Candlelight From A Speedlite
Candle light is one of the toughest types of light to work with for several reasons. There’s the obvious health and safety issues with naked flames and when your studios ‘made of wood (like mine is) that’s a big concern. That aside, candle light is also incredibly dim which is why film and TV directors fake candle light… and so do I.
In this video tutorial I’ll show you how to turn a speedlight in to realistic candle light which is safe, predictable and bright enough to keep your ISO at sensible levels.
I’m using a modified lantern as my virtual light source. If you want to get the same lamp then pop along to your nearest Ikea where you can pick one of the Rotera Lanterns up for around £2.00 (see link below) all you need to is leave it exposed to the elements for a few years and it’ll look just like mine 🙂
Can’t view the video? Try this link http://youtu.be/Z_7kQorCwkU
Equipment used in the video:
Adobe Photoshop CS6
http://www.adorama.com/searchsite/default.aspx?searchinfo=photoshop+cs6&category=4294967278+11&KBID=67338
Canon 60D
http://www.adorama.com/ICA60D.html?KBID=67338
Canon 24-105L f/4 IS
http://www.adorama.com/CA24105AFU.html?KBID=67338
Ikea Lantern
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/26472200/
Hi Gavin. Great video as usual.
I have a question. Wouldn’t it have been the same adjusting the white balance instead of using the gel on the speedlight?
I thought that gels where handy to unify different sources of light (like tungsten and flash), but perhaps I’m missing the point.
Thanks!
Hernan
The results would have been similar but not the same… I tried that way too 😉
Aha! will give the gels a go then. Thanks again !!
I love your videos Gavin.
I have a question for you. Where do you find your inspirations for your creations ?
Hi Gavin. I tried this and it worked a treat (I used an empty Pringles tube rather than the black card – which I also use as a poor man’s snoot!). Just one question though – does it matter what zoom setting your speedlight is set to?
Thanks again for a great video tutorial 🙂
The results will look the same but the power of the light might alter
Hey Gavin,
that’s a very nice Video, thanks for that! I’ll definitely try this out for myself =)
If you like Color Gels for your flash, maybe you’ll like this project on kickstarter which i just found out about.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/508804913/the-rainbow-flash-wizard?ref=home_location
Cheers,
Martin
Awesome video Gavin! I have always liked watching your tutorials and I learn so much, even having been in an art school.
Message: Hi Gav. I’m a huge fan. but your workshops are not available in my country. I have a Canon 5D iii. When i export my raw files from lightroom, it is only 2mb big. that’s only 0.7mb bigger than my canon 400d. what am I doing wrong? I changed my export to photopro. tiff, etc