Grids, Flags, Snoots & Fresnels (Oh My)

When you start diving into the world of lighting, you will likely run into several questions regarding products that are seemingly the same thing – or at least achieving the same thing. How does a snoot differ from a Fresnel? What’s the difference between using a grid, and using a black flag to control a light? There are a lot of nuances in each of these types of products, so I figured it was time to take a dive into each and explain what they do, and the important differences between each of them.

For ease of understanding, this article is going to be broken down into two categories – comparing grids with flags, and comparing fresnels with snoots. All of these pieces of gear provide a unique lighting style to your work but offer similar results depending on what you are looking to do. So let’s dive into this brief explanation of each.

Grids

Grids are the black gridlike patterns that are sometimes attached to softboxes, or bare lights. You’ve almost certainly seen these before, and they are designed to help control the light to a certain measured degree. If you start looking at light as a directional cone, a grid is designed to shrink that cone into a smaller angle of light. This number is usually advertised as a degree rating and helps further control a light, without affecting its intensity or quality (in regards to how soft or hard the light is).

The purpose of a grid is to control the direction of your light to a more precise degree. This can be for a wide variety of purposes, from highlighting a specific subject from a small group, to controlling the light so that it doesn’t bounce off of the wall next to your subject.

Flags

Flags also control the light, but in an entirely different method. Whereas a grid will control the light to shrink the angle of light from (or near) the source, a flag will control the light by cutting the light through blocking techniques. A black flag can be placed between your light and subject to help control the light through negative fill, or used to make cuts to the light and help create direct shadows on your subject.

What a flag is is pretty ambitious overall. V-flats are considered flags; floppy’s are considered flags, barndoors are flags, and then there are also the 24″x36″ flags that come in a variety of different types and materials. However, flags all hold the same principle, to better control the light. White flags will work as a bounce or fill, whereas black flags absorb or provide negative fill.

Snoot

A snoot is a specialized attachment that is used to control the direction of light. It typically has a narrow, tubular shape and is often attached to a flash or other light source. Because of how they operate, snoots only work as tools mounted directly to the light, and so they don’t have nearly the versatility of grids or flags. Ultimately, a snoot is designed to give you a controlled beam of light, often used to create a spotlight effect on your subject.

Fresnel

A Fresnel lens is a thin, lightweight lens that uses a series of concentric grooves or steps to refract light. These grooves are designed to concentrate or spread light so that the light beams are (nearly) parallel with your intended subject.

How a fresnel contrasts with a snoot is simple – a fresnel will concentrate the light beams toward a specific beam angle of light, whereas a snoot will block the light beams into a particular angle of light. So what does that mean? To put it simply, the light quality will be different between the two. A fresnel is going to alter the angle of light from the source, so that it is running nearly parallel, meaning you’ll be able to get more output from the light when compared to a snoot. Because of the parallel light beam structure, fresnels are often used to mimic sunlight – as both give an extremely directional beam of light. By contrast, the snoot is going to block the angle of light – so as you move the snoot further away, your light edges will be far less crisp, as the light is still exiting the snoot in a cone orientation.

So that is your basic breakdown of these unique lighting modifiers that are often confused between each other. When used effectively, each of these light modifiers offer unique qualities of light that will elevate your work. Do you have examples of using some of these light shaping tools? Feel free to chime in using the comments below.

Author: Zach Sutton

I’m Zach and I’m the editor and a frequent writer here at Lensrentals.com. I’m also a commercial beauty photographer in Los Angeles, CA, and offer educational workshops on photography and lighting all over North America.

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