My wife suggested “Tricky Tuesday” as a way to share some of the different tricks, tips and techniques I’ve used over the years when shooting glamour images in my home studio. Here’s something that follows up from this post about soft boxes and umbrellas.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
The mind is like an umbrella. Its most useful when open.”—Walter Gropius
It doesn’t matter whether you’re working with speedlights, monolights or power pack and head lighting systems, one of the best ways to improve the quality of the final image is by using some kind of light modifier.
It doesn’t matter whether you choose an umbrella or a soft box, each of these devices has their own unique advantages and disadvantages. Umbrellas provide a round, broad and soft light source that emulates natural outdoor lighting. Soft boxes mimic the kind of soft, directional lighting produced by window light. Your decision about which one of these devices to use should be governed by one important lighting rule: The closer the light is to the subject the softer it is; the further away a light source is the harder it becomes
Your Choice of Light Modifiers
Because umbrellas create broad lighting, they’re easy to use. You just point an umbrella at a portrait subject and it produces nice, soft lighting! Because rainy day versions have been around for 4,000 years, umbrellas are simple to construct and less expensive to purchase making them perfect for photographers new to working with and buying lighting equipment. You can buy a Westcott 45-inch White Satin umbrella with Removable Black Backing for less than 40 bucks. In short, umbrellas are inexpensive, easy to use and produce nice lighting.
On the other hand, soft boxes are more controllable and are available in large sizes that when placed close to a subject produce soft, yet directional light. There are lots of accessories available for soft boxes, including grids or louvers, that you can add to make the lighting even across the plane of light. What’s the downside? Even an inexpensive softbox, like a 37-4-inch Godox Octa Softbox ($69) is more expensive than an umbrella and prices go up from that. so directionality comes with a price tag.
Finally, a soft b box is your entry to the world of lighting ratios. Unlike umbrellas, softboxes require a little more knowledge on balancing main versus fill light so you won’t produce too contrasty lighting—unless of course that’s exactly what you want to create.
How I made this shot: The old lighting adage that the closer the light, the softer it is and the bigger a light source the softer it becomes plays out in this image I made of Colleen. I switched from the black background own in the setup spot above right, to a Silverlake Photo Accessories “Blush” Colorsmack background. Lighting consists of two Dynalite Baja B4 monolights: One is placed at camera right with a white 60-inch, 16-rib white parabolic umbrella used in shoot-through mode. while the other is located at the rear (left) of my 11×15-foor studio with a 48-inch Black/Silver umbrella attachec. The camera used was a Panasonic Lumix GH4 with Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lens and an exposure of 1/160 sec at f/9 and ISO 200. The Vignette Blur filter from Color Efex was used to soften the bottom edges of the photograph.
The truth is that there is no “one size fits all” solution to portrait or glamour lighting. Just as you’ll need to select the right lens and ISO for an available light portrait, when it comes to working with artificial light you need to select the right lighting modifier for the job at hand.
My book Joe Farace’s Glamour Photography is full of tips, tools and techniques for glamour and boudoir photography and includes information on all of the cameras used as well as the complete exposure data for each image. New copies are available from Amazon for $26.92 with used copies starting at $8.91 as I write this. Kindle copies are available for $19.99 for those preferring a digital format.