best type of light for backlight/hairlight???

N

Nicholas Natteau

Veteran
I just recently purchased an Ikan 500 3-light kit. The lights are great but I'm having trouble using one of them as a backlight/hairlight. My problem is that whenever I aim the backlight down on the top of the talent's head, the light tends to spill over onto their face.

Should I be using a much more focused light than an Ikan 500 as a backlight, and if so, what type of light would work best as a hairlight to separate the subject from the background?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.
 
What u shoould be doing is flagging or cutting that light beam to where you want. If its spilling on the talents face and the barndoor isnt sufficient then u will need to flag that light. Use a cstand or some kinda grip stand and mount a black flag to cut the light so it wont spill. U can use blackfoamcore also. If 500 is 2 harsh then use ND or a scrim to bring down the light intensity. theres nothing wrong with your light just control it better.
 
Nicholas Natteau said:
I just recently purchased an Ikan 500 3-light kit. The lights are great but I'm having trouble using one of them as a backlight/hairlight. My problem is that whenever I aim the backlight down on the top of the talent's head, the light tends to spill over onto their face.

Should I be using a much more focused light than an Ikan 500 as a backlight, and if so, what type of light would work best as a hairlight to separate the subject from the background?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Click to expand...
Yes, to the above, plus:

Assuming you have the LED kit, each fixture is relatively large compared to the head. If it's close to the head the sides of the face will see the light and vice versa. If you've got unwanted spill onto the face try moving the light back until it is relatively smaller than the face. Flags and doors will help but moving the light away is your first step. Then try snooting the fixture with black wrap. You can form the blackwrap into as small an exit opening as you like, which should let you clean up the unwanted light on the face. A little spill on the shoulders could be a good thing as the backlight's purpose is always to put an edge on the talent in order to separate them from the background and add to perceived depth.

In addition, it might be that the spill on the face is desirable if you can bring it in from behind, a bit lower and off to the side so that it provides both a rim for the head and a kicker kissing one cheek.
 
good advice

a bit off topic but where can i get blackwrap online....that stuff is like a legend where i am. Noone seems to even know what it is.
 
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