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meazalykov · 2 months ago

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nazareth 18

kika nazareth x f!influencer!reader

when your millions of followers discover who your longtime girlfriend is

a whirlwind of light, a beacon on tiktok with over ten million followers hanging onto your every post, you were known for being so bright.

your content with beauty tutorials, travel vlogs, and that genuine, humble charm has made you… somewhat known to most people.

your face, glowing under golden-hour light or bright in casual settings, is synonymous with aspiration. yet, despite the fame, you’ve kept a piece of yourself private, tucked away from the prying eyes of fans and algorithms.

no one knows you’re in love.

no one knows you’re in love with a woman.

no one knows it’s kika nazareth, the portuguese stargirl at barcelona.

it started in barcelona, nearly two years ago. a mutual friend introduced you during a night out. kika, then ten months into being with the city’s club, was magnetic. the girl’s laugh is warm, her eyes bright with a quiet confidence, and her smile pulled you in.

you were struck by her ease to say the least. it’s the way she carried herself like she belonged everywhere and nowhere all at once.

“you’re the girl from tiktok, right?” she teased the first time you’ve met, her accent curling softly around the words.

you laughed, nodding, and said, “and you’re the footballer, right?”

it was light, playful.

over time, that undeniable spark grew. texts turned into late-night calls and coffee meetups became weekend getaways. you’d fly into barcelona between brand deals, and kika would sneak away from bonding with the team to steal moments with you instead.

when she tore her ankle ligaments, requiring surgery and months of recovery, you were there. you’d sit with her in her apartment, her leg propped up, and you’d talk about everything. for kika, the way the world felt too big and too small all at once, but you made it bearable.

“i don’t know how i’d do this without you,” she’d whisper, her hand finding yours.

you’d squeeze back, heart full, and say, “you don’t have to.”

now, almost a year into your relationship, you’re careful. your followers know you love barcelona since you’re always in the city somehow. you’ve posted about it enough, from selfies at the stadium to beachside vlogs.

still, they don’t know about kika. not yet at least.

you and kika have talked about it, about how to share your love with a world that’s both adoring and invasive.

“we’ll do it our way,” kika says one night, her head resting on your shoulder as you lie on her couch.

“slowly and softly, i hope.” you nod, tracing circles on her palm.

“wait– wouldn’t that be a soft launch?” you murmur, and she laughs kissing your cheek, “yes, exactly.”

the first hint to your fans comes by accident.

it’s a champions league group stage match, barcelona versus ajax. you’re in the stands, cheering, your face painted with the club’s colors. you’re not hiding since you’ve always been a fan, but cameras catch you and social media does the rest.

clips of you clapping, smiling, singing the anthem spread like wildfire.

“y/n is at a barcelona game again,” one post reads, “she’s basically part of the team.”

however, someone notices something.

they notice the way you linger near the tunnel, the way you wave at someone on the pitch. speculation begins.

“i know she is at the women's game but she seems very close with players on both the mens and womens team? is she dating someone?” a fan asks.

“gotta be,” another replies, “she’s too invested.”

you lean into it, just a little.

a few days later, you post an instagram picture.

y/n.l/n

liked by kika.nazareth, ferrantorres, and 189,719 others

y/n.l/n gold

~click to view all 3,910 comments~

it’s you, standing on a barcelona street at golden hour wearing the black away kit. the breeze catches your hair, making it dance, and the kit’s sleek lines stand out against the soft light.

you’re turned slightly away from the camera, casual in blue levi’s, but the vibe is effortless, magnetic.

the caption is simple with “gold” and within hours, the post has hundred thousand likes. from the mens team, ferran likes it. lamine likes it. pedri likes it.

the comments explode.

“y/n and ferran??”

“lamine’s got a crush, i’m calling it!”

“pedri would be cute for her tho!”

you see the speculation during a tiktok livestream at home at nighttime once, your phone propped up as you do a quick q&a. a comment pops up: “are you dating pedri or ferran? spill the tea!”

you laugh, shaking your head.

“guys, no,” you say with your voice light but firm, “not them. not anyone on the men’s team. let’s chill with the rumors.”

the chat goes wild, but you don’t elaborate. kika, watching from her apartment, texts you a heart-eyes emoji.

kika:

you’re cute when you’re dodging

y/n:

just wait.

you and kika plan the next step carefully. the champions league group stage match against arsenal is the moment. at first, you were doubtful but kika assured you that she is okay with everything.

you’re in the stands again, this time wearing the home kit, the number 18 and “nazareth” emblazoned on the back. you’re not subtle, but you’re not overt either…you’re just you, cheering for your girlfriend.

during the game, a fan snaps a photo of you talking to salma, who sits beside you since she is sidelined with an injury. you’re turned around from the fan’s camera, the “nazareth 18” clear as day.

the image hits x and instagram like a tidal wave.

“y/n’s wearing kika’s kit???”

“wait, is she…?”

the game ends with a 3-0 win, kika scoring a stunner in the second half. the crowd screamed, and you’re on your feet, screaming her name. after the whistle, kika jogs to the stands, her smile wide and unguarded.

you lean over the railing, reaching down, and she stretches up to hug you. it’s quick but electric, her arms tight around you, your hands cupping her face for a split second.

“you’re my hero,” you whisper, and she laughs, her eyes sparkling.

“and you’re mine,” she whispers back. cameras catch it all, and the internet loses its mind.

by morning, your social media is a storm.

“y/n and kika nazareth are dating???” a tiktok with a full discussion blows up. they’ve been stitching together clips of your interactions: kika liking your posts, you commenting heart emojis on her posts, a blurry photo of you two at a café last summer.

“how did we miss this?”

“they’ve been soft-launching for months, and we thought they were just friends.”

“y/n as a wag is everything,”

“and a woman’s wag? iconic.”

you and kika sit on her balcony that night. she’s in a hoodie, her hair loose, and you’re wrapped in a blanket, your phone buzzing endlessly.

“not like i would’ve cared anyways, but they’re happy for us,” you say, scrolling through comments.

“they’re freaking out, but they’re happy.”

kika pulls you closer, her lips brushing your temple.

“good,” she says softly, “because i’m happy. i want them to know how much i love you.” your heart skips, and you turn to kiss her, slow and sweet.

“i love you too,” you murmur against her lips.

“always.”

you hear footsteps come out towards the balcony, the light door opening as you look up to see vicky looking down at y’all, “get a room.”

“oh, i forgot you were here.”

you joke, everyone laughing as vicky sits down beside on the bench.

a week later, and people are not over it. tiktok edits of your hug after the arsenal match are everywhere, set to popular tracks with heart emojis flooding the comments. your followers, once clueless, now scour your old content for crumbs of your relationship, and they’re finding plenty.

there’s a fleeting glance in a vlog, kika’s laugh in the background of a story. you’re still the beauty and travel influencer they adore, but now you’re also a footballers girlfriend, and they’re obsessed with the shift.

you’re in your barcelona apartment, the one you’ve been staying in more often since kika’s recovery. it’s a cozy space, with sun streaming through the windows, casting warm patches on the hardwood floor.

you’ve set up your phone on a tripod in the living room for a casual tiktok livestream. you’re in a loose sweater, hair tucked behind your ears, chatting with your followers about your latest skincare routine as per usual.

the vibe is relaxed, your voice soft and easy as you read comments.

“yes, i’m still using that olehenriksen serum,” you say, laughing at a fan’s question.

“i'm not even sponsored but it is so good, i highly recommend.” the live has been going for about twenty minutes, with almost 29,000 people tuned in, their comments scrolling fast.

you’re mid-sentence, answering a question about your favorite travel destination, when kika’s voice floats in from the kitchen.

“babe, come try this!” she calls, her accent warm and lilting.

you glance toward the sound, a smile tugging at your lips.

she’s been in there for the past hour, clattering pots and humming to herself, determined to perfect a recipe her mom sent her…a portuguese caldo verde, she said, though she’s been tweaking it with her own spin.

you hold up a finger to the camera.

“one sec, guys, kika’s cooking something,” you say, your tone bright. the chat explodes with heart eyes and “kika!!!” comments.

kika appears in the doorway, a wooden spoon in one hand, her dark hair pulled into a messy bun. she’s in a barcelona hoodie, sleeves pushed up, and there’s a smudge of flour on her cheek that makes her look impossibly endearing.

“come on, it’s almost ready,” she says, beckoning you with a grin. she steps into the frame, unaware of the thousands watching, and holds out the spoon, a small pool of steaming broth glistening on it.

“taste,” she urges, blowing gently on the spoon to cool it down. her eyes are bright, focused on you.

you lean forward, letting her guide the spoon to your lips. the broth is warm, savory, with a hint of something smoky and rich. your eyes widen, and your jaw drops as the flavor hits you.

“wait, hold on!! that’s so delicious,” you say, your voice rising with genuine surprise. you grab her wrist, keeping the spoon close as you take another tiny sip.

“hold on, what is this?” you’re already standing, following her toward the kitchen like a kid chasing a treat.

kika laughs, glancing back at you with a playful roll of her eyes.

you’ve completely forgotten about the livestream. your phone, still propped up, captures the empty couch for a moment before the comments start bursting through.

“did she just leave???”

“kika’s cooking for her omg”

“this is so cute i’m dying.”

the kitchen is just out of frame, but your voices carry through the phone as you talk.

“okay, so what’s in this?” you ask, leaning against the counter. you can’t see kika’s face from the phone’s angle, but her voice is animated.

“potatoes, kale, some chorizo for the kick to it,” she says, “and i added a little smoked paprika because, you know, i’m extra.”

you laugh, the sound bright and unguarded.

“i feel like you’re always extra, sweetheart,” you say, the name slipping out naturally.

kika’s laugh is softer, closer, like she’s stepped toward you.

“shut up!! you love it,” she teases, and you can hear the smile in her voice.

“i do,” you admit, your tone so fond it’s almost tangible. there’s a clink of a pot lid, then kika’s voice again.

“okay, try this one now…it’s got more garlic.” you make a dramatic “ooh” sound, and she giggles.

“don’t mock me, this is serious business,” she says, but she’s laughing too. the livestream audience is eating it up, the chat a blur of “SWEETHEART???” and “they’re so in love” come in rapidly.

you’re in the kitchen for a good five minutes, tasting, joking, bantering. kika tells you about the time her brother tried to make the same soup and ended up with something “like dishwater,” and you’re wheezing, clutching her arm as you laugh.

you don’t realize how much time has passed until you glance at the clock and gasp.

“oh no, my phone!” you say, suddenly remembering.

kika raises an eyebrow.

“what, you’re still live?” she asks, and you nod, already jogging back to the living room.

you grab the phone, and your eyes widen at the screen since 17,000 people are still watching, the chat moving so fast it’s a blur.

“oh my god, guys, i forgot i was live,” you say, laughing as you sit back on the couch. your cheeks are flushed, partly from the kitchen warmth, partly from the realization that your entire love-soaked exchange was broadcasted.

kika follows, leaning over the back of the couch, her chin resting on her folded arms.

she’s still holding the spoon, and she waves it at the camera with a grin.

“hola!!!” she says, her voice playful.

you turn to kika, mock-exasperated.

“i left you guys for, like, ten minutes, and you’re still here?” you say to the camera, but your smile betrays you. kika laughs, reaching over to ruffle your hair.

“they’re a bunch of barca fans who are here for me, obviously,” she teases, and you swat her hand away, giggling.

“rude,” you say, but you’re leaning into her touch, your shoulder brushing hers.

you glance at the chat, catching a comment, the sweetheart moment was everything.

you groan, covering your face with your hands, “oh noooo you guys heard that?” you ask, peeking through your fingers.

kika just laughs again, loud and unselfconscious, and wraps an arm around your shoulders.

“guys please clip that, so she can’t deny the simp allegations,” she says, her voice warm against your ear.

you groan again, but you’re smiling, your head resting against her.

“whateverrr,” you say, softer now, and the chat fills with hearts.

the livestream ends a few minutes later, but not before kika makes a few jokes and reminds your chat to watch the next upcoming women’s clasico on friday.

you laugh, happy that your life has brought you to this point.

#kika nazareth #kika nazareth x reader #woso fanfics #woso community #woso x reader #barcelona femeni #fc barcelona #portugal womens soccer team #fc barcelona femeni #benfica women #alexia putellas #vicky lopez

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michaela-o · 6 months ago

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Hey ya all! Here's a thing i had in mind about how a tutorial written by decepticons on how to capture a human would look like :D

Enjoy!🧡✨️

Decepticon Recommendation: How to capture a human

Objective:

Humans are physically fragile but resourceful and quick to flee when threatened. A successful capture requires precision, intimidation, and a deep understanding of their weaknesses. The objective is to immobilize them efficiently while instilling fear, ensuring no damage that might render them unusable or dead unless necessary.

1. SCOUT AND ISOLATE THE TARGET

The first step in capturing a human is separating them from their support systems and escape routes.

• Identify solitude opportunities: Humans are most vulnerable when alone or in small groups. Wait until the target is isolated—walking in the dark, separated from a crowd or traveling in a vehicle through a remote area.

• Cut off communication: Humans rely heavily on their communication devices (phones, radios). Disable these devices first, either by emitting an electromagnetic pulse jamming their signal ir straight up crushing the device. With no way to call for help, their panic will increase.

• Block their escape routes: Humans are agile in confined spaces but slow in open terrain compared to a Cybertronian. Use the environment to your advantage by cornering them. Block off exits with your size, speed, or tools like energy barriers to force them into a limited area.

2. INSTILL FEAR AND CONFUSION

Humans respond predictably to fear. A frightened target is less coordinated and more likely to make mistakes.

• Make a show of power: Land heavily, crush nearby objects, or generate loud, reverberating sounds to assert your dominance. The more you appear as an unstoppable force, the quicker they will give up resistance.

• Use sudden movements: Humans are startled by abrupt changes in their environment. Appear out of nowhere, shift from stillness to speed instantly, or make sudden lunges to disorient them.

• Speak in a threatening manner: Use their language, but distort it to sound mechanical or predatory. Tell them what awaits if they resist, ensuring your tone conveys inevitability.

3. IMMOBILIZE THEM WITHOUT LETHALITY

Humans are painfully fragile. Overestimating their durability could render them unusable for sale or other purposes.

• Deploy restraints: Use non-lethal restraints like energy nets, magnetic tethers, or adhesive traps to immobilize them quickly. Avoid physical contact unless absolutely necessary, as their unpredictability can lead to unnecessary complications.

• Target mobility first: Humans heavily rely on their legs for escape. Immobilizing their lower body—through stunning their legs or pinning them to the ground—will neutralize their primary means of escape.

• Minimize struggle: If the human resists, use tools that apply pressure without causing harm. For instance, magnetic cuffs or a localized stasis field will incapacitate them without lasting damage.

5. ENSURE SECURE TRANSPORT

Once the human is captured, the transport phase is critical to ensure no escape attempts.

• Enclose the target: Humans are adept at exploiting even the smallest weaknesses in containment. Place them in an energy field, sealed pod, or reinforced cage to ensure they cannot interfere with your systems.

• Suppress movement: Even restrained humans can be disruptive. Induce a state of stasis by muzzling them, covering their helm or sedation to keep them docile during transport.

6. IF RESISTANCE PERSISTS

Should the human continue to resist, escalate your methods to assert dominance and ensure submission.

• Induce pain: Humans are highly sensitive to pain. A brief, non-lethal application of pressure or energy can quickly deter further resistance. For example, an electrical shock or tightening restraint will subdue most individuals.

• Make an example: If capturing multiple humans, ensure the others see the consequences of resistance. This will discourage further defiance.

• Break their will: Use psychological tactics such as threatening their loved ones or showing them the consequences of defiance through holographic projections or live displays of power.

KEY REMINDERS

• Avoid unnecessary damage: As stated above, dead or severely injured human is less useful for experimentation for they will last much less and are hard to sold on the black market for solid fortune.

• Control the narrative: Ensure the human understands their helplessness and that resistance will only lead to greater suffering.

"A human’s strength lies in their fragile belief in survival. Crush that belief, and their submission will follow." - decepticons

( lemme know if you would like me to make an Autobot version aswell !! :DD )

#transformers #transformers headcanons #transformers x reader #decepticons #tf idw #mtmte #idw #humans are space orcs #djd #djd x human reader #transformers idw #tf x human reader #tf x reader #yandere transformers #transformers mtmte #mtmte rodimus #mtmte drift #michaela o ramblings #michaela o writings

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moonstruckme · 8 months ago

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hello mae! you said that you’re tentatively thinking about doing poly! jily? how about them x shy!reader who is used to spending holidays alone but now that she’s in a relationship, James and Lily wanna give her experiences of like carving pumpkins, baking cookies, or something like that.

just cute and domestic fall activities!! I hope that’s enough.

Thank you for requesting lovely!

poly!Jily x shy!reader ♡ 845 words

You smile, and James plants his lips on your cheek just before the flash.

“Perfect,” Lily says while the camera whirs. She takes the photo it spits out, going to stow it in a shady corner of the porch.

“Now one with you,” James urges.

“No.” Lily waves him off as you second James’ request. “How would we get all of us and our pumpkins in it?”

“James has long arms,” you say.

"Yeah, Evans." James grabs you roughly around the shoulders, making your face heat even as you smile. "I have long arms. Give it here."

After some debate Lily hands over the camera. James holds it out as far as he can, waiting until you’re all holding up your jack-o-lanterns before pressing the button.

It goes beside the other photo, waiting for the film to develop. You know as soon as it does, both photos will be clustered in with the others on James and Lily’s fridge, held up by magnets beginning to lose their strength under the weight of so many. Lily has always liked to take pictures, and ever since you got together she’s been cramming ones of you into every empty space. This relationship is relatively new for you, and most days you’re still trying to figure out where you fit, but Lily and James do everything to make you feel welcome. In a million tiny ways, they show you all the time that they care just as much for you as they do for each other.

James looks between your pumpkins pridefully. “Whose do we think turned out the best?”

“Lily’s,” you say at the same time as Lily says, “Mine.”

James’ mouth falls open. “Mine was good too!”

“Sorry, Jamie.” You give his shoulder a consoling pat. “Hers is just better.”

The fact of the matter is, your girlfriend was simply patient where you and James were not. She outlined her jack-o-lantern’s face beforehand in marker, used a small knife to achieve the curvatures of one heart-shaped eye and one winking one, and took the time to make the edges of her cuts look nice and clean. James and you, however, tried to freehand things with much larger knives; it had not gone quite so well.

“I think there should be points for creativity,” says James, frowning at his botched pumpkin. He’d tried to give it round eyes, and in the process accidentally cut more than he meant to. The result is jagged and vaguely upsetting, so eventually he decided it was an ill pumpkin and trailed its entrails out of its mouth so it looks like it’s vomiting pumpkin guts.

“It was a very creative solution,” Lily tells James. And to you, “You did really well for your first time, too, sweetheart.”

You snort. Yours is nearly as bad as James’. Both of your partners had to show you how to saw through the pumpkin flesh more than once to keep you from yanking the knife out and stabbing yourself. After many tutorials, you’d managed two triangle-shaped eyes, but the teeth you’d tried to put in your jack-o-lantern’s mouth had fallen out, so now it just looks like a rather simplistic, very upbeat face.

“You did,” Lily insists, but she’s repressing a laugh too as she looks down at your pumpkin. “It’s cute.”

“It looks like something a five-year-old could have done,” you acknowledge.

“You and a five-year-old have about the same amount of experience carving pumpkins, so that’s not really so bad,” says James. He reaches for the polaroids Lily took. “Let’s see how these turned out.”

“James Potter,” Lily’s voice goes sharp, “don’t you dare touch those with your slimy hands.”

“Okay, alright.” James holds his hands up in the air. He stands instead, backing away slowly like Lily has him at gunpoint. “C’mon, lovie, let’s go fish the seeds out in the sink.”

“What for?” you ask, following him as he carries your large bowl of pumpkin entrails inside.

“If you separate the seeds and roast them, you can eat them.” James raises his eyebrows at you. “Don’t tell me you’ve never had pumpkin seeds before.”

“Nope.”

“Ugh. You poor, deprived girl.” James takes your face in his hands, and you smile despite the slick feeling of his pumpkin-y fingers on your cheeks. His eyebrows scrunch pityingly as he kisses above your nose. “We’ll right that wrong today, sweetheart, don’t you worry.”

“You haven’t been missing out on much,” Lily says, slipping past the two of you with your photos. She wedges them underneath a magnet on the fridge. “It’s a lot of effort for a snack.”

“She only says that because she can’t stand the guts,” James tells you conspiratorially.

“Really?” You mash your hands into the stringy pumpkin bits. “I kind of like them.”

Lily makes a face. “They’re all slimy and weird. And sticky.”

“Wimp,” James teases.

“You’ve just called them guts, James. In what world does that sound appealing?”

“Angel,” James says in a quiet voice, “you’ll protect me, won’t you?”

You frown at him. “Why?”

He picks up a small mass of pumpkin guts and lobs it at your girlfriend.

“James!”

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sirfrogsworth · 2 months ago

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Understanding the Inverse Square Law

(Without Math)

When I was first getting deep into photography, I kept running into lessons about the inverse square law. They would always tell you the effects and the math but they never explained the cause. Why does the light do this?

It's like when the doctor gives you a pill to fix something. You swallow it, wait a bit, and eventually you feel better. But you rarely know what the pill is actually doing.

So when it comes to lighting, you have to decide if you want to be the doctor who understands the why or the patient who just swallows the pill and gets the desired effect.

Every tutorial will say if you double the distance of a light from a subject, the intensity will drop by 1/4. They will give you a formula so you can do exposure calculations.

Sometimes they will refer to somewhat helpful diagrams with clues on what is happening.

But most just teach the easy version.

If you move the light closer, you will get quicker falloff into shadow and the background will be darker.

If you move it farther back, everything will be more evenly lit, but the background will be lighter.

The teacher will shoot some examples and show you something like this.

By the end of this post, I want everyone who reads it to *truly* understand what is happening.

Because if you understand it on that level, it will change how you think about light and photography. It will have the added bonus of explaining magnets and WiFi and even the sound coming out of your speakers.

If I am an effective teacher, this is something you will think about in your everyday life, even if you don't care about photography.

In a previous post, I talked about how light was a bit like a shotgun blast. The closer you are, the more concentrated the pellets. If you are farther away, the shot disperses.

But this wasn't the analogy I wanted to use. It was just the easiest to find visual examples of.

My preferred analogy was spray paint. And I'm hoping with some janky home-made visuals, I can do a better job of explaining the concept.

Let's start by explaining the humble photon. It's the fundamental particle (or wave) of light. Think of them like individual tiny globs of paint in a spray can. A photon is emitted when something loses energy. And unmodified light sources typically shoot out photon globs in all directions.

A point light source is a theoretical concept where a single point in space shoots light evenly in every direction. For our purposes we're just going to imagine a basic light bulb as the point source.

But our eyes and cameras have a limited field of view, so from here on out we are going to think of the light emitting from the bulb as having a cone shape. We are just concerned with what a camera can actually see.

Well, well, well... what does that cone of light look like?

I'm sure we have all used spray paint before. So let's imagine we are spraying a white ball against a gray wall. We spray for 1 second and hold the can at different distances.

In each scenario we are spraying for the same length of time and the exact same number of photon paint globs are emitted from the nozzle.

Let's think about what each scenario would look like from the camera's point of view.

Here is our unpainted ball and wall.

Here is the spray can held at Distance 1.

Note how the red paint is very concentrated and appears bold and saturated.

Distance 2.

Now the same amount of paint is dispersed over a wider area. The bold red spot in the center is more muted. And some of the paint is spilling onto the background.

Distance 3.

Everything appears to have a light red tint. The background and the white ball appear to have similar intensities of red. The coverage is very even. The same number of photon paint globs are being asked to cover a larger area so they are spreading out and diluting the color.

Okay, now let's exchange tiny photon paint globs for real photons.

I'm bringing back my baseball and showing these same 3 distances.

The nice thing about eyeballs and cameras... they can compensate for different light intensities. Our eyes have night vision and cameras have long shutter speeds, large lens apertures, and ISO amplification.

And if we compensate for the dimming caused by the dispersed light...

Photography teachers will tell you that if you move the light farther away, the background will get brighter. In reality, everything is the same level of dim and the camera exposure is brightened.

What if we wanted to spray the same area from far away without losing as much of the red saturation? We could add a super nozzle to our spray can that emits a bunch more photon globs in the same span of time.

This would be like turning up the power of the light. You have to emit a bunch more photons in that same time scale to compensate. Then you don't have to adjust your camera settings when you move the light farther away.

Let's look at a practical example of when you might think about the inverse square law to help solve a problem.

You have two subjects in a scene, and you put the light just out of view of the camera. You might be thinking that a larger light source is softer, so you want it as close as possible.

Unfortunately only one person is lit in the scene. She is getting the concentrated photons before they can disperse.

So if we want both people to have similar lighting, we can move the light farther away. You will have to comprimise a little softness. And you will have to change your camera settings or increase the power of the light.

Note that the intensity of light in the area they are standing in is very similar now.

By using a large light modifier, the photographer was able to move the light back and keep its general softness, but also evenly light both subjects.

And now I need to talk about one aspect of my spray paint analogy that does not work with the inverse square law. And it has to do with the specular highlight on the baseball.

Spray paint does not reflect paint. It just sticks to things. And reflection throws a tiny wrench into my explanation. Because parallel light rays do not obey the inverse square law. When you light something, the most central photons from the subject's perspective are going to be traveling in parallel. They have a direct path from the light to the camera lens or your eyeball.

Now if the reflection material is perfectly matte, the light will disperse and act as the inverse square law suggests. But if the surface is even a little glossy, the most concentrated parallel rays are going to bounce directly into your eye as a bright white spot.

And if you study this diagram a little closer, you might figure out why specular highlights are usually white.

If you look at the specular highlight on the baseball, even though the rest of the image gets dimmer as the light gets farther away, that spot stays bright.

Though the spot seems to disappear at Distance 1. Curious, eh?

It's still there. It's still reflecting directly into your eyeball. But the light around it is so concentrated and bright, the specular highlight blends in.

Which means if you have some nasty highlights on your photo subject, moving your light closer might make them go away. If someone has a shiny forehead, this can equalize the overall exposure and hide the shiny.

This guy has a bright spot on his nose. It is there in both photos.

But his face is so much brighter in the left photo that the spot blends in. It's a bit of a mind bender because the camera exposure is adjusted so the finished photos appear the same amount of bright.

You have to remember if you only move the light farther away and don't increase its power or increase the camera's exposure level, the photos would look more like this.

So if you make the rest of the face as bright as the highlight, it blends in.

Neat!

So, was I successful?

Does the inverse square law make more sense?

This is why WiFi gets weaker at a distance. This is why magnets lose their attraction when you pull them apart. This is why speakers get quieter when you move away from them.

I can't tell you how much knowing the why has affected my thinking about lighting. I see so many video and photo people talking about lighting setups who are just following memorized placements.

"Put a light above the subject at a 45 degree angle to get Rembrandt lighting."

But the second they encounter light doing something unexpected, things fall apart. They resort to trial and error and brute force the solution.

Knowing how the pill works can prevent that frustrating process.

I no longer care about the math. I can just visualize the cone of influence and predict what will happen. Understanding the behavior of light and not just the end effects has made everything more intuitive. I just wish it hadn't taken me so long to understand this. But, hopefully, this post has shortened that journey for you.

#long post #photography #lighting #inverse square law

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