How To Use Barn Door Lighting

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Recently, I had a portrait shoot with the legendary poet, rapper, and actor Saul Williams. It began with a elementary stroke of luck: I saw he was scheduled to perform at a local club nearly my house, and and so I did a quick search for the name of his managing director. I easily found information technology and e-mailed them, introducing myself and explained that I would like to take his portrait.

I said that I could meet him at the venue later on the sound check and would demand but 15 minutes. To my excitement, they agreed. His art had made quite an impact in my life, and then I really wanted to put a lot of thought into a concept for the shoot.

While revisiting his music, I had the idea that his vocalization, what he has to say, is a light in the darkness. This led me to the concept of putting Saul in a red scene, almost complete shadow, with a thin ray of pure white light illuminating his eyes. I didn't merely want a spot of light on him, just instead I wanted a thin line of light that ran across the wall and led through the frame to his face. This would require a light modifier that I didn't ain at the time; I would need barn doors for my flash.

Barn doors are metal flaps that tin can open and close, covering the left, right, top, and bottom of the low-cal. They are typically used on studio strobes or hot lights. It's the tool you need when you want to create a narrow line of light, either vertical or horizontal. The trouble is that they aren't available for small flashes. At least, they weren't at the local camera shop I went to hours before my shoot was scheduled to begin (I had finalized the concept for the shoot that morning).

Coming upwardly short at the camera shop, I decided to craft my ain barn doors.

I grabbed a canvas of black foam board, some black gaff tape and a utility pocketknife. I measured the width and height of the end of my flash and cut pieces of foam board to match it. After taping the 4 pieces together to make a tight-fitting box for the wink, I cut two boosted strips of foam board and taped them over the opening. These flaps were the barn doors.

I wanted some barn doors for my flash, and when I couldn't find any, I built my own out of black foam board and gaff tape. — I wanted some befouled doors for my flash, and when I couldn't find any, I built my own out of black foam board and gaff tape.

The gaff tape over the seams allowed them to hang open at a crude 45-degree bending. If I wanted an extremely small opening, I could pinch the flaps closed to the desired opening so hold them in positioning with a strip of tape.

Here is the resulting portrait of Saul Williams, lit perfectly with my DIY barn doors. — Hither is the resulting portrait of Saul Williams, lit perfectly with my DIY barn doors.

Equally you tin can see in the photograph above, the DIY barn doors worked like a charm. The best part about the modifier is that y'all tin blast it flat in your camera pocketbook, once it's removed from the flash because in that location is an opening on the front and back of it. It's the smallest, cheapest, and nearly effective calorie-free modifier that I own.

A calendar week after I was in New York City on a shoot and was staying in a hostel in Williamsburg. I had an actress day to exercise some test shooting, so I reached out to a few models. Two of the three models said that information technology'd be easier for them to come up to me. I explained that I was staying in a hostel and sharing a room with two roommates, so space would be extremely tight. They were fine with that.

I knew that with the especially cramped room and express wall infinite, I'd actually need to get creative with my lighting. Enter my newly crafted barn doors. As you can see, I literally had to prop my light on a coat hanger and identify my model by the door in order to have a blank wall space behind her.

The set up. I propped up the flash (with barn doors attached) on a coat hook in my hostel room to create a dark, dramatic scene for a portrait. — The set upward. I propped up the flash (with barn doors attached) on a coat hook in my hostel room to create a dark, dramatic scene for a portrait.

With the flash's close proximity to the wall and the improver of the befouled doors, a cool, unplanned thing happened — lasers.

The raw file. Although the setup was nearly identical to the setup, the light through the barn doors is much more focused and narrow here. — The raw file. Although the setup was well-nigh identical to the setup in the previous portrait, the lite through the barn doors is much more focused and narrow here.

As I mentioned earlier, the Cactus flashes make a absurd, prism-like upshot when fired along a surface. When I place the barn door modifier on the flash and fire it along a surface, the prism effect is even more than pronounced, condign laser-like in appearance. I wanted the wall behind the model to be a little out of focus, assuasive some separation between the model, so I shot at a slightly wider aperture of f/ii.8.

The lighting diagram. I wanted the wall behind the subject to go a little soft, so I shot at a slightly wider aperture of f/2.8. — The lighting diagram. I wanted the wall behind the discipline to go a little soft, so I shot at a slightly wider aperture of f/ii.viii.

In Lightroom, aside from my normal color grading, I likewise wanted to add a bit of graininess to the image to requite the images a film noir vibe. This can be done in the Furnishings panel.

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Experiment with the Amount, Size, and Roughness settings for the grain to find what you adopt. If you plan on whatever retouching to the prototype, exercise it before adding grain or the retoucher will hate you.

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In the final shot, the tiny hostel room is no more than. It'due south just Larissa, alone in the void.

The final shot, complete with laser. Dr. Evil would be pleased. — The terminal shot, consummate with laser. Dr. Evil would exist pleased.

When I was photographing the Los Angeles industrial two-slice, Youth Code, I wanted to employ this lighting event. However, because the low-cal is so narrow when lit from the side, information technology wouldn't work to light both musicians evenly. Instead, I used two strobes, each outfitted with barn doors.

I wanted to use this lighting effect on the band Youth Code. Because the light was so narrow, however, I needed to use two lights, one for each subject. — I wanted to use this lighting effect on the ring Youth Code. Because the low-cal was and so narrow, nonetheless, I needed to use ii lights, one for each subject.

The barn doors were open up a bit more this time, assuasive the lite stream to exist a scrap wider.

The final shot is punchy and epic, just like the band's music. — The last shot is punchy and epic, only like the band'south music.

You lot can still apply the barn doors to create a narrow, linear lighting consequence when photographing a group of people. When I photographed the metallic band Deafheaven, I wanted to accept them isolated against a seamless white, with their bodies silhouetted and only their faces illuminated. I met them at the venue at the fourth dimension of their sound check and I prepare a white seamless sweep.

The setup. In order to light the whole band, from left to right, my main light needed to be about 15 feet in front of them. — The setup. In order to lite the whole band, from left to right, my primary lite needed to be about 15 feet in front of them.

I would've preferred to just use a white wall every bit a backdrop, merely this club, similar well-nigh clubs, didn't take open, white walls. Thankfully, I brought a portable backdrop kit and a coil of white seamless with me just in example.

After setting up the sweep, I placed two flashes on the ground most 5 to 7 anxiety in front of it, at either end. I aimed them up at a 45-caste angle to get an even spread of light across the white. I laid downward a strip of black gaff tape merely in front of the groundwork lights, indicating where the band would stand up. I placed my chief light, with DIY barn doors fastened, about 15 feet in front of the tape line and raised it up to fifteen feet.

I needed the greater distance to allow the strip of light to be wide enough to cover all five ring members. Had it been closer, the guys at each cease of the group would've been in shadow. By raising the light to a high angle, the low-cal falling on them was making more dramatic light than it would've at a direct-on bending. In the last shot, you can't even run across the groundwork lights considering they were backside the legs of the subjects—another bonus of using pocket-sized flashes.

The final shot. The band is looking fresh to deaf…heaven. — The final shot. The band is looking fresh to deafened…heaven.

In the photo beneath, you tin see that I am using a bootleg snoot that is especially long—two feet long, in fact. I also placed a cookie (an object that is placed in forepart of a light source in order to change its shape or quality) over the opening, leaving merely a narrow, horizontal opening for light to escape.

This is a DIY, 24-inch snoot, complete with cookie. This extended modifier gives the light a more defined edge than the shorter one I used with the barn doors. This is because the distance from the light source to the gobo, or cookie, is greater. — This is a DIY, 24-inch snoot, consummate with cookie. This extended modifier gives the lite a more defined edge than the shorter one I used with the befouled doors. This is considering the distance from the light source to the gobo, or cookie, is greater.

The added length of the snoot shapes the low-cal into a narrower, more even and defined line than the shorter barn door snoot, equally the cookie is further away from the flash. The closer the barn doors, cookie, or lite modifier is to the flash, the softer the edges of the light output will be.

The light output from the extended snoot is narrow, defined, and even. — The low-cal output from the extended snoot is narrow, defined, and even.

Finally, you can even become a great effect by placing the barn doors on your flash, while it's on your camera's hot shoe. The horizontal banding creates a cool, dramatic effect.

You can get a cool effect with the barn doors even when the flash is sitting on your camera's hot shoe, as seen in this image. — You lot can go a absurd effect with the barn doors fifty-fifty when the flash is sitting on your photographic camera's hot shoe, as seen in this image.

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About the author: Nick Fancher is a Columbus, Ohio-based portrait and commerce photographer. You can connect with him on Facebook hither. You can besides find more than of his piece of work and writing on his website and Instagram.