Blocking/shaping light with barn doors on LED lights seems to produce a visible checkerboard pattern on the wall in the testing I've done. It makes sense to me why this happens (the light isn't one smooth source, but 600), but I have never heard of anyone complain or even mention this issue at all. Do you guys know what I'm talking about? What even is the point of barn doors on LED lights if they mess up the light so much? The checker pattern is visible all over, and no doubt would be visible on whatever or whoever you're lighting.
LED lights + barn doors = checkerboard light pattern?
- Thread starter dv416
- Start date
paulears
Veteran
It's just how it is. Not new though. If you used a barn door to edge out a soft light with an egg crate on it, you had a similar jiggly line. Flapped off linear lamps have different sharpness edges on the parallel and 90 degree off to the tube dimensions. LEDs just produce another kind of edge. Theatre people use RGB LED to get white quite often, and then get CMY& shadows on edges - even weirder!
David W. Jones
Veteran
Use the barn doors to hold something like an Opal Frost gel with a few C-47s. That will give you a more diffused single source. Then use 4x4 solid on a C-stands to flag the light as needed.