second light to the right of Pete and zoomed it to about 85mm. In this respect, the light “kicks” the subject off the background.) (A “kicker” is a light that’s used to light the subject from behind, creating a separation between him and the background. While you can pinpoint the light into a given area, zooming it almost guar antees that you’ll need to use a second light to serve as either an accent light or a kicker. The problem in this scenario is usually the lack of light when you zoom. We can also isolate which portion of the face we want to light, giving us more of a dramatic effect. With the light being more directional and focused, we don’t have too much spillover onto the background. To create a more dramatic scene, I pull the light a little further back from Pete and zoom the flash in to about 105mm. The shadow that’s being cast on the side of his face gives me the idea to make the shot a little more dramatic, without spilling too much light onto the scene. While this gives us acceptable light on the subject, I think it’s a little too ordinary. He’s lit by one Nikon SB-800 flash placed camera left, with the zoom set about 50mm. Here, we have a photo of the newest Photo shop Guy, Pete Collins. Now, let’s take a look at how this applies in a photo shoot. It makes more sense to back the flash off a bit and have the narrow beam hit the subject, akin to a spotlight. In an instance like this, I wouldn’t necessarily have the flash so close to the subject. Notice that the edges to the left and right of the flash are a bit darker and you can really see a difference above and below the flash.īy the time you get to 105mm, the beam is more concentrated and the edges are near black. In the second photo, I have the flash set to about 85mm. While there’s a pronounced white area in front of the flash, there’s quite a bit of light to the left and right of it, as well. In the first image, I have the flash zoomed at 50mm.
In this series of examples, I placed a Nikon SB-800 Speedlight about 5′ in front of a black background and aimed the flash head at it. The following three pictures show the differences in flash zoom.
By focusing where you’d like to place light, you can better sculpt your subject. The level at which the light is focused is usually expressed in terms of millimeters, similar to lenses, and represents the area that the light can cover (the smaller the number, the wider the light coverage the larger the number, the nar rower the coverage). Most small flashes have the ability to focus the beam of light that they emit through a smaller area, allowing you to get the light a little more concentrated into a space. However, one often-overlooked component of the flash can really take your photos to another level-the flash zoom. In the quest for the perfect picture, they move the lights closer to or farther from their subjects, working hard to make the inverse square law work for them. When working with small flash, many people become concerned with their ability to control the overall power of these compact units.