How to use lights please help!

[thebledhrcfan]

Hi everyone. I have a halogen 500 watt floodlight. I really like it, and i'd like to use it to illuminate a person in a photograph and leave the rest of the room or area black. The thing is, whenever i use it, the light bounces everywhere, which is bound to happen, but is there anyway to get the backround to not be lit rather than just going outside? does anyone have any tricks up their sleeve?

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Move your subject further away from the background and feather the light off the background. You can also try and make some barndoors for it, but floodlights are pretty hot lamps.

If you have some sort of strobe system, even just a speedlight, that would be best. Even a speedlight that can go on the hot shoe of your camera would be better for portraits because floodlight not only get incredibly hot and can heat up a room very fast, but you also wouldn't be constantly blinding the subject. Strobes give you more control over your ambient exposure too, giving you more control over your lighting and shutter speeds.

 

[thebledhrcfan]

thanks man, that helps so much

 

[Mike_E]

You could also get a length of double walled the stove pipe from your local hardware store. Get to the 8 in. in diameter size, and you should be able to knock together a pretty effective spotlight.

Another thing to try is called a French flag. Basically, it's a piece of cloth hung between the light the subject to block the light in certain areas.

Good luck with it.

Mike