[7-09] “Fill”

What is: the purpose of the Fill light?

The fill has one job, which is to brighten shadows.

It is possible for do portraits without any fill.

In the outdoor situations, fill is rarely necessary. There is so much light chaotically bouncing around that it is nearly impossible to get purely dark or even black shadows.

By “shadows”, I am refers to areas (usually skin) that receive no light, and therefore reflect no light back to the camera.

And it clear that if a picture has no fill, the shadows are very strong, and such shadows basically create pockets of high-contrast in the image.

These areas include:

• under the jaw

• side of the face (if the light is directional)

• clothings (obscured by other parts of clothing)

The purpose of the fill to not to entirely remove the shadow, but to remediate their severity. Yet, plenty of photographer find an absence of fill light to be somewhat interesting and dramatic, and useful, although it is equally stated that too many shadows do not enhance a portrait or headshot.

I have done portraits without fill for many years. For instance, a single-light configuration does not involve a separate mechanism for fill (but, the splash from a main light can often incidentally induce fill without intention).

I have used various types of lights (strobes/flashes) for the purpose of filling shadows.

I have also used reflectors under (and to the side of) the camera, to “fill in” the shadows.

Right now, for the sake of simplicity, I will control ambient light so that I do not need extra lights to handle the fill.

And ambients are good in my studio. The sun departs on the west and leave behind the residue of light from wood that has a warm-ish tint. But this all lacks directionality, meaning I do not really need to position any lights to get this effect.

I have used large lights to fill (rectangular soft-box), as well as tiny lights (e.g. bare-bulb strobe) to get these effects. With a very small light, I will see a sharp shadow in places where you might expect it: for instance, the lip of a t-shirt may create an upward shadow on the skin on the neck.