What it does
The beam is a picture. White slide = hard rectangular source with straight edges and exact inverse-square falloff. Image slide = colour, texture and shape carried by the light itself.
Light sources
Video projector
A digital projector throws a rectangular field of continuous light — plain white for hard key, or a photograph that lands on skin and set at once.
What it looks like
How to use this tool
When to use it
Editorial and music portraits where the light is the image; gradient or texture washes; any lesson where changing a file changes the whole look without moving a stand.
What to look for in the photo
Same slide on wall and subject proves one continuous field; rectangular edge visible on backdrop; nose shadow hides on camera axis.
Placement basics
Tape throw distance — width scales with distance. Keep camera near projector axis for legible Mode B; step off axis only when form matters more than flat picture.
Distance & power
Halve distance → halve rectangle width and gain two stops. Meter on full-white slide first; every tone in the image sits below that top of scale.
Common mistake
Face-only overlay that never reaches the wall — that is compositing, not projection. Fix: kill room light, verify pattern on backdrop behind the head.
Pro tip
Mechanical shutter at or below sync speed — a short shutter samples the colour wheel and records bands that are not in the slide.
Practice on set
- Project full-white slide; meter wall centre and mark rectangle width on floor.
- Load image slide without moving stand; confirm wall and face share the same picture.
- Bracket throw distance once — watch width and meter move together.
- Flag rectangle edge with black card before adding any second source.
Pairs well with
Flag / cutter
Flags (cutters, barn doors, black flats) block light — they subtract instead of add.
Haze / atmosphere
Haze (fog oil, hazer, light smoke) scatters light so beams become visible volumes — advanced atmosphere.
V-flat
V-flats are large folding panels — white bounce one side, black negative fill the other.
Black card (product)
Black cards beside glossy packaging carve dark reflection bands — shape without changing lights.
Related setups
Every matched setup is already shown above. Browse the library →