Successfully crafting light in photography is just as much about keeping it out of places it should not be as it is about controlling how it falls on your subject. This excellent video tutorial will introduce you to a fundamental tool for removing light from a scene, flags, and show you how they can improve your photos.
Coming to you from Daniel Norton, this excellent video tutorial will introduce you to flags and show you how you can use them to control your lighting. Flag are very simple devices; they are simply any physical object used to block light. You likely already use them in your everyday life; for example, the sun visor in your car is a flag. Flags are so useful because they allow you to precisely control where the light is falling in your scene. For example, say you are shooting a portrait and using a large octabox overhead to provide soft, flattering light on the model. This might give you the quality of light you want, but as a byproduct, there might be a lot of light spilled on the backdrop, which you may prefer to keep dark. This is where a flag could come in handy, as you could use it to block the part of the light falling on the backdrop without changing what is striking your subject. They are quite handy tools; check out the video above for the full rundown from Norton.
Really good and informative, thanks!