Ring Flash
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philthejuggler
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I generally don't like the light from ringflashes much as it is too even. That said you can get some interesting effects - often best when model is close to a wall to get a halo around them.
It's also really useful as a fill light - in conjunction with another main light or at weddings for lighting groups.
Unless the model has fabulous skin or you are emphasizing the crinkled skin of an oldy it's not always the best choice!
That said, look up some posts by Blinkerz in the Nude / Glamour forum. He often uses ringlights to a great effect, although not always to my personal taste. He gets very even lighting and the subject matter is well posed and nicely exposed. Notice that there are very few shadows anywhere though which means the shots sometimes have little sense of depth.
Phil
It's also really useful as a fill light - in conjunction with another main light or at weddings for lighting groups.
Unless the model has fabulous skin or you are emphasizing the crinkled skin of an oldy it's not always the best choice!
That said, look up some posts by Blinkerz in the Nude / Glamour forum. He often uses ringlights to a great effect, although not always to my personal taste. He gets very even lighting and the subject matter is well posed and nicely exposed. Notice that there are very few shadows anywhere though which means the shots sometimes have little sense of depth.
Phil
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Ricky
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saracenhouse
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There's a real trick to getting ring flash correct. We had a little play-day here with the two Elinchrom units (the cheap one and the expensive one) and also with the bolt on extra bits... I want to say they were from Hensel but I don't rememver.
As you might expect, the cheap one (much smaller ring) and I believe the same unit pretty much as the Lencarta unit, is OK. The expensive one (much bigger) is quite nice. The bolt on reflector is gorgeous and the extra grid for that reflector is stunning.
You gets what you pays for!
But in the experiments, we found there was a real optimum position for the photographer, versus the model versus the background. From memory keeping the model around a metre or so from the Colorama backgrounds produced the best "readybrek" halo effect around the model. Also keep an eye on your position to the model, if you're shooting low and upwards, the shadow will be above the model. You need to keep it around chin height to get that glow effect.
But I have to stress, I am no expert on ring flash, I have literally spent a few hours playing with a few different units.
Saying that, I think I may have just picked up a second hand Lencarta unit from one of my customers, so I will be finding out a lot more about it soon.
As you might expect, the cheap one (much smaller ring) and I believe the same unit pretty much as the Lencarta unit, is OK. The expensive one (much bigger) is quite nice. The bolt on reflector is gorgeous and the extra grid for that reflector is stunning.
You gets what you pays for!
But in the experiments, we found there was a real optimum position for the photographer, versus the model versus the background. From memory keeping the model around a metre or so from the Colorama backgrounds produced the best "readybrek" halo effect around the model. Also keep an eye on your position to the model, if you're shooting low and upwards, the shadow will be above the model. You need to keep it around chin height to get that glow effect.
But I have to stress, I am no expert on ring flash, I have literally spent a few hours playing with a few different units.
Saying that, I think I may have just picked up a second hand Lencarta unit from one of my customers, so I will be finding out a lot more about it soon.
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Ricky
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