. Diffusion & Light Reflection in Your Films & Video Lighting for films and documentaries In this next section we will discuss different types of light diffusion and reflection. Diffusion. Using materials such as tracing paper or opal plastic acts to scatter the hard light coming through it and turns hard light into softer, gentler light. Specular reflection When you direct light off a glossy, white-toned surface the light will remain harsh and directional. Selective absorption Smooth gray or colored surfaces absorb some light and reflect the rest. Reflective surface With directional lighting you may have unwanted shadows cast on your subject. For example, if you had a basketball and you set-up a small light on the right hand side of it to cast a harsh directional light on it, the left hand side would be covered with shadows. If this is not the desired effect, you will need to place a white reflective surface (even a small white piece of paper may do the trick) on the left hand side to reflect the light and fill in some of the shadows on the left hand side. Using two lights to fill in the shadows Alternatively, if you have access to two lights you can use a second lamp on the other side of the object to fill in the shadows. However, you need to be careful with this technique because if you place two directional lights at equal distance from the subject then they will cancel each other out and you’ll have shadows on both sides. This looks very unnatural to have shadows on two sides of a subject. Imagine standing outside and having a shadow on either side of you. It’s just wrong. To fix the problem, you have two options. Either use a reflective surface or diffuse the light from your second light. The second light will therefore be soft light and won’t cast the unwanted, unnatural shadows. The best way to show you about lighting is through visual examples of how lighting can be used. We recently worked with a professional lighting studio to bring you various videos on how to use three point lighting and how to silhouette shots. We also demonstrate the difference in naturally lighting your shots vs. lighting your scenes with studio lighting. To see these videos you'll need to sign up as a student of our online film course.   Continue Below... Filmmaking: Lighting tutorial How to create a backlit scene in your film The importance of side lighting in your films Filmmaking techniques: Hard vs. soft lighting Diffusion & light reflection       .

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