When you first hear the term gobo you might think it's a character from an adventure novel but it is, in fact, a photography tool. Gobo is an acronym that comes from the phrase 'GO Between Object'. It's literally anything that can go between your light and your subject or background to cast a shadow. Let's look at some examples of objects that could be used as a gobo and their effect on the subject. On the left you can see the setup and on the right, the image captured through a digital camera.
Plants
Plants are a brilliant way to bring some organic texture to your images. They are a very popular form of gobo due to their accessibility and low cost not to mention the variety. Another advantage of a plant gobo is that if it's sunny out, you can go and shoot with the dappled sunlight of a shady tree right now. Yes, even a tree in your local park is a gobo.
Layer up multiple different varieties of flowers and other plant life for some variation.
Glass
Glass is another great example of something that is very accessible. Go to your kitchen cupboards and have a look for any glasses, glass bottles or bowls with interesting three-dimensional patterns. Each pattern will refract the light differently and create interesting and varied patterns on your backdrop or subject. Layer up different glass objects to create something that you can't achieve with just one object. It may be that the more glasses you layer together the brighter your light may need to be so don't forget to check with a light meter.
Perforated Materials
There are endless forms of perforated materials. This example is using an old pizza tray. Again, so many items to choose from. At the end of this page, I've added a gallery of some of the items that I found to cast interesting shadows. I found a large selection of things and they all came from my kitchen including a tea strainer, pasta strainer, sieve and cheese grater.
Textiles
Materials such as mesh bags as per the example, lace tablecloths and even some very loose-knit clothing make for excellent gobos. Of course, the pattern does not need to be totally visible. Casting a shadow on to a flat backdrop and shooting your subject with a shallow depth of field means that in the end all we've done is add texture. Of course, if we are casting on to our subject then that is a different matter.
Reflective Materials
Reflective materials are not strictly speaking 'gobos'. They do not go between the light and the surface in question so much as bounce the light. This means that the light will need to be angled in such a way that it reflects the light in the correct direction. in the example, I'm using a rice cooking pot to reflect the light on to the wall. The light pattern is completely unpredictable. Not what I expected at all but very organic and interesting.
Trees
Yeah, I mean you pretty much get it by now. Anything that casts a shadow on or behind your subject is technically a gobo. Trees are a really common example of something that you can use out and about as long as it's a sunny day.
This photo was taken in our local park on one of the very few walks we manage to squeeze in having become parents so recently. It's not so much a case of trying to squeeze it into our schedule that is the problem. The difficulty is rationing our energy over a few days to hopefully have something in us to bothered to leave the house. The lighting isn't perfect and actually could be called up as an example of how the lighting can become distracting. It's important to move the subject or the gobo around to find a set up that works well. The dappled sunlight from this tree is maybe a little too sparse making it look like there is simply a lighter and darker side. It would have been beneficial to find a tree with smaller leaves in more dense clusters.
Fake It With A Projector
I'm not lucky enough to own a projector but if you do, the possibilities are endless. Simply create an image with pure black areas where you don't want anything to be projected and add white or even colours and images that you'd like to see on your backdrop or subject. Want to create the look of Venetian blinds casting a shadow across the subject but don't own any? Create a striped pattern to project onto the subject. You'd hardly be able to tell the difference.
Here are some other examples of gobos that I found around the house. You really can use just about anything...
Using gobos is a great way to add texture to your backdrops and subject. Play around with the distances from the light to the gobo and from the gobo to the subject. The distances of each have a large effect on the scale and sharpness of the shadow. Also, play around with layering different types of gobo to get interesting textures as well as changing the angle that the light is being cast. Directing light at a 90-degree angle to a flat surface will amount to a very flat shadow being cast. Casting light from much steeper angles will result in long streaming shadows. mixing it all together will make for a very interesting backdrop.
Go get 'em, tiger.
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