Filling Diffusion in Tight Spaces

[Steven.M]

When filling a diffusion material in a confined space without much room to move a light back far enough to fill a frame completely, would a soft source such as a Litemat fill the frame more fully than a open face/COB light with reflector at the exact same distance to the diffusion, resulting in a softer light?

I’m asking because I have an upcoming shoot in a very confined space and would like to create a soft light on the subject (not concerned about spill at this point). I have 4x and 6x diffusions but only hard sources. If starting with a soft source is going to significantly soften the light then I will look into renting one.

Topic

[dmullenasc]

It’s always easier to fill a diffusion frame evenly with an LED softlight or any multi-bulb unit like a Maxibrute when you lack the space to back-up a hard light. But if you have the space, then you can evenly fill a diffusion frame with one hard source if it is full-flood and backed-up enough. Or use multiple hard sources in an array…

[Exajoel]

You can use small non-parabolic softboxes as an extra layer of diff without any additional grip.

[Stip]

Flex lights like Litemat are great for this since you could literally tape them to the wall if space is super tight.

[Steven.M]

Thank you all for your replies. I truly appreciate it.

I guess it’s a matter of testing, but as a follow-up question I was wondering if different diffusions fill up in different ways with everything else being equal.

For example Magic cloth having such a tight weave allows fewer parallel rays to pass through resulting in those rays bouncing back towards a reflector on an open face and then back again towards the diffusion itself but at a different angle than its original path.

Whereas muslin with a looser weave, despite being thick will allow more parallel rays through and be more susceptible to hotspots when the frame is not filled?

In a nutshell, I guess I’m trying to understand if some diffusions are more efficient at spreading light over their surfaces than others due to their unique properties.

Kind of nerdy question but nonetheless, curious about it.

[Exajoel]

Google “Matt Porwoll diffusion test” (can’t post links). TL:DR, magic cloth is largely not worth it. Eats up a ton of out put for a pretty minor difference.

[Author]

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