{"id":781,"date":"2020-05-28T12:57:42","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T20:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/?p=781"},"modified":"2021-02-19T23:41:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T07:41:00","slug":"ring-lights-terrible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/ring-lights-terrible\/","title":{"rendered":"Ring Lights: Terrible!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Don’t buy a ring light thinking that it’s a magic pill. It’s more likely just a pill.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I used to be a fan of ring lights and think they were an awesome solution to solve all shooting issues. I even built my own<\/a> when they were hard to get. The three main things I want to solve with video \/ photo of a person’s face are attractive skin, eye reflection, and distinction from background. Ring lights solve all these things in ONE SPECIFIC SITUATION<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The good situation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ring light is close to the camera, the subject is close to the camera, the background is close to the camera. In the example above, the background is lit with another light, but if it’s were unlit, it would have a nice distinct dropshadow all the way around her face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is great with close proximity… I MEAN REALLY CLOSE PROXIMITY<\/a> (basically just makeup tutorials), but that’s not what most people need and they are buying ring lights like crazy in order to do totally different setups. The skin coverage, the reflection in the eye and the drop shadow all come because everything’s so close, the light source is big. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bad (common) situation <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As you move further away from something, it becomes smaller and dimmer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, people get… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • harsh lighting either from the front or the side (which you can get with any kind of light and shows off skin imperfections)<\/li>
  • dim lighting (which potentially takes away color)<\/li>
  • a tiny dot as a reflection in the eye (which makes eyes look beady, old, dry)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The solution is scale<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    If you’re trying to shoot a typical shot that includes more than your face, you’ll need bigger, brighter light sources. A big window without direct sunlight or softboxes can do the trick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Get distance from your background and maybe light it separately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Don’t buy a ring light thinking that it’s a magic pill. It’s more likely just a pill. I used to be a fan of ring lights and think they were an awesome solution to solve all shooting issues. I even built my own when they were hard to get. The three main things I want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158666434799935_26707174888":"","twitter_aToyMjM4MTQzMDs=_22381430":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woman-sitting-in-front-of-round-light-inside-dark-room-2250409-2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc33gc-cB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3228,"url":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/magic-pills\/","url_meta":{"origin":781,"position":0},"title":"Magic Pills","author":"scot","date":"December 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Like I wrote about yesterday, we often don't want to build a relationship with a customer or a fan. 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