Using 'Eye-Lights' in Portraiture

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The idea of including ‘eye-lights’ in cinema has existed for nearly as long as cinema itself, but for some reason, this technique is rarely used in photography.

*Catchlights are the little sparkle of highlight in the subjects’ eye*

Eye-Lights not Catchlights

Let’s first clarify a couple of things in case we’re not sure exactly what I mean by ‘eye-lights’. First off, I don’t mean catchlights. Yes, these are the bright, specular highlights in the subject's eyes caused by seeing the direct reflection of a light source in the fluid of an eyeball, but these aren’t eye-lights.

I’m sure most of us are very familiar with catchlights, as they are fairly unanimously seen as a fundamental rule of good portrait lighting. Nearly every well-lit portrait we see contains catchlights in the subject's eyes, and for good reason. Cathlights are reflections of the light; as we know, good lighting is all about displaying shape, and highlights greatly contribute to that.

Why Catchlights are Important

But including catchlights is more than simply abiding by the laws of good lighting. Failing to include catchlights in an eye will often leave the subject looking lifeless. Of course, we can exploit this to our advantage, and many cinematographers purposely avoid catchlights or even remove them in post-production to signify a dead or dying person.

The left-hand image doesn’t have catchlights in the subject's eyes, but they are clearly visible in the right-hand image. I think it should be pretty obvious just how dramatic a difference this makes in the subject's eyes and overall look.

So yes, including catchlights in our subjects' eyes is crucial to ensuring they look their best as they will literally look ‘bright-eyed’ and very much alive.

Now that we’ve cemented down what catchlights are, understanding what eye-lights are will be much easier.

Eye-Lights in Cinema

Eye-lights are often used in cinema to create those catchlights in the subject’s eyes. At first, this may seem odd because if the subject is lit correctly, the eyes should show the catchlights, right? This is typically true for us photographers as our job is to light our subject and only the subject, but that's not always the case in cinema. Many film sets will be about lighitng the scene and surroundings that allow the subject to exist in it believably, without them looking ‘stuck on’ or ‘over-lit’. When lighting in this way, the subject’s eyes are sometimes left in darkness. Think strong top lights or even dramatic side lights. This will light the subject to dictate the mood and drama of a scene, but the eyes may not be receiving the light to create catchlights.

Taxi Driver (1976)

The very red scene above shows the character in only red, and although the red catchlight is visible in the eyes of Robert De Niro, it’s incredibly dim. So, although we can see the tiny and dim red catchlights, we predominantly see the far brighter white ones. It’s these eye-lights that are creating the catchlights, but more importantly, that’s all they are doing, as there is no white light on our subject’s face. Those eye-lights only create catchlights in the eye and nothing more.

*Without the eye-light from below, the eyes lose a lot of impact.*

Havoc (2025)

A more recent movie, but the same eye-light technique is being used here, although for different reasons.

You’ll often see the eye-light technique being used when this subject is heavily lit from the side. The extreme edge light is a popular and dramatic lighting look, but it can leave the front of a subject looking very dark. Can you imagine how dark and lost the subject would look without the eye-light here?

The cinematographer has simply placed a light source very low and likely close to the camera here. When Tom Hardy looks down, we see the strong edge and top light, and although those lights do not reach his eyes when he's looking down, the eye-light below will cast catchlights.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

There were many huge washes of colour in Blade Runner 2049, and although many of the scenes were flooded with colour, the subject's eyes still benefited from a clean catchlight to really stand out. In the above image, we see Ryan Gosling with his back to the main light, and although his left eye is clearly hidden from the light behind him, that eye still has a glimmer of catchlight present in that darkness.

Hellboy (2019)

Another example of very strong edge lighting on our subject with almost no light on the front of the face at all, but still, if you look closely, you’ll see a catchlight in both eyes. Once again, imagine how utterly lost in darkness the face on camera-right would be without that glimmer of a catchlight, thanks to an eye-light.

There is a need for eye-lights in a shot for many reasons. Sometimes dramatic side lights leave little light on the front of the face, sometimes the scene is washed in a specific colour, and the eyes simply don’t pick up the source and sometimes strong directional light from above limits any actual light from reaching the eyes. In these instances, using a supplementary eye-light can help add dimension, depth and more importantly, life back into the subject.

Eye-Lights in Portraiture

As I mentioned above, this technique won’t be needed for many of your portrait lighting setups, as for the most part, you’ll be lighting your subject ‘properly’ with an appropriately placed key-light. But for more dramatic lighting setups where you’re trying to tell a story with lighting and not simply trying to illuminate your subject, this little technique could be useful.

The premise is super-simple: place a light directly in front of your subject and move it until the catchlight appears in the subject’s eyes. This is easily done if the subject is looking away from the camera, and remember, nearly every film you’ve ever seen has the subject looking away from the camera, so it's easy to place an eye-light where you need it. But if the subject is looking straight at the camera, as with many of our portraits, we need to be a little smart with it.

The easiest solution is to place the light directly on the camera. That way, no matter where you are, if the subject is looking at you, the eye-light will be present in the form of catchlights in the subject’s eyes.

I’m sure you can think of a variety of ways to achieve this, but for me, the easiest way to attach a light to your camera, is via the hot-shoe.

As you can see in the images above, my light is attached to the camera's hot-shoe via a ball-joint. This is so I can mount the light at a 90-degree angle, which keeps it very close to the lens axis. Plus, this right angle also allows the light to be slightly above the lens when I’m shooting in portrait orientation, which in turn helps keep the catchlight above the lens in the subjects’ eyes.

Why Use an LED Light?

If you’re unfamiliar with this light, it’s a small LED light called a NEO 3 Pro from Rotolight. It’s very lightweight and comfortable to have attached to the camera, even with a battery in place, as you can see in the shot above. But why use this LED light over a speedlight?

I prefer this LED light over a speedlight for two reasons, and that’s simply, size and power.

Size

Firstly, size. This LED light is about 6 inches across. That means it will appear as a far larger catchlight in the subject's eyes compared to the smaller surface area of a speedlight’s flash window.

*The illuminated area of the LED light is far larger than the flash and this will result in a far larger cathlight in the subjects eyes.*

In the image above, you can clearly see how much bigger the actual illuminated area of the LED light is compared to the speedlight. Remember, a catchlight is a specular highlight in the eye, which is simply a direct reflection of a light, so it’s this reflection size we need to be thinking about, not its brightness.

Power

Secondly, power. Remember that a cathlight is a direct reflection of a light in the subject's eyes; that's all this light is typically doing, and it's often not lighting the subject in any meaningful way. Think about those cinematic examples I gave you above. They showed the eye-light doing almost nothing to illuminate the subjects; they were just there to show up as a catchlight in the eye, nothing more. With this very minimal output in mind, even a speedlight can be too powerful and, as such, may ruin the lighting on the subject by doing more than just appearing as a cathlight. Even set to their lowest powers, speedlights are often fairly powerful, and remember, our speedlight is mounted to our camera, so they will often be very close to our subjects too.

Yes, you could use ND gels to limit speedlights' power output, but I just find an LED far simpler and easier to use, especially given that the surface area of the LED produces noticeably larger catchlights as well.

Examples

Below is a shoot from a little while ago in which I used this NEO 3 PRO LED light on my hot-shoe to create eye-lights in the models eyes. I used this technique here not because of the dramatic light from behind or heavy colour washes, but because the light on the front of the model was extremely flat, and that flat light simply wasn’t very visible in the eyes via a catchlight.

Pay close attention to the catchlights in the images below, as they are all created using that eye-light technique.

Click on any of the images to fit them to the screen.

Featured Model: Irina Ludosanu

Taking a closer look

I’ve just gone back into the raw files of this shoot to see if I had any before-and-after images of the eye-light being used and I was able to dig out a couple of early images. Hopefully, this shows a little of what I was trying to achieve with the eye-light.

Please note that these are unretouched raws.

*Click to enlarge - Image on the left has no eye-light on the camera, whereas the image on the right does.*

It should be clear to see the difference and even though all of the cinematic examples I showed above were of fairly dark and often backlit images, even images with a clear light in front of the subject can lack a meaningful catchlight….. especailly if you’re limited for space and are clearly standing in front of it!

As always, thank you for reading. Hopefully, you learnt something new today. If you did, be sure to check out the rest of my articles. With over a decade’s worth of -Technique Tuesdays- to work through, I’m sure you’ll find something else of interest.

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

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JHP Livestreams…

I livestream every other Tuesday night via YouTube and there I answer your questions, critique your shots, take community images into Photoshop to work on them and discuss all manner of lighting tips and techniques. I look forward to seeing you and your work there real soon. Jake Hicks Photography - YouTube

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

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All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

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Using Umbrellas? Please Stop Doing This

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I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

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Typically, education and imparting knowledge is about showing you the right way to do something rather than scolding you for doing it the supposed ‘wrong’ way.

But I’ve just seen a thread where ‘photographers’ are sharing how they prematurely ‘weather’ their brand-new £8,000 Leicas with electric sanders! Some of you simply can’t be trusted to make the right decision!

Rant aside, I’ve been meaning to put together a few of these umbrella tips for a while now and, as my somewhat exasperated title suggests, it’s going to be just as important to tell you what not to do as it is to point out what you should be doing.

This image is shot using only umbrellas - Umbrellas are excellent modifiers and offer a lot of light control in the right hands - but we need to be aware of and avoid several aspects of umbrellas to get the best out of them.

Please Stop: Having the umbrella too far out.

This is a simple one to fix, but failing to watch out for it will result in not only losing a lot of power and light but also a lot of control of the light.

If the umbrella isn't close enough to the light, then not all of the light will go into the umbrella to be bounced back. Some of that light will be lost out past the edges, and not only will this reduce the light output bouncing back, but you will also have uncontrolled light being pumped out into the studio.

The Fix

Simply walk to the edge of the umbrella and look back at the reflector dish. If you can see the bulb of your light, that means light can escape from the umbrella.

If that’s the case, push the umbrella rod further into the holder until you can no longer see the bulb from the edge.

Note: If you’re using a strobe, be sure that it’s the flash tube you can’t see. Remember that the modelling bulb is not what will spread the light in the final image.

Please Stop: Having the umbrella too close.

This issue is less troublesome than having the umbrella too far away and spreading the light everywhere, but having the umbrella too close to the light is still easily fixed and will result in far better-looking results.

When you’re setting up your particular shot, you’ve likely/hopefully given some thought to the size of the modifiers you’d like to use and, in this case, the size of your umbrella. If you’ve opted for a large umbrella on set, that’s because you wanted a more significant spread of light or at least a softer light on the subject. Sadly, by placing your umbrella too close to your light, you’ll get neither of these things as you've now turned your big soft light into a small hard light.

*You can see in the image above that the light is so close to the umbrella that it has no time to spread and use the full size of the umbrella.*

In the image above, you can see that the light is only falling onto a small section in the middle of the umbrella. It doesn’t matter how big your umbrella is if you only use a small section of it. It’s this small section of the umbrella that is bouncing light back, and as we know, the smaller the light, the harder the light looks.

The Fix

Hopefully, this won't be revolutionary to many of you, but yes, to fix this, we simply pull the umbrella further away from the light so that the light can better fill the umbrella size you’ve chosen.

*Even pulling the umbrella back a few inches can make a huge difference to the resulting light.*

I know I’m being cheeky here, and for many of you, this may seem obvious, but I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen the light far too close to the umbrella—I even saw it in a recent lighting product video! It’s easy to do but also easy to avoid.

It’s a simple thing to keep an eye on, but look at how dramatically different the image above looks compared to the original, where the umbrella was too close to the light. I probably only moved the umbrella 6 inches away, but now that light is completely filling the umbrella compared to a very small spot in the middle.

Please Stop: Placing the umbrella to the side.

This mistake is a little more nuanced, so I’ll allow it. Thankfully though, although many make this simple error when placing their umbrella, once you’ve seen the difference by making this small adjustment, you won’t make that mistake again…. will you?!

The mistake is to assume that just because your modifier, the umbrella, is above the subject, it is casting flattering light from above. Sadly, although the top of the modifier is indeed above the subject, most of the light is still coming from below the subject, and this is what can catch some people out.

*Most of the light is clearly coming up from below the subject even though the modifier is technically above the subject.*

As we can see in the image above, the top of the umbrella is indeed above the subject, but too much light is coming up from below, resulting in that ugly under-light.

The Fix

The trick here is simple. Like many aspects of lighting, the key is not to look at where or what your light is doing but at what it is doing to the subject. It doesn’t matter how accurately you've positioned your light; if the light looks bad on the subject, you have to change it.

*By making a simple adjustment we can significantly improve the quality of light on our subject.*

Simply raise the height of the light and angle the umbrella down, and that will very quickly fix the issue. As you can see from the image above, just moving that light up a few inches and adjusting the angle can make a huge difference, and you can see just how much more flattering that light is on the subject as a result.

Please Stop: USING SHOOT-THROUGH UMBRELLAS!

This will likely ruffle a few feathers, and I promise you, I’m not simply just rage-baiting you for engagement here, but using shoot-through umbrellas is borderline unforgivable in today's photography.

Sure, if you’re shooting pet passport photos in the stairwell of a shopping mall carpark in Sterling Heights, Detroit, go wild, use your shoot-through umbrellas all you want. For everybody else though, you have no excuse!

There are a couple of reasons why shoot-through umbrellas are bad, but ultimately, it comes down to a lack of light control.

1% of lighting is about the actual light itself. Any fool can turn a light on, but the other 99% of lighting comes from controlling that light and shoot-throughs do very little of that. Here’s why.

If you’re unfamiliar with shoot-through umbrellas, you’ve come to the end of the article; you don’t need to see the lighting heresy I’m about to display, so thank you so much for reading.

This modifier is pointed directly at me…. *look at how much light is being pumped back into to the studio behind it!!!!*

For everyone else, let the depravity begin.

The Fix - BURN THEM ALL

As the name implies, you fire the light through the umbrella, so unlike all other umbrellas, you actually point the light directly at the subject rather than away from them and into the reflective umbrella. One of the umbrella’s greatest strengths is the fact that it eliminates hot-spots by getting you to point the light away from the subject. Their bounced and reflected light is actually very even and flattering, especially for such an affordable modifier, and that is mostly due to their ability to eliminate hot-spots. Shoot-throughs don’t care about hot-spots, and like softboxes, they love a good bright centre unhindered by the beauty of bounced light. But at least softboxes actually control the light!

The other and more significant issue with shoot-through umbrellas, is their utter disregard for controlling the light. As I said, at least softboxes are enclosed modifiers that control the light in a uniform direction: forward. Shoot-through umbrellas, on the other hand, have a completely open back, and as such, a vast amount of light never actually makes it through the shoot-through part; instead, it simply bounces back out the back and then proceeds to bounce around the studio in no discernible manner.

*Shoot-through umbrellas have almost no light control!* ***The light literally goes everywhere!***

In the above image, you’ll see just how much light is being passed through the shoot-through umbrella and just how much light is bouncing back into the studio. This bounced light is completely uncontrolled and will very quickly ruin shadow density and shadow transitions. It will also bounce off other areas in the space and include that surrounding bounced colour onto whatever it ultimately hits.

*On the other hand, regular umbrellas do a great job of controlling the light in one direction.*

Above, we see what a normal umbrella does to the light. All of that light is caught and then bounced back out in a very controllable manner. Look at how the other side of the modifier is completely dark. No spilt light is bouncing around the studio.

Lastly. I promise…

You likely didn’t notice this above, as the image was covered in red arrows, but thanks to the shoot-through fabric, there are two very distinct colours present in this shot. As the light is passed through the umbrella surface, it has warmed the light slightly compared to the bounced light, which is noticeably colder by comparison.

*All light will be coloured slightly by whatever it passes through - its just we never typically allow those colours to mix!*

This isn’t a huge deal-breaker or anything, but it’s simply another reason (if you really needed another) why these shoot-through umbrellas are truly awful modifiers.

Closing Comments

Sure, I took some artistic license with this article to add a little dramatic posturing about why I think people are making some silly mistakes when using umbrellas…

But I want to make this last point abundantly clear: I think umbrellas are excellent modifiers.

I haven't used a softbox for many, many years, yet I’ll use at least one if not multiple, umbrellas on nearly every single shoot I do. Umbrellas truly control the light, even when used close to the subject, and they do so without the nasty hot-spotting that softboxes produce.

I have huge umbrellas, small umbrellas, white umbrellas and silver umbrellas. They are extremely versatile, weigh almost nothing, take up almost no space, and take mere seconds to set up. When I bought my first studio lighting kits all those years ago, I immediately threw the included umbrellas in the attic and forgot about them. I instead opted to get a small platoon of softboxes in every size imaginable; after all, the cheap and crappy umbrellas cant be any good, right?

Many years later, I dug around in the attic to retrieve those old umbrellas, and I still use them to this day. Just because a modifier is cheap doesn’t mean it can't be good; you just have to know how to use it properly.

As always, thank you for reading, and if you learnt nothing else today, please burn every shoot-through umbrella you come across! You’re doing the lighting-gods’ work!

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

JHP Livestreams…

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE WORKSHOPS

Lighting Setup: Top Light for Low Ceiling Studios

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

Working in a big, fully-kitted studio is easy mode! If you can’t get a decent shot in a fully light-controlled space, surrounded by all the lighting gear you could possibly want at your fingertips, it’s time to take up black-and-white photography! Sadly, this perfect shooting setup happens far less often than any of us would like.

For most of us mere mortals, photography is more about problem solving than measuring lighting ratios and more about making do with the kit you have at hand over being concerned with fluctuations in colour consistency. I’m sure we all pray for the day when the biggest problem on set is when the Kelvin on one light is varying by +/- 50. But until that day comes, we’ll concern ourselves with trying to make three lights do five lights worth of work and deal with that dreaded low ceiling on location!!!

Now, before you all rush to comments to say how I, a professional photographer who probably has more lights than brain cells, can moan about these problems, let me just stop you right there and say that some problems, like low ceilings, never disappear! It doesn't matter how long you do this job, but some issues never change, and the low ceiling problem on location is one of them.

*Having a high ceiling in a studio or on location makes life a lot easier, but sadly we can’t always rely on it.*

I’m sure you’ve all seen the lighting setups with a big soft light suspended well above the subject to create this gorgeous top light, but today I want to show how I deal with trying to get a large top light above my subject…. without having the room to place a big top light above my subject.

The Setup

As always, let’s first look at the setup and then I’ll break down exactly what’s going on.

*Nanlite FC-500C + Projection Attachment on floor-stand*

*Angle Projection Attachment straight up to the silver reflector above model*

*I suspended the large silver reflector above the model with the use a C-stand and a couple of booms*

*The spot of red light should only be striking the silver reflector above*

*Using the Nanlite app to adjust the power and colour of the light was required due to it being so low to the floor and making it hard to see the screen*

TL;DR/ADHD/Artist Setup Explanation

Set up white background behind model
Suspend large silver reflector above model with C-stand and boom
Place projection attachment on floor in front of model
Angle Projection Attachment straight up at reflector above model
Position large umbrella behind you
Assign gels or hue values to lights accordingly

Kit Used

Nanlite FC-500C
Nanlite Projection Attachment
Nanlite FC-120C
Large Umbrella
Large Silver Reflector
C-Stand and boom

Camera Settings

Camera - Nikon D850
Lens - 24-70mm f2.8
Shutter Speed - 1/125th
Aperture - f2.8
ISO - 160
Kelvin - 4700K
Focal Length - ~50mm

The Results

Click to enlarge any of the shots below.

Featured Model: Esmeralda_gb

Breaking it Down

This is only a two-light setup, so most of this is fairly straightforward to many of you now that you’ve seen the lighting diagram. However, I do want to elaborate on a couple of aspects that may not be immediately obvious.

The core idea being employed here is the bounced light acting as a top light. This is kind of odd in principle, as the top light is actually at the model's feet, and in these shots, I’m shooting directly over that light to achieve the look. Had we had smoke or haze in this shot for example, all we’d see is that big red beam of light shining up from the bottom of frame.

*I used a C-stand and a couple of brooms to suspend the silver reflector above*

Top-Light on the Floor

That red light is positioned on a floor stand and pointed straight up into that silver reflector above the model. The reflector is up as high as it will go, which in this situation, is only around 240cm. I’m using one of those large pop-out silver reflectors, and I’m sure you have a bunch of them as we all have at least one 5-in-1 reflector tucked behind the studio door somewhere. I’m supporting it up against the ceiling with a C-stand and a couple of booms mounted in a cross with a knuckle (see picture).

With this reflector in place, we want to ensure that the spotlight below only strikes the reflector and does not light the model on its way up first. If you’re catching the model with light from below, move the light slightly further away and angle it back onto the reflector.

Failing to keep the light off of the model before it reaches the reflector will completely ruin the effect.

The White Background

The next consideration is the background's position in relation to the model. In the shots I’ve shown you here, you can see that I’m allowing some of the red light to spill onto the bottom of the background behind her. You can choose not to do this and to avoid the red spill entirely. To do this, just move the background further away.

This red-to-blue gradient behind is personal preference, but I liked the extra colour separation at the bottom of the image, so I actually brought in a white sheet behind the model to allow more red light to bounce up the white background.

The Projection Attachement

This is a serious piece of kit from Nanlite, and although I love this modifier and use it a lot, not everyone will have access to it. This modifier's core job here is to accurately keep a small pool of light directly above the model on that silver reflector. There are other modifiers that can do this, and grids/honeycombs, snoots, and even barn doors on a light will achieve a similar controlled pool of light up there. As long as you can keep the light only on that silver reflector above and not strike the model before it reaches there, you should be fine. Even Cinefoil wrapped around a light and reflector dish will work in a pinch.

The Blue Light

This is an easy one to set up, and although I used a large umbrella here, a very large softbox will also work. The only advice you need, is to keep the power low, as this is technically our fill light.

Alternative Points to Consider - The Art Lens

Some of you may have noticed a couple of very, seemingly ‘blurred’ images from this set, and I wanted to clarify how I achieved them. As many of you know, I love to play around with a bunch of ‘art’ lenses where I can, and these shots were the result of one such lens, the Lensbaby Edge 35 and the Edge 80. I’ll provide links to all products used at the end.

These lenses are obviously not required for the setup, but with more abstract shots like these that utilise a lot of very heavy colour, doubling down on the creative nature of the final image can be worth playing around with.

Thanks so much for reading guys, if you have any questions, let me know in the comments below. Catch you in the next one.

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

Products Used

NOTE: None of these are affiliate links!!!

Nanlite FC-500C

Full colour RGB LED 500w head.

Nanlite FC-500C Website Link

Nanlite Projection Attachment

S-fit lifting modifier that utilises masks and gobos to control a very focused beam of light.

Nanlite Projection Attachment

Lensbaby Edge Lens

Art lens that creates a very thin slice of focus - available in both 35mm and 80mm.

Lensbaby Edge 80 Opitc Website Link

Large 5 in 1 Reflector

This one here is 120cm by 80cm and should be big enough for this setup, although I think the one I used was slightly larger than this.

Large 5 in 1 Reflector Website Link

JHP Livestreams…

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE WORKSHOPS

Camera Shake Podcast - Episode 241 - February 2025

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

I recently had the privilege of being invited back onto the Camera Shake Podcast. The last time I was on the show, the world was different, not just in terms of how many times we used to wash our hands compared to today, but because back then, I was still shooting exclusively with strobes and coloured gels.

Fast-forward to today, and I now almost exclusively shoot with LEDs. In this interview, we dig into some of the major differences LEDs have presented to those of us who have been used to working with flash for so many years.

I’ve done a great deal of podcasts during my career, but this is certainly among one of the best interviews I’ve had as I felt like so many of the questions were very relevant to the modern world of photography. We discussed tethering and why I hate it. I spoke on how light meters have their place today, but they can get you into trouble if you don’t already know what you’re doing. My pre-production process for shoots and how I use 3D lighting software to prep. How do you deal with pro-models, non-pro-models, and even clients when shooting? How to manage their expectations on set while you’re shooting, and how to pivot and adapt to the shoot as it unfolds.

We cover a ton of ideas in this one, so head over to the Camera Shake Podcast YouTube channel and take a look.

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Nanlite Projection Attachment: The Ultimate Hard Light

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PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

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PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

Many of us are taught that there are two types of light: soft light and hard light, but I feel it’s an understatement to say this really doesn’t cover the nuance of light density available to us. Today, I’d like to dig a little deeper into the light that falls under the ‘hard light’ umbrella and talk about the potential ultimate hard light in the form of Nanlite’s Projection Attachment.

Most of us are aware of what soft light looks like as softboxes, and their easy-to-use soft light is the ABCs of day 1 photography. Softboxes can come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, but one defining characteristic that we all understand as a general rule is that the larger the softbox, the softer the light it’ll produce - I’m generalising here, but for the most part, this holds true.

But, although the bigger the modifier, the softer the light is true, sadly, the reverse isn't quite as simple. Yes, many hard light modifiers are small, but their size isn’t what defines their hard light, and today I’ll show you how the hardest light ironically comes from one of the largest hard light modifiers out there.

Preface: I am reviewing this modifier as a stills photographer not a videographer. Nanlite has sent me this Projection Attachment to review. I am not being paid, and they are not previewing or editing my review before I post it.

What is the Nanlite Projection Attachment?

Before I free-fall into the rabbit hole of nerd-talk about this modifier and what it can do versus other hard light modifiers, I should first get you up to speed on what the Projection Attachment actually is and what it sets out to achieve.

I’m not sure if the images here convey just how big this thing is, but the Nanlite Projection Attachment is an absolute beast, and all of its would-be hard light challengers pale in comparison. This modifier really does require a C-stand to support it, and it’s so big and heavy that you have to place the actual modifier on a light stand, not the light- The light then simply hangs off the back of it. This significantly helps with balance, as the lens on the front containing all that glass is very heavy.

Speaking of the lens, there are some options. The lens I have is the 36-degree one, which helps spread the light as quickly as possible, giving you a bigger spot in small spaces. There is also a 19-degree lens which creates a tighter spot, but that would be useful if you were mounting this a long way from the set or in a theatre, for example.

*Click to enlarge: The Projection Attachment is so large that a C-stand is a must and even then, you mount the modifier to the stand and the light to the modifier.*

*Click to enlarge: The entire modifier is made of metal, making very durable, but also very heavy.*

*Click to enlarge: You can see the 36-degree lens section of the modifier here and that whole lens can be swapped out for a 19-degree tighter spot.*

More than just a very hard light

Of course, this Projection Attachment is more than just a very powerful hard light modifier; one of its primary functions is the ability to project gobos via its lens. For those that don’t know, a gobo or go-between is something placed between the light and the subject to create shadows. A modifier like this is purpose-built to accept metal disks (gobos) with patterns cut into them, which, in turn, project those patterns over great distances to shine onto your background or subject.

*Click to enlarge: The Projection Attachment is designed to accept and project these custom-cut metal gobos.*

Click to enlarge: The unit comes with a selection of gobos, but there are hundreds available. Note: When taking these product shots, I accidentally inserted the gobo in the wrong slot - It should be in the slot behind.

*Click to enlarge: As you can see, the projection attachment shines razor sharp light patterns over great distances via these interchangeable gobos.*

I’ve outlined the basics of what this Projection Attachment can do, and many photographers will, of course, opt to use it for its primary function of projection gobos as I shared above, but I’m personally more interested in its defining characteristic of being the ultimate hard light.

Defining Hard Light

To get a broader picture of what I mean when I talk about light density and the hardness of light, we should drill down into why we use hard light, what defines hard light, and what I personally look for when using hard light.

For me, hard light comes down to these three core aspects:

Control
Edge-to-edge quality
Shadow transitions

Control

This is the easiest one to discuss as we all understand what I mean when I say, ‘a tight spot of light is easy to control.’

As we know, hard light characteristics are typically bright highlights and very strong, dark shadows. This look is only possible in a studio when the light isn’t bouncing around everywhere and contaminating itself with reflected light. To this end, hard lights are often very controllable with small spots of light.

This is often counter to the extremely hard light of sunlight on a clear day, which is utterly uncontrolled, but the open space outside often limits the amount of bounced light filling in shadows. I mention the sun as an example of hard light here as you’ll often see photographers using bare-bulb lights to produce hard light, and although this is technically hard light due to the very small point of origin, that bare bulb is spreading light all over the studio and thus uncontrolled. As a result, the environment can often contaminate the hard light from bare bulbs, and the dark shadows that hard light may produce will be filled with bounced light.

Edge-to-Edge Quality

We’re getting into the weeds of the defining hard light now, and although controlling hard light is crucial in the studio, the final look of that hard light on our subject is far more nuanced than simply a pool of light. What’s surprising about this nuance is that many photographers simply aren’t aware of the difference until they’re shown it. Kinda like trying to explain great-tasting food. You really have to taste it, or in this case, see it, to understand what all the fuss is about.

Many hard light modifiers simply ‘channel’ the light and don’t technically focus it. And by channel, I mean those modifiers don’t let the light go in certain directions instead of actually focusing it where you want it. This channelling can result in the light bouncing around the modifier multiple times before it leaves the modifier, and the resulting light can often contain odd and unpleasant shadows in the final bright pool of light. Snoots and grinds/honeycombs are the biggest culprits of this.

In short, we want a hard light modifier that focuses the light and not channels it. That said, even modifiers that focus the light can produce unpleasant edge-to-edge quality as they can sometimes vignette the light. Yes, they can produce clean, hard light, but their brighter centre and darker edges can be a pain to work with.

Click to enlarge—Edge-to-edge quality is extremely important, and not just because hard lights have a heavy vignette with darker edges. Some even produce shadow artefacts from snoots and grids. Here, we not only see a strong vignette but also the grid pattern from a grid/honeycomb hard light modifier.

Shadow Transitions

Again, this aspect of light and shadow isn’t readily apparent until you’re shown it. Sadly, once you’ve seen it, you can never unsee it.

I’ve spoken about this at length in previous articles, so I won’t bore you with it all again here, but I’m specifically talking about how to avoid those ugly double and even triple shadows when using certain hard light modifiers. This can happen when the light bounces around the modifier before leaving. The resulting light then casts a shadow from the bulb of the light, and then another one or two shadows are cast from the reflected light bounced off of the insides of the modifier.

If you want a more detailed breakdown of this ugly and very annoying look, you can check my previous article on it here: Refining Hard Light - Avoiding Double Shadows

Click to enlarge - It’s extremely clear how apparent these double shadows can get with more basic hard light modifiers. These ugly double and even triple shadows (top images) can leave an image looking messy very quickly. Also, note how much darker the shadow is from the modifier that does not produce double shadows (bottom images).

What does the Ultimate Hard Light look like?

Controllable

For me, the ultimate hard light needs to be extremely controllable. I don’t want any light bouncing around the studio and affecting my hard light with stray bounced light filling in those strong, dark shadows.

Clean

The hard light needs to be just that, hard ‘light.’ I don’t want any ugly, stray shadows contaminating the pure light that is falling onto the subject. I don’t want any odd shadow artefacts on the skin, and I also want that light to be the same exposure across the entire pool of light; AKA, I don’t want the edges to be a stop darker than the middle.

Shadow Quality

The hard light needs to be casting a single, strong shadow. As we know, the greatest hard light of all time is the sun on a clear day. That hard light casts a razor-sharp, single shadow, and I want my studio's hard light to do exactly that. I don’t want two or even three shadows creating ugly textures on the subjects’ skin.

The Typical Hard Light Contenders

Before we look at what the Nanlite Projection Attachment can do, we should first look at its primary hard light contenders. After all, the Projection Attachment is a serious piece of kit and is priced accordingly. Is it really that much better than its far less expensive counterparts?

Open Reflector Dish

First up is as basic as it gets, and everyone has used it at one point or another; the open reflector dish.

Control: 2 out of 5 - The light goes everywhere, but I guess it goes forward at least… mostly.
Edge Quality: 3 out of 5 - The edge of the spot is extremely vague… but it is smooth, at least.
Shadow Quality: Just Don’t - Triple shadows!!! Plus, due to no light control, light bounces around and fills in the shadows.

The Grid/Honeycomb

This is a slight upgrade from the reflector dish… or is it?!?

Control: 4 out of 5 - The grids do a good job of controlling the light and wider and tighter grids offer even more control.
Edge Quality: I swear I’m not making this up - This has to be worst edge transition of all time - Just look at it.
Shadow Quality: 3 out 5 - This is not too bad and if you can cope with the other flaws, the shadows cast are ok.

The Snoot

Snoots are pretty cheap, and we all have a few kicking about the kit cupboard.

Control: 4 out of 5 - This particular snoot is pretty good, but it needs some distance to get a good-sized spot.
Edge Quality: 3 out of 5 - A very slow but clean transition. There’s hardly any pure white light at the centre though.
Shadow Quality: 3 out of 5- A pretty clean shadow with only a very slight ghost of a double shadow.

The Optical Snoot

These are the focusing modifiers with an actual lens at the front to give more accurate control of the light.

Control: 3 out of 5 - These lenses require a lot of light to produce this spot.
Edge Quality: 3 out of 5 - The vignette is very stong on these and can contain artefacts from the lens.
Shadow Quality: 4 out of 5 - Due to the lens on the front, the shadow quality on these is actually very good.

Conclusion

Those results speak for themselves, and it’s pretty surprising how bad some of these everyday hard light modifiers actually are. That said, most of them are very cheap. If you’re just looking for an edge light or a hair light, these will do an okay job, but I would personally never use any of these on the skin for a key light, for example.

Is the Nanlite Projection Attachment up to the challenge?

I fully appreciate you’ve likely found yourself here because you were interested in seeing if the Nanlite Projection Attachment was any good. Still, I think we needed to define the job of a true hard light modifier like the PJ and how other hard light modifiers fall short rather than me just showing you some cool shots and saying, ‘Trust me, bro.’ This isn’t YouTube after all.

Now that we know what qualities a true hard light has to have let’s examine how the Projection Attachment fares when faced with these aforementioned requirements.

Control

Spoiler Alert: It’s already looking pretty damn impressive, right? When we talk about precise control of a light, it doesn’t come any more controllable than this razor-sharp spot of light.

It’s worth nothing here that if you didn’t want that razor-sharp edge to your pool of light, it’s simple enough to soften the edges via the lens-focusing knob at the bottom of the modifier.

Simply unscrew and move the lens of the Projection Attachment forward and back to adjust the hardness of the spots edge. This same mechanism will be required each time you set up your Projection Attachment, as you’ll have to refocus the spot based on its distance from the subject or background.

*Click to enlarge: Focusing and de-focusing the Projection Attachment is as simple as unscrewing this knob and moving the lens in and out.*

Edge-to-Edge Quality

As I mentioned above, this refers to how ‘clean’ this spot of light is. Are there any artefacts or dark spots in its centre, and are there any heavy vignettes at the edges?

In the initial test of the spot image above, we saw that it was very clean throughout, and there were no funky shadows of artefacts within the spot itself. I’ve also included a cropped image below with the spot underexposed by a stop to see if any vignettes appear at the edges. If we look closely, we can see some slight vignetting, but it's very minor, and it's only noticeable when you start to underexpose the spot, too.

*Click to enlarge: As you can see, the entire spot of light is extremely clean with almost no artefacts and very minimal vignetting.*

Shadow Transitions

As we know, the light is only half the story; we need to take a look at how it produces its shadows to get a clearer picture of what this modifier can do. Below, we can see how the Projection Attachment renders its shadows, and it should be clear to see how clean they are. No double or triple shadows, and the shadows that are being produced are strong with a smooth edge transition.

Some of you may still be sceptical if this hard light really makes that big of a difference in reality. Sure, with the cheaper hard light modifiers, the shadows may be a little brighter, you may have to take a little extra time to manage the vignette, and the double shadows aren’t crazy-noticeable all of the time. It is worth considering that I’m displaying this effect on the most basic 2-dimensional example I could find. All of these shadow issues scale up the more layers of depth you add to a shot. Take a look at a more detailed example below.

*Click to enlarge: Image taken with basic hard light modifier*

*Click to enlarge: Image taken with the Projection Attachment*

Without the Projection Attachment, all of the multiple shadows start to overlap and lose density and contrast. Not to mention that light is also bouncing around and filling them in. With the PJ, we still have strong, clean and contrasty shadows and the final shot maintains that extra layer of depth thanks to that contrast.

Practical Results - Model Portrait

Let’s take a break from the nerd-talk for a moment and look at a practical use case of the Projection Attachment. Below, I will share some shots from a recent model shoot where I used the Projection Attachment and one of its gobos to create beautiful-looking textured light.

Click on any of the images below to enlarge them.

Featured Model: Esmeralda_gb

Camera Settings

Camera - Nikon D850
Lens - 85mm 1.4
Shutter Speed - 1/125th
Aperture - f1.4
ISO - 100
Kelvin - 3500K
Focal Length - 85mm

TL;DR/ADHD/Artist Setup Explanation

Place model in front of white backdrop
Point Nanlite FC-500-C set to 2700K and Projection Attachment at model and backdrop
Insert desired Gobo
Set up large softbox behind you set to 7500K
Positon Nanlite FC-120C behind model pointed back at her - set to 2700K
Set camera to ~3700K

Setup Explanation

This technique is fairly simple, as it’s a familiar formation to many of us: Main light flooding the scene, hair light placed behind, and then a soft light to fill in the shadows. The only slightly more complicated part is the Kelvin manipulation.

Both the hard lights on the model are set to their warmest Kelvin, which is 2700K. That’s the FC-500C with the Projection Attachment in place, as well as the FC-120C behind the model. Note that I’m using an open dish as a hard light behind her. This is due to my needing a very quick spread of light and the fact that I’m not too concerned with the quantity of hard light when the light is placed behind and does not cast shadows on her. This light only casts highlights from where we are with the camera.

Once those two lights are set, we simply bring in the contrasting light in the form of the large softbox and set it to the polar opposite Kelvin, which is a very cool 7500K. Lastly, we just set cameras Kelvin to a midpoint between the lights on set, which is around 4000K. You’ll need to tweak this to your taste, but the goal is to show both cool and warm light from the lights on set, and our goal is not to neutralise any of them.

Lastly, you just need to tweak the gobo in the Projection Attachment. First, you’ll need to choose a Gobo that fits your look, and then you’ll need to decide how sharp and in-focus you want it. You’ll notice here in my shots that I have mine set very de-focused, for example.

Further Considerations

I’m going to start to wrap up my thoughts on this Projection Attachment, but first, I do want to dig a little deeper into the use of gobos with this modifier.

Whenever you use a lens in conjunction with light, you need to be mindful of how that lens is actually controlling that light. For example, we need to look at distortions and vignetting. We’ve already looked at the vignetting, but let's take a closer look at the distortions in this lens. By distortions, I mean how it warps edges and straight lines with these gobos.

I’m mentioning this for a couple of reasons, but I’ve been asked about it in the past, so I thought I’d address it here. These distortions happen for a few reasons, and they appear in every projection unit I’ve used. One reason is that the gobo, a very thin metal disc (it has to be very thin metal to get a sharp image), is heating up due to it being so close to the LED inside. As it gets hotter, this disc will warp, which is one cause of the distorted edges you see above. Secondly, all of my projection units have wide lenses like the 36-degree lens I’m using here. These wider lenses are great for throwing big images in small spaces, but they can also distort at the edges as they try to enlarge that projection so quickly.

This has never been an issue for me and I’ve yet to find a projection unit and gobo that doesn’t do this. One tip that helps is to keep the power of your light low, thereby keeping its temperature low, which will limit the amount of warped edges dramatically. Also, if you really cannot have any warping at all, opt for the longer 19-degree lens as that will also reduce the effect.

Final Considerations

As with all Nanlite products I’ve encountered, this Projection Attachment comes in its own case, but this one isn’t the standard dense polystyrene; this one gets its own hard case. This unit has a significant piece of expensive glass in the form of its lens, so it nice to see that its properly protected when traveling or simply not in use.

Plus, the unit also includes a handful of gobos as well as gel holder that sits snugly on the front… yunno, for those of you still using gels ;)

Closing Comments

I assure you I’m not exaggerating when I say a Projection unit like this is mandatory in my studio. For years, I used what I thought were ‘hard lights’ and although they did the job, after I upgraded to these far more refined Projection Attachments that have a big, clear lens on the front to truly focus that hard light, there is a night and day difference in the results.

If you ever get the chance to try this Projection Attachment, I’d urge you to do so. This modifier goes a long way toward giving your shots that final polish, and you can see that in the clean single shadows and clear, bright edge-to-edge light on the fine details I shared above.

Obviously, if you’re looking for the ultimate hard light, the Nanlite Projection Attachment is definitely it. This is an extremely high-quality unit from a company that genuinely listens to its customers and implements ideas and details into its products based on the feedback of its users who actually use this kit in the field. I look forward to using this unit on the majority of shoots moving forward.

Thanks so much for reading guys, if you have any questions, let me know in the comments below. Catch you in the next one.

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

JHP Livestreams…

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE WORKSHOPS