Best fabric to take the edge off direct sunlight, without feeling too soft?

[Mark K.]

Alrighty folks,

I need a little help here. I'm trying to find a diffusion fabric that works well in 'direct sunlight' type situations.

I want something that takes the edge off the sun (particularly when it's high overhead), but still leaves enough of a specular quality, and some shape to the shadows across actors' faces, that it doesn't draw attention to the fact that the light has been softened.

I find that half soft frost is transmissive enough that faces still look appropriately bright enough (compared to the background being hit with direct sunlight), but it softens the shadows too much.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

I'd be looking for something I could get in 12x12 sizes.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Try 1/4 Silk, it leaks enough specular light to still give you some crispness.

But also the softness is affected by the distance, so if your diffusion is on a crane like a flyswatter rig then the actor is being lit by a less large source and the shadows are less soft.

 

[Mark K.]

Thanks David, I'm going to shoot some tests with 1/4 silk, 1/4 grid and hi lite and see how they compare.

I've also just heard of perforated hi lite, which sounds like it's probably what I'm looking for (but could be a pain to maintain) I'm going to see if I can source some of that as well.

I stopped using silk a few years ago, because I generally hated the results I was getting from it. It seems to do nothing much to shadow quality, and mostly just to contrast (sort of lifts the shadows without softening their edges), which I found pretty unpleasant when I first decided to give up on it.

But with hindsight on my hands (and a growing distaste for the 'permanent softlight' style that seems to have become the norm in everything I'm seeing) I'm thinking it's time to revisit it and see how it compares.

 

[Ulf Krentz]

Thanks David, I'm going to shoot some tests with 1/4 silk, 1/4 grid and hi lite and see how they compare.

I've also just heard of perforated hi lite, which sounds like it's probably what I'm looking for (but could be a pain to maintain) I'm going to see if I can source some of that as well.

I stopped using silk a few years ago, because I generally hated the results I was getting from it. It seems to do nothing much to shadow quality, and mostly just to contrast (sort of lifts the shadows without softening their edges), which I found pretty unpleasant when I first decided to give up on it.

But with hindsight on my hands (and a growing distaste for the 'permanent softlight' style that seems to have become the norm in everything I'm seeing) I'm thinking it's time to revisit it and see how it compares.

I found a good way to get an idea of how softening / altering of shadow will come out is to look through it. Those fabrics that still show the scene behind it (kind of fog like) will soften but keep the lights character, those that don´t let you see through (even when seem to be only light diffusion) behave more than a new light and will produce different shadows. As David already mentioned before, it´s also of great impact where you place the diffusor between light and object.

 

[Ryan Purcell]

You could also try a single white net or a double white net. Not easy to find but they're nice for that kind of a look. Less diffusion than a quarter silk and seamless - sometimes quarter silks have a stitch line which always has to be worked around.