Softening light from a mobile LED with shower curtain?

M

Mark-P

Well-known member
I want to shoot some video in very low light and will not be able to bring large lights. I’m thinking of attaching a small led light to the hot shoe of a camera. I want to soften the light, would cutting shower curtain liner and putting it over the light work well for this? Would it be better directly taped on the light or a few inches in front of it?

Thanks.
 
My reflexive reaction is that you'd need to experiment with your idea. If attached to the fixture the light would be both diffused/dispersed and reduced; if placed in front a few inches away, some would be reflected and may not provide the effect you're seeking.
Rather than cutting up something as large as a shower curtain, would a plastic bag or even tissue paper give you similar results?
 
I think it would make more sense to use parchment paper or cut apart a plastic milk jug, no sense ruining a perfectly good shower curtain liner. With that said, the hot-shoe isn't an optimal position for the light and putting diffusion material in close proximity to the light will do very little to soften it. Unless there's a permit or space issue, I'd recommend setting up a light stand, umbrella holder, and umbrella soft box.
 
What are you shooting?

If you are doing interviews / subjects in a dark place, any of those small video lights will work, large diffuser not really necessary.
I use them for event videography during galas and such, but only during "interview" portions, not for moving around.
I can't imagine a hot shoe light is going to look acceptable for anything other than event / docu / vlog.
 
If you are in a situation where you need an on camera LED, I'd recommend the F&V r300. You can get a magnetic milk diffusion add-on that softens it decently.
 
Mark-P said:
I want to shoot some video in very low light and will not be able to bring large lights. I’m thinking of attaching a small led light to the hot shoe of a camera. I want to soften the light, would cutting shower curtain liner and putting it over the light work well for this? Would it be better directly taped on the light or a few inches in front of it?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Why not move the light from on top of the camera? Place the shower curtain just outside your frame edge then shoot the light through it. Move the light nearer/closer to the shower curtain, fill it if you can. But you need to expose properly too, so the light may end up being pretty close to the shower curtain, which will still look better than the bear LED.

But to answer your question, yes shower curtain liner over the light will soften the light. A few inches in front is OK, but it won't soften it "well" compared to putting some real distance between the two.
 
I often put show curtain in front of LED lights. It doesn't do much to soften a light unless you hang it fairly far away from the light. It does, however, cut down on the incredibly harsh glare from LED light sources on people's eyes without cutting the intensity very much.
 
Personally I would go a bit more pro and invest $10 in small roll of diffusion gel.

Id try and get it a bit off the light if possible to make a larger source.

The cut up milk bottle is interesting! 'Gary Fong' used to make such things for stills strobe flashes.
 
Heh I got shower curtains for almost nothing for a short film recently, haven't used them on LEDs yet, but used it to knock down the light coming from a window due to the sun
 
It's a long time back now but the lighting designer for Beauty and the Beast at London's Dominion Theatre fresh in from the US, brought bags of delicatessen take-out bags with him because when cut and opened up they were just perfect for the follow spot softness they wanted. Always worth trying. Distance from source to increases the softening effect as the light source is the diffuser, not the light source itself, but of course this is also dimmer as mentioned above. Shooting video with soft light at very low levels makes focussing really difficult because hard edges - which you rely on to focus, will be missing. Sounds like perhaps a bit more light level and tweaking in post would much better.
 
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