Too much diffusion...

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Beatsy
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Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:10 am
Location: Malvern, UK

Too much diffusion...

Post by Beatsy »

A passing observation.

Up until a year or so ago, I'd have opined, "there's no such thing as too much diffusion". Obviously it can block too much light, but assuming the light is of sufficient power, I thought softer and more even are *always* better (as a starting point at least). Then I got more adept at upping diffusion and evening out the light without absorbing so much. In this stack, I didn't pay any attention to putting "direction" on the light after diffusion adjustment - just went for a quick stack with the initial diffuse-and-even look.

Oh! It seems there can be such a thing as too much diffusion (and evenness) after all. Always learnin'... :D

The lack of light direction is probably the worst aspect of this pic (so all my bad) but the flat 'n' near-matt look certainly ain't right for this subjects hide either IMO. Makes it harder to see the stereo effect too. Thankfully, all I need to do is allow one of the lights to create a small hot-spot on the inner shader (ping-pong ball). This will raise highlights and catch-lights, add direction and mild shadows, and bring back some of the natural "gloss". But that will be the next one as this one is already busy being bird-food.

Edit: stereo corrected. Thanks Rik
too diffuse.jpg
really stereo.jpg
Last edited by Beatsy on Thu May 27, 2021 6:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

rjlittlefield
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Re: Too much diffusion...

Post by rjlittlefield »

Yes, this is very flat lighting for sure. That makes it very difficult to tell anything about the shape, without the stereo.

With the stereo, everything is fine for me except that as currently posted you have the left and right sides swapped. To see it correctly, I have to either use a viewer or run the image through StereoPhoto Maker to swap sides.

I suspect that most of your "harder to see the stereo effect" is because you're struggling to find other cues to override the depth inversion from the swap.

--Rik

Beatsy
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Location: Malvern, UK

Re: Too much diffusion...

Post by Beatsy »

Thanks Rik. I've been reversing my stereos a lot lately and just investigated why. It's because I've got so habituated to "000" and "001" appended to left and right stereos, I only look at the last digit in the title bar when putting the frames into a stereo composite. My latest install of Capture One, and a slightly modified editing approach (to use copies, not originals) means C1 appends "_1" to both filenames before they are loaded into Affinity. I've been using that as my "cue" by mistake. That's why I used two left frames not long ago, and got the "1" on the wrong side this time.

Fixed now - and hopefully won't happen again now I'm aware of the potential (eye)muscle-memory trip-up.

Cheers

MarkSturtevant
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Re: Too much diffusion...

Post by MarkSturtevant »

It is still a lovely picture. But also a good lesson about lighting.
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

Deanimator
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Location: North Olmsted, Ohio, U.S.A.

Re: Too much diffusion...

Post by Deanimator »

I'd be thrilled to get the flat image, or even have something as interesting to photograph.

seta666
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Location: Castellon, Spain

Re: Too much diffusion...

Post by seta666 »

More than light diffusion it could also be using to many light sources with same intensity. If you use only on light source you will not have this problem.
I normally use two lights ( sometimes three)and use different output settings

Dalantech
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Re: Too much diffusion...

Post by Dalantech »

At the risk of necro-ing this thread...

IMHO the problem is not that the light is too diffused, it is too even. We use shadows and out of focus areas to determine depth, so if everything is in focus and evenly lit a scene can look "flat".

Also with a lot of critters there are two basic compositions. Either get the whole critter in the shot or fill the frame with its face. Kinda like when you are photographing a person. If this Stink Bug had been a little more cooperative I could have gotten a little more of the head in focus, but I liked the composition so I kept it:

ImageGreen Stink Bug by John Kimbler, on Flickr

One flash head was at 11 O'clock and the other at about 2 O'clock (relative to me) in a key and fill configuration, and both attached directly to the Canon flash mount that comes with the MT26EX RT. Using a twin flash that way works well for single frames, but in my experience trying to take focus stacks results in too many artifacts because the light is not even and the light source is moving through the frame. Would probably work if the flash heads were not camera mounted, but no way for me to test that in the field and I am too use to shooting single frames at this point (most of the critters I shoot are too active for stacking anyway).

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