When you think of V-Flats, you think of all the different ways to craft the light around your subjects—how to add warm glows to their stunning features or use natural light in magnificent ways. In short, you think of the many ways you can add light using V-Flats. But you might not have heard about the different useful ways you can subtract light with these amazing tools in your photography arsenal.
As it’s important to know when to add light to a photo, it’s equally important to know when to take it away. Luckily, Tuvy Lemberg from V-Flat World is here to show us the way.
Subtracting Light with V-Flats
Tuvy is actually the owner of V-Flat World. And what many people don’t know is that before Tuvy started making V-Flats, he was actually a fashion photographer for six years.
In the most recent video from V-Flat World, Tuvy takes it upon himself to give us three different lighting setups using only the black side of V-Flats.
Setup 1: Loop Lighting
The first lighting setup Tuvy goes over is called Loop Lighting. Loop Lighting is where you take a beauty dish set it up on the right or left side of the model your working with and point it towards them at a 45-degree angle.
What is does is create a small shadow loop on the side of the model’s nose—hence the term “Loop Lighting”.
The aim is to use the black side of the V-Flat on the other side of the model to bring in more shadows on the side of the model’s face not being affected by the beauty dish. The shadows become a lot darker, creating a more dramatic effect.
Setup 2: Butterfly Lighting
With Butterfly Lighting, you use the same beauty dish as before, but this time you put it right in front of the model at a 45-degree angle. What this does is creates a small butterfly shape from the shadows of her nose.
Then place two V-Flats on both sides of the model. This will create drama and shadows on both cheeks of the model while the butterfly lighting spreads across the front of their face.
[Related Reading: 3 Dramatic Lighting Setups Using the MagBox (Lighting 3 Sneak Peek!)]
Setup 3: Diffused Umbrella Lighting
For this lighting setup, you use a large, diffused umbrella light directly in front of the model. Then you take two V-Flats and place them on either side of the model like the previous technique.
After, you’ll take two strobe lights and place them directly behind the V-Flats, pointing them onto the backdrop of your image. This keeps the light from the strobe from going directly into the camera lens while illuminating the area behind the model.
The effect is very subtle, but it does a great job of creating depth in your photos.
And it’s that simple. Three amazing lighting techniques to experiment with on your images. Make sure to check out the incredible selection of V-Flats on their website and Subscribe to V-Flat World’s YouTube channel for more great content on how to use these wonderful tools. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
