Portrait photography tip: Flashing through fabric

Thursday 7 July 2022, 16:32 by Elja Trum | 4,094 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

When you start working with flashguns, it is quickly fun to use light modifiers as well. Usually, you are talking about softboxes, but you can also be more creative and simply place something else between your flash and your model.

Lenny - f/8, 1/160s, 400 ISO @ 70mm
Technically speaking, you are not really talking about a light modifier, but more about a gobo (or cookie, in the film world). A gobo is something you place between your light and your model, creating a shadow.

In these photos, I hung various items of clothing between my light and the model. Lace clothing was an obvious choice and works very well too.

Lenny - f/8, 1/160s, 400 ISO @ 90mm
For a change, we then placed other items of clothing in front of the light as well. This produced surprising results that I also think are fun.

To create a hard, defined shadow of the fabric, you need to shoot hard light through it. So you do not need a softbox here, a flash with a reflector and possibly even a grid on it works fine.

Make sure there is a few metres of distance between your flash and the fabric, and place the fabric close to your model instead. This gives you shadows that are not too soft, so the pattern of the clothing remains visible.

Lenny - f/8, 1/160s, 800 ISO @ 90mm
Bear in mind that the fabric can absorb a lot of light. If you use a denser fabric, as I did here in the last photo, you need to turn up the flash (or increase your sensor's sensitivity).

Share: WhatsApp Facebook

About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

Flash photography tip: shooting through fabric
by Elja Trum
Portrait photography in the forest with clothing and props
by Elja Trum
Working with flashguns, the basics of flash photography
by Elja Trum
Creative portraits with smoke and flashguns in nature
by Elja Trum
Portrait photography tip: Get creative with an underwater shoot
by Elja Trum
10 tips for photographing mushrooms
by Nando Harmsen

Show every article in Portrait photography

home

0 comments

There are no comments on this article yet.
Be the first to share what you think!

Have your say

Please note: Articles older than a week can only be commented on by signed-in visitors.
Would you still like to comment? sign in or create a free account.

Become a better photographer every week

A practical photography tip in your inbox every week.
39,178 photography enthusiasts already receive the tips! More about the weekly mail. Or keep up to date via Facebook. Sign-up secured with Google reCaptcha.

Elja Trum

Photofacts; everything to do with photography!

Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about Photofacts

Photofacts is made possible in part by