February 3, 2026

Light distance is the quiet setting that can wreck an otherwise solid portrait in minutes. Move a light a little, and the subject looks fine while the background suddenly turns muddy, or the exposure slides off without an obvious reason.

Coming to you from Ed Verosky, this practical video focuses on how the distance between a light and a subject changes exposure and contrast faster than most people expect. The core idea is simple: small shifts can produce big changes, especially when the light is close. Verosky frames this as a problem you’ve probably seen in real shoots, where everything looks good, then a small reposition turns the frame into a guessing game. He ties the problem to light falloff, and he keeps it grounded in decisions you actually make on set, like where the light sits relative to the face. If you’ve ever wondered why a tiny move suddenly forces you to rethink everything, the explanation here lands.

The video also connects distance to the look of the light, not just the meter reading. As the source gets closer, it acts larger relative to the subject, and that changes how quickly shadows transition. That’s why a softbox close to the subject can feel smoother, while a smaller source or a bare unit can feel more abrupt. Verosky is clear that this is not about fancy modifiers or secret recipes, it’s about geometry you can’t escape. He also draws a line between “looks right” and “is stable,” since a close light can be touchy enough that a few inches becomes a real exposure shift. If you tend to set the light where it fits and then improvise, this is the part that can save you from chasing settings.

Where the video gets especially useful is the way it turns a common headache into a repeatable adjustment process. Verosky walks through what happens when distance changes force you to compensate, and he names the controls that actually help when you’re using flash rather than continuous light. He explains why shutter speed is not the first lever to pull for flash exposure, which is where many people waste time. Instead, the trade tends to show up in power changes or in ISO and aperture choices, and he gives a concrete distance example that makes the math feel less abstract. If you’ve been bumping settings without understanding why you keep landing on the wrong side of the look you wanted, you’ll recognize the pattern he’s describing.

The background section is where you’ll probably pause and rethink your setup. The video lays out why a background can go gray even when the subject exposure looks correct, especially with a light placed close to the subject and the background sitting several feet behind. That distance gap means the background simply receives less illumination, and it can drop quicker than you expect. Verosky suggests a couple of ways to control background brightness that don’t require a second light, including moving the subject and light together to change how far the background sits from the source. He also touches on what happens when you push the light far away to even out exposure across subject and background, and the visual downside that can come with that approach, especially if you’re relying on a strobe to do more than just “light the room.” Check out the video above for the full rundown from Verosky.

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Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based photographer and meteorologist. He teaches music and enjoys time with horses and his rescue dogs.

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