Illuminations: Diffusion for Contrast Control
Working in direct sunshine means controlling high-contrast lighting. Often you do this by filling shadows with reflectors, but sometimes it's better to moderate both shadows and highlights together by diffusing the sunlight instead.
Why? Reflectors can look hokey unless deployed with great care. At best, the subject's fill side may be suspiciously bright for the environment. At worst, the hard light beams give a studio-like "lit" quality that appears fake outdoors. Diffusion can solve these problems, although it brings some of its own, as we'll see.
In effect, diffusion reduces and/or breaks up direct sunlight by shading the subject with a filter ranging from three to 20 feet square (though the big types are strictly for large production companies with well-stocked grip and juicing trucks). Typically, diffusion material is stretched on frames, suspended with ropes, or simply held by crew members.
Diffusion comes in three flavors: screens, silks, and sunblocks. Screens are simply coarse plastic screening fabric available in the garden department of any home improvement store. Supplied in two or more densities (originally to suit different plant needs, defined by percentage of light blocked), screens are versatile and easy …
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