The first thing many photographers will do, when setting the key light, is place it fairly close to the camera.  Nothing wrong with that, of course; it works just fine, looks great, and is a comfortable, non-invasive, distance from the subject.

This month let’s take a look at what can happen if we place a large softbox key much closer to the subject, less than three feet in fact, and how we can utilize that pesky Inverse Square Law to get beautiful images with a unique look.

The Inverse Square Law states that light that travels twice as far from Point B to Point C than it did from Point A to Point B will be 1/4 as strong at Point C than it was at Point B.  Still with me?  This means that if Point A is 10 feet from the source and gives a light meter reading of f16 the meter reading at 20 feet from the source will be f8.  In practical terms, the Law means that light will lose its strength faster (fall off), as measured by a light meter, the closer one gets to the source.

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