Page 37 - Lighting the Un-lightable Volume 1 #3

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and, (b) the volume of light already in the space also shapes the pattern and degree of diffusion. In
this room, there was a significant volume of light entering through the windows and the intensity of
that light would have dwarfed even six 1,000 watt strobes. In effect, we relied on this to "push" the
light from the strobes into the darker, under lit areas to the right. Positioning the strobes so that they
intersected around the light also meant that we would be able to deflect light from the windows down
around the furniture and into the areas along the floor.

So what makes the volume of light consistent? Simply put, when the tonal difference between black
and white is one F-stop the volume of light is consistent. As the tonal difference between black and
white exceeds two F-stops, the volume of light becomes increasingly inconsistent and therefore more
problematic. Remember - a difference of one full F-stop means that the difference between black
and white is double. A difference of four F-stops would mean that the difference between black and
white would be on the order of 32-fold. While the human brain can compensate for such a significant
variation easily, the camera cannot. Detail, color, texture, contrast and a sense of space are all lost or
diminished. And consequently, so is the emotional experience.

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