What is Colour Contamination and Radiosity?

Technique Tuesday colour contamination radiosity.jpg

Whether you're aware of the correct terminology or not, you have likely experienced this colour contamination happening in your photographs already.

Put simply, colour contamination is when one colour is affected by the presence of another colour in close proximity. So for example if you're photographing two friends side by side, one of them is wearing a white t-shirt and the other one is wearing a red t-shirt, the white t-shirt will likely take on a pinkish tone due to the fact that it's receiving bounced light from the red t-shirt close by.

Take a look at how the white table tennis ball has been coloured pink due it's proximity to the red surface.

This colour contamination effect has nothing specific whatsoever to do with photography as it happens around us all day everyday and we are so accustomed to it that most of us never even notice it. So why bring it up? I bring it up here as it's a frustrating effect when it happens in our shots especially if we aren't aware of what's causing it. We may even just write it off as a white balance issue or other colour balance problem as it's usually so subtle we might not even try to correct it. But when colour contamination is at it's most intense, we have to take note and address it.

Think about doing a portrait shoot in the woods, you're surrounded by green, the leaves in the trees, some bushes and maybe there's even green grass on the floor around you. The daylight comes through the trees and bounces around on all the foliage before it hits your subject resulting in some very sick looking green subjects. Not a great look. Think about how many woodland portraits you've seen that have been converted to black and white?! Starts to make more sense now right?

Can't I just white balance my shots?

White balance exists on the Kelvin scale that specifically deals with balancing a certain range of colours, so no matter how hard you try, a lot of these colour contamination shots simply cant be fixed with white balance alone, hence the black and white solution. But more than that, colour contamination is often a localised effect. Let's go back to that white t-shirt that looks a little pink now because it was next to a red one. We can't colour balance the scene to correct the shirt without affecting the whole image. It's these factors that makes colour contamination such a troublesome problem and one that is incredibly overlooked.

What is this 'Radiosity' thing?

You can see on the left how 'fake' this computer generated room looks without radiosity compared to when it has it. On the right you can see the red floor is reacting with the with walls around it and the room feels a lot more real because of it. Im… — You can see on the left how 'fake' this computer generated room looks without radiosity compared to when it has it. On the right you can see the red floor is reacting with the with walls around it and the room feels a lot more real because of it. Image by Hugo Elias

Strangely radiosity is what I was taught 20 years ago in the film days but you hardly hear the word used in association with photography anymore. Now the word is more related to how light and colour act upon one another in computer generated worlds, in fact one of the greatest leaps forward 3D modelling has made was to accurately model how light affected one surface when in proximity to another. Without getting too nerdy, 3D modellers ironically love radiosity as it gives their worlds and textures an added depth and realism. We as photographers, specifically portrait photographers hate it and we try and colour balance it away where we can. If you're interested then you can take a look at radiosity in virtual worlds via this link but be warned, there's a whole lot of maths involved. Radiosity in Computer Graphics

Regardless of what you want to call it, this colour contamination effect is a very real problem for us photographers if we want to depict objects like people, cars, clothing and so on in the best possible way.

No company wants you to photograph their white car only for it to look a 'little pink' on one side and the same goes for fashion as well. We need to be aware of what colours we're putting next to one another.

Colour Contamination in Action

In the images below I set up a mini set to illustrate the colour contamination effect in action. I purchased three spheres, the cue ball with its very shiny surface, the table tennis ball with it's very matte surface and the golf ball for its very textured surface. I placed them all on a white surface and shone a single light at them with a variety of coloured papers next to them and took shots to document the whole thing.

Look closely at the shots below to see just how the different surfaces and textures are affected by the close proximity of colour.

Taking a Closer Look

Upon first impressions you may not think it's a big deal because our eyes are so accustomed to normalising colour variance when it's in proximity to similar tones, but as the images change you should be able to see just how dramatic the effect is. To further cement my point, I've isolated the separate spheres in the images below and placed them next to the image of the spheres shot against the white. In isolation like this the effect is a lot more visible and significant to say the least.

Scroll through the shots below to see my point.

How can I use this knowledge?

You may look at the images above and think that it's just a byproduct of taking photos, there's no use worrying about something that can't be helped. Although there are times when this can't be avoided, colour contamination is very real and it is something we can limit a lot if we're careful. For example; think twice about photographing the bride right next to huge bunch of flowers, that green will bounce back onto the face. Consider bringing her slightly forward to avoid that or look at alternatives. Think about the effect of photographing a model next to a brightly coloured car or building. You don't need to avoid the shot but there are things you can do to limit the effect like always having the face pointed away from the brightly coloured object. As I documented in the images above, if you can't avoid the colour contamination, always try to have the offending colour in the actual shot. The effect is dramatically reduced visually if the eye can see where that colour is coming from compared to if you crop it out.

Can I use this knowledge to my advantage somehow?

I use black sheets and polyboards all the time in my shoots to not only control the light but add depth and shadow to subject. Although these aren't  coloured the colour contamination principle is still at work. — I use black sheets and polyboards all the time in my shoots to not only control the light but add depth and shadow to subject. Although these aren't coloured the colour contamination principle is still at work.

The good news is that you can use this colour contamination effect to your advantage if you're clever. Remember that this radiosity isn't exclusive to colour, you can use blacks and greys to add dimension to your subjects and objects. You'll often see studio photographers using black polyboards (large polystyrene boards) either side of the model to control the light, this not only controls the light but also adds a lot of shape through shadow in the process. I will always carry black velvet sheets with me on location to limit the bounce of light around a subject but I also have sheets of grey card in the studio that are less severe than black to add a little definition to the features where necessary. In the sphere comparison photos above, look at the light grey and dark grey images compared to the black and white images. See how they shape the spheres differently though shadow? Use this to your advantage either in the studio or on location. Also consider taking a white sheet with you on location too. Along with my black velvet I always have a white sheet with me that I can throw up to either bounce in some light or limit the colour contamination of a nearby coloured surfaces.

Fire your assistant if they look trendy!

Many years ago I was photographing fashion in natural light at the beach. A pretty easy job but the issue was that when I got the images back and started working on them I saw a very ugly and insipid looking greenish tinge to some of the clothing and skin. It was only apparent in some of the shots and it was always localised to certain areas. It took me a very long time to work out what this was until I remembered that my assistant on the day had a bright yellow/green t-shirt on. In some of the shots he was in very close to the model holding a reflector just out of shot but not only was he bouncing in light from the reflector he was also bouncing in light from his hideously ugly t-shirt.

People joke about my grey sweatshirt but trust me, if you've every tried to colour balance out greenish tinges to skin you'll switch to looking boring as hell like me in a heartbeat. When I was assisting all those years ago back in London in the film days, black shirts were mandatory on set, no ifs or buts. Now the sets are a kaleidoscope of colour balancing nightmares. Take a look at the BTS of the film industry, how many lighting technicians are you seeing wearing day-glo?! Not many.

Of course I know I sound like a grumpy old man hahah ;) and although it's a very real problem it actually only affects certain situations like still life shooters with shiny surfaces or macro beauty work etc. Still life shooters who photograph metal or other shiny surfaces nearly always wear all black to avoid this. Either way, it's very wise to be aware of it and advise assistants on set to dress appropriately where necessary.

Closing Comments

I appreciate this weeks blog wasn't very salacious or exciting but I think this colour contamination effect is an incredibly overlooked aspect of modern photography due to the 'I'll fix it later in post' mindset. Not only is it very time consuming to fix it in post but it's also practically impossible in certain situations due to the colours being outside of the white balance spectrum. If you're aware of the colours around you when you're shooting then you can limit the effect or use it to your advantage where necessary.

Points to remember

Think about the colour of surfaces around your subject.
Should I use another area like a white wall nearby instead.
Look at how multiple subject colours interact with one another when in close proximity.
Bring a black and white sheet of fabric with you on location to throw over brightly coloured objects if you need to.
Consider getting some dark and light grey card for the studio and use it as a bounce board instead of white. This will give more shape to you subject than just a white bounce board.
Think about what the people on set are wearing. If assistants are going to be close to the final shot, get them to change any brightly coloured outfits.
Think about what YOU are wearing. If you're a macro beauty shooter who will be inches away from your subject, you definitely don't want to be wearing bright colours as it will most certainly have an effect on the shot.

Thanks as always for reading, I know we live in a time of soundbites and Instagram so all the more respect to yourself for engaging for this long :) I hope this little bit of knowledge will help you at some point. If you have any questions then let me know and I'll do my best to answer them as quickly as I can.

Also, If you're new here then feel free to join our very active community of like minded lighting-nerds on my Facebook page, I'm always discussing lighting ideas and offering feedback on community images. If you'd like to stay up to date on more photography related tips and techniques then sign up to my mailing list where I'll send you a monthly roundup of all my articles (plus signing up gets you a free 10 page studio lighting pdf too :) ). Thanks again and I'll see you all in the next one.

P.S. I apologie for more than likely misusing 'affect' and 'effect' in multiple places. I tried to mix them up to give myself the best chance of getting some of them right ;) But I do apologise if this triggered you and let me know where I messed up and I'll make the changes :) Thank you in advance.

:WARNING: Sales Pitch Ahead :D

If you're interested in any of my work and would like to know more about how I created some of my shots then why not check out my workshops. Here you can find out everything there is to know about Gelled Lighting, Long Exposure Flash Photography and my entire Post-Pro Workflow. Jake Hicks Photography - Workshops

I've also just released a brand new 22 hour complete Gelled Lighting Tutorial video. I go over everything from studio lighting setups with gels to being on location with gels plus I also go through my complete retouching and post pro workflow. For more details and complete breakdown of everything that's include check out my Coloured Gel Portraits Tutorial

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How to Unlock Your Personal Photographic Style

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"How did you develop your photographic style?"

It's probably the question I get asked the most, but I rarely give the answer that people want to hear. The fact is a photographic style takes years and years to develop with hundreds if not thousands of hours behind the lens.

To further cement that fact, consider that every image of mine currently out there on the web was taken after I'd already put in those thousands of hours. I simply don't have any images out there that I took whilst I was finding my way, and even if you did see the old shots, you wouldn't recognise them as mine because after all, they aren't taken in my style.

Is a photographic style important?

So how important is a photographic style? Do we need one? Why do I need one? To explain why I believe a photographic style is important I'm going to first discuss what I perceive to be the route to being a successful professional photographer and what importance a photographic style plays in that.

The Three Keys to a Successful Business

I'm often heard preaching at the start of my workshops that to be a successful at anything, you need to be able to do one of these three things. And by 'successful' I mean make money - I fully appreciate that this is not the definition of success so I'm referring to becoming a professional photographer in this instance.

1. Be cheaper than your competitor. It's just a basic rule of economics that you'll always find clients who will always be happy to pay the least amount for a deliverable.

2. Be the best at what you do. This is fairly obvious; the fastest person around the track will always be able to make a successful living, after all you're the best at it.

3. Offer something unique. This is simple supply and demand; if you are the only person selling something, people have to buy it from you. You've cornered the market.

Any photographic style can evolve over time but the premise of what you love about images stays the same. Over the years I've always fundamentally been drawn to the creatively that studio lighting can provide. It wasn't until 2013 that I actually be… — Any photographic style can evolve over time but the premise of what you love about images stays the same. Over the years I've always fundamentally been drawn to the creatively that studio lighting can provide. It wasn't until 2013 that I actually began to use coloured gels on the models rather than simply on the backgrounds behind them. It took a long time to adapt the technique to skin but it's now the look that is synonymous with my work today.

Why Those Three Keys to Success Don't Apply to a Successful Photographic Business

Here's where that roadmap to success gets tricky for us photographers in the current market.

Number 1 - Be Cheaper

With the digital age of photography being here to stay it's fairly easy to see just how many of us have access to powerful cameras. With this global love of photography and it's incredibly low barrier to entry has come the proliferation of photographers (camera owners) willing to work for free. I'm not here to argue whether it's right to wrong as that's about as futile as arguing with the sun for coming up each morning. The fact is, it happens and it happens a lot, we've all done it and it's simply unlikely to ever change.

So to be the cheapest photographer is actually an impossibility, in fact photographers are now paying magazines to be featured in them where as only a few years ago, the magazines were paying us. It's due to this incredibly odd phenomenon of people being happy to work for free that makes the first rule to success of 'be cheaper' redundant.

A shot from one of my very early attempts at using gels. Even as I was taking these shots I knew I had found something I was excited about again, something that reignited my love for photography.

Number 2 - Be Better

This one seems pretty straight forward. All you have to do is be better than your competition and you'll be successful. Put the work in and you'll be rewarded. This is indeed true for formula 1 drivers, or runners and in fact any business where you can somehow prove that you're the best. For us creatives that's a little harder. I can't prove I'm better than you at photography because all art is subjective.

Just like you can't prove to me that your favourite music is better than my favourite music, it's subjective based on the tastes of the customer. Don't get wrong, of course we like to tell ourselves that if I do this for 10 years I'll be better than somebody who has been doing it for 10 months but it simply isn't true as that person who's only been shooting for a heartbeat may well be far more successful *cough*brooklyn*beckham*cough*

Number 3 - Be Different

By now there should be a lightbulb going off in your mind with this last one because being different is where we as creatives can really excel. If you as a business offer something that nobody else can offer, you will be successful. This is hard to do in certain businesses like accounting, window cleaning or plumbing as they provide a service that revolves around a complete or incomplete status. I have a leaky pipe, I call a plumber and he fixes it. He gets paid when the job is very clearly and definably complete and the pipe isn't leaking any more. You don't shop around for the plumber that is offering you something different. So if we as photographers can offer something to a client that they love but they can't get anywhere else, they have to pay what we ask.

Welcome to the importance of a photographic style.

You Already Have a Photographic Style

Just like a musician or a painter or a chef, the success of a photographer is built on their ability to offer something different and unique and we refer to this a photographic style. You'll be pleased to know that there is actually no way to avoid this if you're human. Do anything long enough and you'll eventually have a style or personalised way of doing it. It's not right or wrong nor is it better or worse than anybody else's, it's simply your interpretation of that task.

The reason I say we all have a photographic style is because we all have preferences as individual people and our preferences are different for each of us. For example we all like different foods, different colours, different music and different photos. These preferences are already built into you right now.

Take a look at the three images below and pick your favourite.

Click to enlarge: Choose your favourite shot — *Click to enlarge:* Choose your favourite shot

The image you choose is irrelevant but just be aware that other people will have chosen a different favourite image to you and that is what makes you different. Of course I only gave you a very small sample to choose from so there's going to be a lot of people that chose the same image as you, but now take that same principle and apply it to all images everywhere. The chances of two people choosing all the same favourite images is very unlikely.

The point I'm making here is that you already know what you like, that's the really important thing I want you to take away here as I want you to trust in that and follow it.

Don't you ever get bored of shooting gel shots?

This is another question that I've received a few times in the past and the answer is 'no, of course not'. I wasn't visited one night by the photo gods and assigned as 'the gel guy' forever, never allowed to shoot another black and white landscape for as long as I lived. I don't get up and think:

'Ughhhh, not another gel shoot! I wish I could just shoot some f1.2 natural light shots today. Please photo-gods, be merciful!'

I don't think that because firstly I have zero interest in even recognising that as a photograph, even on my laziest and hungover art college days I never considered that to be acceptable and secondly I LOVE shooting with loads of crazy coloured lights and all of the challenges and unique possibilities that holds. I didn't choose this style to one day become bored of it, sure it will evolve and adapt but this style was in me long before I realised it and I can no more change my photographic style than I can change the fact that I detest avocados.

How to Develop your own Personal Style

Okay so finally we've made it to the part that involves actions. We've established that a photographic style is important to our success and we've established that our photographic is already inside us, now all we need to do is unlock it.

This should be simple right? After all our photographic style is already inside us as a collection of our likes and dislikes just waiting to be unleashed in the form of our next photograph. Yes, it is that simple, keep taking more and more pictures and over time you'll take pictures that you like and ones that you don't like. Take some more pictures and you'll find that you're taking less and less pictures that you don't like, and more pictures that you love, this is your photographic style emerging.

JHP before gels. Back in 2009 I did indeed used to shoot fashion with natural light!...I don't want to talk about it. Individual style takes time to find but along the way you can see elements of your work that you love. The colour palettes and stro… — **JHP before gels.** Back in 2009 I did indeed used to shoot fashion with natural light!...I don't want to talk about it. Individual style takes time to find but along the way you can see elements of your work that you love. The colour palettes and strong posing was part of my work even back then, I just hadn't found gels just yet.

Doing this is just like any other creative endeavour though, it takes time. Nobody picks up the cello and expects to be writing Mozart level symphonies within 6 months but photographers seem to think their art form shouldn't abide by those rules, they want awesomeness now.

I can respect this insatiable desire to improve but remember that you haven't seen a single image from the first ten years of my career and I'd wager the same is true of a lot of other professional photographers you follow. So although a photographic style can take time to refine and master you can certainly give yourself a head start by looking at what you love and build upon that.

Unlocking your Photographic Style

I've used this technique with some of the photographers I've mentored in the past and it's proven to be useful and effective with them so I'll share with you what I shared with them and hopefully it will get you on the right path.

Step 1 - Choose 3 - 5 of your favourite photographers

This step involves you taking a little time to really think about 3 to 5 photographers whose work you really, really love. It can't really be just 1 photographer as we need a larger group of images to work from but 3 to 5 is a good place to start.

I never did this when I was starting out so I'm going to retrospectively do it with you here as if I was doing when I was starting out about 20 years ago at art college. Back then the photographic world was a very different place and in some respects, it was easier to be inspired by greatness as you only got to see the work of true masters in our field. Now, we're bombarded by millions of shots taken from all walks of life and all viable in their own right but ultimately this can be an information overload.

20 years ago I was heavily influenced by the work of Nick Knight, Nadav Kander and a little later Bruno Dayan. Before writing this article I actually hadn't looked at their work in years but going back and researching it for this article simply reinforces all of the points I've made up until now. If you're not familiar with their work then check it out and you'll see the immediate and very real impact their styles have had on my work to this day.

Nick Knight

Nadav Kander

Bruno Dayan

Step 2 - Choose 3 or 4 of your favourite images from each of their portfolio

Next I want you to sit down and go through the portfolios of each of the photographers you really love and pick out the 3 or 4 shots from each of them that you love the most. Choosing your favourite photographers should have been the hard part and the part that might have required a bit of time, but now that we're in their portfolios, choosing your favourite shots should be a little more straight forward. Sometimes it can be easier to not overthink it. Remember, you instinctively know what you like, trust yourself and don't be tricked into choosing a popular image or an image that you think you should love, just go with your gut.

At this stage it's not necessary to separate all the shots into different categories, just put 3 or 4 images from each of the photographers into a single folder.

Just throw all your favourite shots into one folder as for now it's not important who shot what. I've tried to remember to the best of my ability some of the shots that I found inspirational all those years ago back when I was at art college.

Step 3 - Analyse each image to understand why you like it

Earlier in this article I asked you what your favourite image was out of the three that I showed you. It's very easy to ascertain what you prefer when choosing, but far harder to understand why you prefer it. Remember, even the most unartistic person in the world could have chosen which image they preferred, the skill comes in understanding why. This skill I'm referring to is probably one of the most overlooked skill in photography and ironically it's the one we use with every single image we take no matter what it is. We take a shot, look at it, and we know instantly whether we like it or not. Understanding this process is the key to getting better as it tells us what we've done wrong what we need to address to improve it.

Open up each of your chosen shots separately and list 5 or 6 things that stand out to you as the things that you love about them. At this stage remember that you could have been looking at any one of the trillions of other images out there right now at your fingertips but you've chosen this one, there must be a reason for it.

Here's some things to consider with any photograph but it may get you started. colour, composition, expression, model pose, tone, contrast, lens choice, photographer angle, scene, lighting, set design, clothing, makeup, brightness, mood, movement, backgrounds, palettes. themes, skin, texture.

Nadav Kander has photographed some of the most powerful and famous people in the world and even 20 years ago he was photographing famous actors, musicians and politicians like they've never been photographed before. He would regularly be more than a… — Nadav Kander has photographed some of the most powerful and famous people in the world and even 20 years ago he was photographing famous actors, musicians and politicians like they've never been photographed before. He would regularly be more than a happy to capture a blurry mess of a portrait because that sense of interest, energy and intrigue is what he was after, not simply recording what was in front him.

Bruno Dayan's became apparent to me after I'd starting shooting professionally but as soon as I saw it I was hooked. His colour palettes are nothing short of breathtaking and his earlier work also had a sense of interest and wonder due to a mix digi… — Bruno Dayan's became apparent to me after I'd starting shooting professionally but as soon as I saw it I was hooked. His colour palettes are nothing short of breathtaking and his earlier work also had a sense of interest and wonder due to a mix digital and in-camera effects that, as with Kander before him, kept the viewers attention.

Nick Knight's photographic stye has undergone many iterations over the years but the era that stood out to me the most was his early colour work, some of which was shot in the 1980's. It should be fairly easy to see, even from this small selection, … — Nick Knight's photographic stye has undergone many iterations over the years but the era that stood out to me the most was his early colour work, some of which was shot in the 1980's. It should be fairly easy to see, even from this small selection, a recurring theme of ideas that has clearly made him one of the best photographers of all time.

The things I've outlined above are very broad but they're a start. For example, if you love the lighting in your chosen image, try to describe what it is that you like about it. Do you like the fact that it sculpts the body, do you like the fact that it hides areas in shadow or do you like the fact that it shows off the hair and makeup perfectly. The deeper you can go into interpreting why you like the shot the more understanding you'll have into what you love as a photographer.

Step 4 - The Pattern

Once you've gone through each of the images and analysed to the best of your ability what you like about each of them, it's time to bring them all together. This is the easy part as all you have to do now is look at all of the different things you've written and look for similarities among them. For example maybe you've written vibrant colour next to most of them, maybe you've written ambiguous expression or maybe even close up lens length.

It's these commonalities amongst the images that are driving you as a photographer, and it's these core ideals that you should be focusing on in your next photoshoot.

After all if you can take a photo that includes all the things that you love about about other peoples photographs, you're going to like it and by shooting what you like you develop a photographic style.

Once you've listed a few things about each of the shots you like, it's now time to bring them all together and look for some patterns in the chaos you've created. Look for recurring themes and ideas in each of the shots and then list those out. This… — Once you've listed a few things about each of the shots you like, it's now time to bring them all together and look for some patterns in the chaos you've created. Look for recurring themes and ideas in each of the shots and then list those out. **This is foundation of your photographic style.**

Closing Comments

So all that sounds fairly simple right? Choose a few shots, write down what you like and then go away and take some shots that includes those things. In principle yes, it's that easy, after all a photographic style is our interpretation of what we love but as you'll find out, it's surprisingly hard to really truly understand and interpret what we love in our favourite images.

Firstly I think we find it hard to interpret images because we can often be too literal about it and our current photographic generation is convinced that the tools used to take the shot play a fundamental role in it's impression on us. Concepts like sharpness and detail are not what we actually love about a shot it is merely the delivery method of the things that actually matter such as the mood of a shot or the interest or the feeling we get from viewing it. Sharpness and detail are important but they are important like an artist choosing a squirrel haired brush over a hog or camel haired brush. They are valid choices with consequences but nobody cares what animal hair brush you used if the painting ultimately engages us and makes us feel something.

The point I'm making here is don't be afraid to analyse a shot like a viewer not a photographer.

Don't be afraid to think about how a shot makes you feel and once you've established that only then can you decode that feeling and break it down into our photographic language of composition, colour theory and so on.

As always I fully appreciate anybody who has read all the way down here, I know we live in a time of soundbites and Instagram so all the more respect to yourself for engaging for this long :) I hope this technique helps some of you to better understand one of the more mystifying topics of our photographic industry. Like I said right from the start, a photographic style takes time to develop but by doing this little exercise and understanding what you like and don't like in photos will certainly help you fast track the process.

If you have any questions then let me know and I'll do my best to answer them as quickly as I can but if you go through this exercise and want to share your results then I'd love to hear some of the repeating patterns that came out of your collection of images :)

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5 Ways to Avoid Lens Flare with Studio Lighting

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If you're unfamiliar with what lens flare is then it's the hazy washed out areas in an image that appear far brighter than they should do. You usually can't see flare with your own eyes but when you take a shot, there it is and often it's an undesired effect that can ruin several aspects of your photo including contrast.

Not all flare is bad. There are plenty of times where flare in portraits with the light behind the subject can create this misty dreamlike effect. But what about those times when don't want it, what can we do to avoid it?

Sometimes we want to use flare to add interest or drama to a shot but a lot of the times in the studio it is one thing we want to avoid as much as possible. Some backlit portraits can benefit from the dreamy effect that flare offers but still life and beauty shooters will go weak at the knees at the mere mention of flare. They spend all day crafting pin sharp focus along with crisp highlights and shadows so any flare present in a shot would ruin all of that hard work due to flares inherent ability to reduce overall contrast.

So whether you want to add flare or not, it's a really good idea to know what can cause flare in a studio environment. From a technical standpoint, flare is light that has bounced around inside your lens and camera in an undesired and unexpected way. This results in this scattered mist-like light effect we call flare. For this to happen light usually has to be pointed directly into the lens, that being said, there are times where the curvature of the front element of the lens can catch the light in such a way from the side that it will also cause flare. This is rare though as most lenses now have a slightly recessed front end that keeps the lens curve hidden and the addition of a lens hood will hide it even further.

In the studio we have control to move our lights so we can avoid pointing them into the lens as much as possible but there are still occasions where this is hard to avoid, like when using hair lights or even side lights. These lights are ordinarily pointed back towards the camera and so run the risk of creating flare unless we take alternative action to minimise the effect.

Below are five things you can do to limit the amount of flare into your lens.

Prime Lens Vs. Zoom Lens

A prime lens is any lens that has one single focal length, a 50mm lens for example. A zoom lens is any lens that allows you to adjust the focal length, for example a 24-70mm.

Most of the time a prime lens will have far fewer moving parts and a lot less glass housed within the lens itself. This results in a lot less glass for the light to be bounced around on and through so ultimately it results in a far crisper image. Conversely zoom lenses have a lot of extra optics inside them so the chance of flare being created is far higher.

What you're looking for is areas that should really be in shadow but are a milky grey colour instead, that is the result of flare. In the above shots you should see that the prime lens simply has more overall image contrast.

Again with this single hard light pointed straight into camera we see that although we're still getting flare on the prime, it's far less apparent than what we have with the zoom.

Long Lenses Vs. Wide Lenses

A lot of the time a longer lens will not only place you further away from the subject, thereby reducing the chance of the light entering the lens, but wider angle lenses by design will have to have a more curved front element. It's this curved front glass element that is far more likely to catch the light. As a general guide anything that is wider than 50mm is classed as a wide angle lens so for the best chance of avoiding flare with lights pointed towards camera, try to use a focal length of at least 85mm.

I have clearly used two extreme focal lengths here to illustrate my point but it should be clear to see just how much flare is present in the wider 38mm shot compared to the 105mm.

The very wide angle 38mm lens here is a great example of what happens when a wide angle lens has its curved front element exposed. That exposed front element catches the light at every available opportunity and it results in this extreme multi facet… — The very wide angle 38mm lens here is a great example of what happens when a wide angle lens has its curved front element exposed. That exposed front element catches the light at every available opportunity and it results in this extreme multi faceted flare effect. Great if you're JJ Abrams, but not so much for regular portraits.

Good Glass Vs. Bad Glass

Contrary to popular belief this is actually less of a problem than you might think. For those who aren't sure what I'm referring to, I'm essentially talking about cheap lenses Vs. expensive lenses. Glass quality has been exceptional for many, many years so the cheaper lenses aren't always as bad as the press and the marketing might have led you to believe. Don't get me wrong, there are of course other benefits that come with better quality lenses but I struggled to find a lens to prove this point. I ended up using a lens from the 1960's here to actually show two images with any real visual difference in them when it comes to flare. Bottom line; if you're buying a modern lens and you're not too bothered about very small amounts of practically indiscernible flare, you should be fine.

Although poor lens quality is often blamed for flare in lenses, you'll be pleased to know that this is actually the least of your worries. The image on the right above was taken with an old manual focus lens from the 1960's and it's still only displ… — Although poor lens quality is often blamed for flare in lenses, you'll be pleased to know that this is actually the least of your worries. The image on the right above was taken with an old manual focus lens from the 1960's and it's still only displaying minor amounts of flare compared to the modern prime lens on the left.

Again, only a small amount of flare is present in the 'vintage' lens compared to the modern day equivalent. Plus the vintage lens is a zoom compared to a modern day prime on the left.

Narrow Vs. Wide Aperture

Just to clarify from the start; narrow apertures are the f11s and f16s and wide apertures are the f2.8s and f1.8s. They are referred to as narrow and wide because in the lens itself, the aperture opening is a large hole letting in a lot of light and the narrow aperture is a tiny hole only letting in a small amount of light. It obviously stands to reason then that the aperture that allows light to pass through a bigger hole will bounce around far more and ultimately produce more flare. If you're really struggling with flare closing your aperture down to something like f11 will likely eliminate a lot of it.

You should be able to see that the f1.4 shot on the right has more detail in the shadow areas due to haze-like flare. Some may argue this is a good thing but unfortunately it isn't because that detail is lacking in any contrast due to the haze. Look… — You should be able to see that the f1.4 shot on the right has more detail in the shadow areas due to haze-like flare. Some may argue this is a good thing but unfortunately it isn't because that detail is lacking in any contrast due to the haze. Look at the light creeping around the models right arm in both shots to see how that lack of contrast is undesirable. *Side Note: I have no idea why even after double checking the Kelvin values, the image on the right is considerably warmer than the image on the left.

The f11 shot here is very crisp and with a lot of contrast, conversely the f1.4 shot has that extreme flare entering the image. The only difference between those two images is the f number illustrating just how much of an effect it can have.

Lens Filter Vs. No Lens Filter

I wont lie, I was looking forward to actually testing this theory but I was not prepared for the results. I am renowned for always preaching to people about removing their U.V. or Skylight filters from their lenses on my workshops. Yes I know they are there to 'protect' your lens but in reality they aren't going to protect your lens if you drop it. The 'up-sell' add-on of selling a lens filter to you at the time of you buying a lens was created by camera salesmen years ago and the myth has perpetuated (yes I was sold one by Jessops staff many years ago too ;) ). To this day there is a very small margin to be made on selling hardware like cameras and lenses so camera stores understandably do everything in their power to sell you add-ons like the lens filters and camera bags etc. It simply seems madness to put a £20 filter on a £2000 lens and if I still haven't convinced you then the images below surely will.

All lenses are made up of optics and those optics are there to focus and align the image correctly onto your camera chip. Optics are made of glass and for glass to do anything to light it has to be curved in some way as flat glass does absolutely nothing. Basically speaking there are zero flat pieces of glass in your lens....apart from the lens filter you slap on the front. It's this single piece of flat glass in the system that creates the problems especially when we are talking about flare.

Please take a good hard look at the images below and REMOVE your U.V. Skylight filter immediately.

I was looking forward to testing my flare theory with and without lens filters attached but I simply wasn't prepared for the results. I swear to you that both of these images are raw and that I am only using a single U.V. filter on that lens. The di… — I was looking forward to testing my flare theory with and without lens filters attached but I simply wasn't prepared for the results. I swear to you that both of these images are raw and that I am only using a single U.V. filter on that lens. The difference in my mind is incredible and if you're somebody who still has a lens filter attached, please consider removing it or at the very least doing a similar test yourself to see what I mean.

These shots need little explanation but I think it's a really good example of a mistake we've all made and gotten frustrated with when it simply wasn't our fault to begin with. I think it's incredible that camera salesmen sell us a £2000 lens, then … — These shots need little explanation but I think it's a really good example of a mistake we've all made and gotten frustrated with when it simply wasn't our fault to begin with. I think it's incredible that camera salesmen sell us a £2000 lens, then told us to put this crappy £20 filter on the front to 'protect' it. I would not have been impressed with my lens purchase if this was the result I was shown.

So all I need is a really expensive 300mm prime lens and shoot at f64 with no lens filter and I'm all set?

So there you have it, the 5 things you need to be mindful of if you're looking to reducing flare in your studio lighting shots. Pretty simple right? All you have to do is shoot on a really expensive, 300mm prime lens at f64 with no lens filter right? Well sure you could do all that but no that's not necessary. Most of the times there will be things that you don't want to change about your shot, like if you want to shoot at f2.8 but your shot has flare in it. Rather than changing the aperture you could simply step back and zoom in a little and that would likely solve the problem. Although all of these 5 things play a part in creating flare, more often than not it's only one of them that's causing it so being aware of them all allows you to compensate accordingly.

So if I do all of these 5 things I'll never see lens flare ever again right?

Unfortunately, although I've outlined the 5 core reasons you might be getting lens flare and how to avoid them, there is one more fundamental reason that is by far and away the biggest contributor to flare in the lens, and that's exposure.

Poor exposure is by far and away the easiest way to get flare to appear in your shot. Most of the images I've seen with flare have had a light pointed back towards the camera that is too powerful. This overpowered back-light simply isn't needed in most cases and if you have a correctly exposed back light you can shoot into that light all day with whatever modern lens you want and you'll likely be fine. Experiment with what you think looks best but always turn that back light down lower than you think and turn it up if needed. It's always far easier to deal with slightly underexposed highlights than overexposed highlights.

Even an overexposed back light with as little as 1/2 stop of too much light can start to create flare. See how there is a milky haze in the shadow areas here? That is unwanted flare.

Regardless of what lens, focal length or aperture you use, if your backlight is overexposed it's going to create flare. Never be afraid to turn that backlight lower than you might think.

Closing Thoughts

So those are the five core reasons for flare appearing in the lens when shooting in the studio. But like I pointed out at the end, all of it is completely pointless unless you are correctly exposing that back light.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope you've found it in some way useful :) If you have any questions then don't hesitate to ask away in the comments down below. If you're new here then feel free join our very active community of like minded lighting-nerds on my Facebook page, I'm always discussing lighting ideas and offering feedback on community images. If you'd like to stay up to date on more photography related tips and techniques then sign up to my mailing list where I'll send you a monthly roundup of all my articles (plus signing up gets you a free 10 page studio lighting pdf too :) ). Thanks again and I'll see you all in the next one.

:WARNING: EXTREMELY Tempting Adverts Await Below ;)

Lighting Setup - Pastel Wrap

Good news! This is actually a relatively easy JHP lighting setup to play with and it produces some pretty great looking results too. It's easy to set up as you only need a couple of softboxes and this can be put together and shot in a very small space indeed; no studio required. Plus it produces some great looking results because it uses coloured light. Now I know I may sound biased on that but hear me out as we go through the setup and it should start to make more sense as to why this looks extra cool with coloured gels compared to without.

Click to enlarge the images above

What you will need

Like I said this is super simple so the list is very short:

2 Strobes or Speedlights
2 large softboxes - By large I mean larger than shoulder width of your subject so 60cmx90cm should be fine. I don't have two softboxes the exact same size but a similarly sized second one would be ideal.
Coloured Gels - If you don't have any then I've been told these ones are pretty good ;) Amazing Coloured Gels

The Setup

This look can be achieved in virtually any space so there's no need to worry about background or anything like that as we'll be using our softbox as a background.

The Backlight Softbox

Firstly setup one large softbox so that the centre of it is at shoulder blade height to your subject. This should leave a decent gap of light above the subjects head.

The Front Light Softbox

Secondly we need to setup our other softbox and that should be placed about 2-3 metres/5-10 feet away facing towards the other softbox. This will create a sandwich of light with the model between them.

Choosing the Colours

Next we need to choose the colour to add to our lights. We'll do this via coloured gels and although you can choose whichever colours you like, I'd recommend starting with something simple like orange or pink behind the subject and something cool in colour like blue in front of the subject. For my setup I used the 'Teal' and 'Pink' from my Definitive Coloured Gel Pack. If you're after an even softer look, try the Mint and Rose Pink from my Pastels Colour pack as that will create more of a subtle look. Gel Packs

You can use any coloured gel you want but stick to easy colour combos to begin with like blue and pink for example.

Attaching the Gels

Once you've chosen your colours it's time to get our softboxes gelled. Thankfully we dont need humungous sheets of gels to do this. Simply open the back (or front) of your softbox and tape the gel sheet you have over the flash tube. If you have a tungsten modelling bulb, either turn it off or better still remove it. Failure to do so will result in melted gels for sure. If your lights have LED modelling bulbs you don't need to worry about the gel melting on those. Do this to both softboxes and you're done.

Attaching the gel to the inside of a softbox is fairly easy. If your flash has tungsten modelling bulbs, be sure to remove them to avoid melting the gel.

Don't Block the Light

Lastly we need to get in a position ourselves whilst being mindful to not block the light that is directly behind us. I'm a relatively small guy so it's not too much of a worry for me but if you feel you're blocking too much light, it's fine to bring the softbox out to one side a little whilst being sure to always keep it angled towards the subject.

If you find yourself covering too much of the light then don't be afraid to move it a little to one side, just be sure to always keep it pointed at the model.

Ready to Shoot

Once everything is finally in place it's time to start shooting.

Shooting

There are a few considerations to look out for when adjusting this setup and shooting with it:

1. Camera set up

Choose your aperture, ISO and shutter speed as you would do normally for a studio shot. It'll likely be 1/125th second at ISO 100 and if you're after a nice drop off in focus choose an aperture like f2.8. Once we've done that we can now adjust the lighting around our camera, not the camera around the lighting.

2. Light power behind the model

With only the light behind the model turned on, take a shot. We're looking for just enough power in the light so that the background behind the model goes white. Keep raising the power of that light bit by bit until it goes to white with no softbox detail present in the shot.

The perfect power for the black light is to increase it right up to the point where it goes to pure white and no more.

3. Light Power in front of the model

Once we're happy with that background light, do not touch it again. Now we can adjust the other light safe in the knowledge that whatever happens now it's because of the front light not the background light. Again start off at a low power and keep taking images whilst increasing the power incrementally of that light behind you. What we're looking for is the highlight on the front of the face but also the drop off to shadow towards the back of the face. Too much power and the shot will just look completely flat and boring so experiment with different amounts of light from that light behind you until you're happy.

The perfect power for the front light is a little more arbitrary based on the colour you're using but essentially you want just enough to light the face but not so much that it looses the shadow details.

4. Gels for the win

Once you have your lights set correctly, it should become apparent why there's a benefit to using gels here and that's the separation between the overexposed 'white' behind our model that falls off to shadow 'colour' on the face. With only white light it would still be the same white light behind the model but there would also only be white light on the models face too. This is a clever trick that with a little care can be utilised in a lot of ways when using gels.

Important Considerations

It's not you, it's me.

Be very mindful of your movement whilst shooting this setup. It's rare that the photographer moving 6 inches from one side to another in a shot will affect the lighting but it will here. That key-light is directly behind you so moving even slightly too much in front of it will block the light and reduce the light power output considerably. If you're not keen on this and you have the extra space then by all means switch it up and try the softbox off to one side or raise it up out of the way of you getting in front of it so much.

Bigger is better though right?

The softbox size behind the subject in this setup is this size for a reason. If you start using a huge softbox behind the subject the light will start to completely envelop the subject. Eventually the light will even start to creep around the subject and begin to light the front of our models face which we definitely don't want as we're adding another colour to the front of the face and that white light would ruin it.

Alas bigger is not always better. Here you can see that if our softbox is too big, it starts to light the front of the face which is what we definitely don't want.

Flare Despair

Shooting directly into any light source can cause flare into the lens which results in a hazy, milky looking image. You may like this look but if you're after a way to limit this effect then heres a few points to consider.

Remove your lens filters - Click to enlarge — Remove your lens filters - *Click to enlarge*

Shooting on prime lenses (a prime lens is any lens that has a fixed focal length like 50mm for example). These lenses tend to have less glass in them that will result in less light bouncing around in the elements which means less flare.
Shoot on a longer lens. Flare is notoriously bad on wider lenses like 50mm or more. Even bringing the lens up to 58-60mm can make a big difference.
Shoot with good glass. One of the reasons modern lenses are so expensive is because they are so sharp and visually clear. Pricey lenses tend to produce far less flare than inferior, cheaper models.
Stop down. Sometimes shooting at wide open apertures like f2.8 will allow your lenses to gobble up masses of light but that also means its more likely that your lens will create flare. Stop down to f5.6, f8 or even f11 to minimise the flare effect.
This is last time I'm going to tell you this but please, please, pleeeeassse remove those UV filters on your nice lenses. If you're a natural light shooter then I get it but in the studio please take those lens filters off. The skylight is the worst, so if you're using them, please consider removing them as these are often the biggest culprits of flare due them being the only flat piece of glass in the lens system.

You don't have to use gels for this setup but the beauty of using gels is that you get far more separation between subject and background.

I don't have to use gels though right?

Sure you can play with this setup with no gels attached but the beauty of this setup is that you're using the 'over-exposed' background to create separation between the model. For example if we just shot with white behind the subject the model can get lost in the brightness, whereas with colour we're using white that falls off into colour. It's one of the beauties of using gels with human skin as we can create specularity on the oils of skin that drop off into colour like we're doing in this setup.

"Uhhh Jake I have a question, what should the lighting ratio be between the two lights and where should I place my light meter to get a correct reading?"

You may have noticed that I told you what to look for when I was advising on light power earlier in the article. You having the ability to read the light is fundamental to you improving as a photographer and I'm very skeptical of shooters that mindlessly believe what a light meter tells them over what looks good or not to their own eye. It is honestly like a chef using a 'taste-meter' in the kitchen to see if food tastes good or not. That chef is always going to trust what tastes good based on preference and experience over what the little machine says (although I wont lie, I would now love a taste-meter please :D ).

Light meters were from a time when we couldn't see the result immediately but now with digital cameras we can. Don't get me wrong, light meters have their place and I always have one in my bag for emergencies but this situation is not the place for them.

Also in this particular situation you can't use a light meter when shooting with gels. The reason for this is that the light meter only sees in grey. It's going to tell you what power the light should be to get a good grey! We don't want good grey, we want a good COLOUR.

The ratios is another can of worms because it's based on the power of grey light once again. Colours have certain visual dominance over other colours, meaning that some colours will visually appear brighter in relation to others based on their tone even though the light meter may tell us it's actually darker. The dominant and recessive colour relationship is a story for another day but suffice to say that ratios in colour lighting are ambiguous if not redundant at best so thankfully that's one less thing to worry about.

The details of dominant and recessive colours is a story for another day but I think this diagram above explains how hard it is to light meter grey appropriately when dealing with coloured light. The black and white image on the right is simply a de… — The details of dominant and recessive colours is a story for another day but I think this diagram above explains how hard it is to light meter grey appropriately when dealing with coloured light. The black and white image on the right is simply a desaturated version of the image on the left. Colour exposure looks very, very different indeed in black and white making it nearly impossible to light meter correctly with a machine that only sees grey.

Closing Comments

So I know I mentioned at the start of this article it was a simple setup ....but you didn't expect me to write a short article did you?! I know it might seem like a lot to consider but this really is a simple setup that will likely take you less time to setup than it did to read this article. It went a little long as I was just trying to troubleshoot as many of the conceivable problems you might encounter along the way. Hopefully I thought of them all and you get some killer shots first try :D

I hope you give it a go and let me know if you do. If you do have any questions then of course feel free to fire away in the comments below. I very much look forward to seeing what you come up with, good luck :)

:WARNING: Yet more opportunities to buy gels below!