A Go-Between (or Gobo) is something you put in front of a light source when you are photographing something. The aim of a Gobo can be many fold - to directly alter the properties of light passing through it, to add mood, or to add pictorial elements to an image.
In my case, the goal is add some pictorial elements. I'm doing a shoot soon that will involve a fallen angel / almost biblical pictorial-ism - and, well, in lieu of a church to shoot in, the best thing I could do is get the hand tools out, get a knife, and get drawing (and cutting) in order to recreate the look of a stained glass window.
This is the initial stage of the Gobo, with very unclean lines. I'll fix them up eventually, but first there's a lot more cutting to do. Once it's all cut out, I chose to mask the edges with... you guessed it, masking tape, to ensure that the rough cuts from my dull knife didn't show up like a sore thumb when light travelled through the piece of cardboard.
And there's the masking tape added to the cardboard:
The final result, with some light shining through:
The only problem I will run into is one of space, and lighting. In order to effectively use this Gobo, I need an area approximately double the size of my current shooting environment when I'm shooting indoors, in my lounge room. There's a reason why Churches and medeival structures have the best soft light - the windows are far away, high and above, and there's cavernous room for the light to bounce around and caress each surface as it does.
Unfortunately, I'm not likely to get a room that's twice as big to shoot in - so I might have to make to with deferring these Gobos to another period - or, alternatively, getting a sharper knife and a keener eye (I've got a steady hand!) in order to make tinier gobos that can essentially strap right onto the head of a speedlight, enabling better projections.
The other alternative is a cheap short-throw projector, or if I can find one - an old overhead projector - the type that used to be used in school rooms everywhere. Then's its just a matter of drawing on transparency and getting what I want projected, and captured photographically.
Or, I can skip the literal middlemen (these gobos) and ask someone who owns a church if I can shoot in it.
But, it'll be too late by then, because the shoot will be the day after I write this. :D
No cellophane stained glass? Where's the effort?
Easier to add the different colours in post-afterwards. :)
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Ahh this is a cool trick, I've used it before but in 3d where it's much easier to have lights wherever the hell I want them XD
I'm guessing you aren't able to adjust your lights enough to get the right kind of lighting?
Hope you were able to find a suitable place to use the gobo and get the kind of mood you want :D
I didn't end up using it at all! :(
Need lights with lenses on the end to correctly project at the right size / scale / crispness, but still have the laws of light to contend with, and well, can't change the properties of light itself, so I have to make do with whatever other creative machinations I may or may not come up with.
Thank you for always dropping by to leave a comment on my work and my ramblings, it means a lot!
Aargh! Oh well now you have a cool prop that you might still be able to find some use for down the line. Do you have a room or something for this stuff? XD
No worries, your posts are very commentable XD