Are You a Control Freak? Maybe You Should Be!

An awful lot of attention gets paid to modifying light but not as much to controlling it. There are probably a lot of reasons for this, not the least of which is that manufacturers and retailers would rather sell you a softbox for hundreds of dollars than a roll of black foil for twenty or thirty bucks. Of course, those same manufacturers and retailers are happy to sell you specialty grids for their softboxes -- grids control the light after all -- but those grids sometimes cost (nearly) as much as the softbox they're intended to accessorize!

BTW, I'm not downplaying the usefulness of grids because of their cost. They are a very effective way of controlling light and great additions to your arsenal of lighting tools. I'm only saying there are many ways to control light and some of them are as effective in their applications as they are in their costs.

Umbrellas, for instance, are very common light modifiers, possibly the most common. Unfortunately, umbrellas suck at controlling the light they are modifying. Sometimes, this isn't a bad thing. There are times when photographers want to scatter light all over the place and umbrellas are pretty good at doing so. Still other times, light scatter simply isn't an issue to be concerned about. But there are times when photographers prefer to keep the light they are modifying controlled and focused. At those times, umbrellas might not be the best choice for modifying a light source.

There are many ways to control light and many of them are as cheap as they are effective. As mentioned in my first paragraph, a roll of black foil is a great addition to any photographers bag of tricks. With foil, you can instantly create snoots of almost any shape. You can make things that emulate barn doors. Yep, you can control your light sources in many ways with black foil.

Flags are another way to control light. But flags don't have to be those semi-pricey ones sold by grip manufacturers and retailers. (Which often requires a stand and/or a grip head to employ.) Instead, as an example, you can purchase black foamcore and fashion your own flags with a knife or a pair of scissors, setting them where you need them. Since foamcore is so light, you can usually use tape or cheap clamps to put them where you need them. Flags aren't just used to control light, they are often set to prevent lens flares by blocking the light between its source and the camera's glass.

So next time you're shooting, don't just consider how you're going to modify light, think about controlling it as well. In other words, think about becoming a control freak. You might just see a big improvement in your photography!

The gorgeous girl at the top is Lorena from a shoot last fall.