Soft
Boxes,Umbrellas
& Diffusion Panels
Here is a little
information from my lighting book and a little more that may help you
understand the difference in light sources and eliminate some of the confusion that exists on this subject.
As I am fond of saying, life is
far too short to make things difficult and time consuming. Information
posted on forums and web sites by countless people demonstrates in
short order how many varied opinions there are. People just getting
into professional photography are confussed and frustrated because
there is no consistency in what they read other than to "buy, buy,
buy!" It's seems that it's always about buying a new lighting device
that will instantly and without any help from you, "make your pictures
much better". That's just nonsense. It's never been about your tools so
much as it is about what you know. YES, I realize we have to have
proper tools to do the job but TOOL ONE is our BRAIN! I can take a
bedsheet and a 100 watt light bulb and create an award winning
portrait. Is that what I would use? Of course not but if I had to,
I certainly could. The point is that too much emphasis is constantly
being placed on the toys. Let's focus on learning a little about the
science of light which is actually not all that complex when you get it
presented to you accurately and in plain language.
I believe in adopting the simplest approach to
everything. Especially lighting! For the main light there
are many options ranging from hard light to soft light.
These light sources come in many shapes and
configurations from bare strobe heads to huge soft boxes
and medium size parabolic lights to free standing
diffusion panels. I believe in creativity and the use of
multiple lighting techniques within a single sitting. Why
be limited and boring? For most sittings a medium to soft light source for your
main light is a practical and good choice. It works well
with most subjects and is sort of goof proof. I do
however encourage you to leave your options open and use
other lighting techniques to expand your abilities and
creativity. If my subject is young with good tight skin,
I might use a small, hard light for a few images
in their session. Just to clarify, when I say hard light,
I mean that no diffusion or light modifiers will be used
in front of the strobe head to make the light source
bigger and therefore softer. Umbrellas, diffusion panels,
and soft boxes are all examples of larger, softer light
sources.
Let’s talk about hard
lighting. My main light strobe head always has a set of barn doors on
it to control the quantity and placement of the light. This is
essential! Without barn doors, you are just pouring light onto the
scene without any significant control. Barn doors allow you to adjust
the amount of light that you are placing on your subject and at the
same time control where the light goes. You may wish to light the
subjects face but not so much their chest and arms. Barn doors give you
this control. You can also light the subject without undesirable spill
over onto the background. Barn doors are a simple, low tech but very
effective means of controlling light. An added and usually overlooked
bonus is that they effect both the modeling light and the strobe
equally which allows you to get what you see with your eyes. That's
huge! No endless guessing and constant checking the back of your camera
to see what you got. If you get what you see, you should already know
what you have before you press the button!
Smaller, hard light sources are frequently used in conjunction with a soft focus filter and a
moderate lighting ratio. Perhaps 1 1/2 stops to 2 1/2 stops
difference between the main and fill. An exception to
this might be a character study of an old man with many
wrinkles where the purpose of the portrait is to
emphasize the wrinkles. Hard light is fast and straight
forward to work with. A strobe head on a light stand is
very easy to move and reposition and takes up little
floor space. Because the light is bright and direct, it
is easier to see the effects of even minor changes in
position. Hard light used correctly, can be very glamorous with its
1940’s, Hollywood look. It produces bright
highlights in the eyes and chisels out the shape of your
subjects features.
Softer light of course comes
from larger light sources. Umbrellas, soft boxes,
parabolic reflectors, and diffusion panels placed in
front of strobe heads are all examples of larger light
sources. The parabolic isn’t really that big but at
15 to 18 inches across I lumped it in with the larger
light sources. They are
usually made of metal and like all fixed size light sources, offer no
flexibility in changing their size.
Umbrellas are very common and
still in wide use. I don’t like umbrellas as the single main
light because we have no real control over their size. If you have a
three foot wide umbrella, it will be three feet wide no matter what.
Yes, you can move your umbrella in and out a few inches from the light
source by sliding it on it's stem on the flash unit but that is very
limited control.
Photographers are rarely taught
anything beyond the statement "large light sources are softer". Sounds
ok but photographers need to understand more than that blanket remark.
They need to grasp WHY the light is softer. In brief, the larger the
light source becomes, the more gradual the shadow edge will change.
Small light sources will produce a clear and obvious shadow edge while
larger light sources produce a very gradual transition between
highlight and shadow. Between extremes of small and large we have
a huge variety of mid size light sources, each with it's own
unique look to the lighting and each with a time and place to be used
for the very best effect. Limiting one's self to a single size light
source of any size is like eating the very same thing for dinner, every
night of the week. It's always the same. No creative control.
I feel that any fixed size, light
source is less than desirable because you have no way to change it.
This of course would include the very popular soft box. I am the first
to agree. Soft boxes look very sexy. They make a big impression and of
course, yes, you can make beautiful portraits with them. I have never
said otherwise. Their problem is that they come from the same family as
umbrellas. One fixed size! I guess you could have a whole assortment of
expensive soft boxes or umbrellas in varying sizes but unless you are
made of money and have a ton of storage space and love spending the
kind of time it takes to trade out from one size box to another, you
are just adding complexity to the process.
You can do fine portraits
with any and all fixed size light sources but for control
and flexibility, I cannot recommend any of them as your
main light. So what’s my light source of choice? The simple
diffusion panel.
Why? Control. As usual, I am using something that allows me to control
it rather than it controlling me. Funny, how the things that allow us
to stay in control tend to be simpler and less expensive. I have been
using panels for 30 years and began selling them a few years ago on my
web site. They have clear and obvious advantages over any fixed size
light source. They are cheap, they work extremely well and they allow
the photographer unprecidented control over the quality of light and
even allow one to make incredible gradients but I won't even go into
that here.
The diffusion panel really shines
as a light source because of how it works. It just sits there (and
contrary to popular myth) takes up about the same floor space as
an umbrella on a light stand. The white, transluscent panel gives you
the ultimate in control over the quality of light while the black panel
keeps it standing stable and blocks light from striking your camera's
lens, that would cause lens flare. You place the panel set near your
subject (appoximately 2 feet for head and shoulders and around 5 to 6
feet for a full length portrait) and then decide how large you wish the
light source to be to acheive the look you desire. It is the placement
of the light source behind the white panel that determines how large or
small your light source will be. Just move your light stand closer to
the panel for a smaller light source or further away for a larger,
softer one. Barn doors on this flash head will give you even more
control over the size of the light reaching the panel and how much
light there is. That's amazing control! It's much the same as spraying
paint from a spray can. The closer the can is to the wall, the smaller
the spot of paint. The farther it is from the wall, the larger and
softer the pattern. Light works just the same. Once again, if you want
a large light source, move the light back to a greater distance from
the panel. If you want a smaller light source, move the light in closer
to the panel. For a medium size light source, select a position in
between the two extremes. There are an unlimited number of light source
sizes instantly available with a diffusion panel and all you do is
adjust the position of the light source which takes only a second.
Total control!
If
that’s still not enough, you can adjust the light up
or down since the panel is 7 feet tall and goes all the way to the floor. A
tall person or a short person are both easy to light.
Now let’s go back for
a moment to umbrellas, parabolics and the ever popular
soft box. These fixed size light sources
create a source of light that has a very specific size. The problem is that no fixed
size light source gives you the ability to vary it's size to change the look of the lighting. The diffusion panel on
the other hand, offers total control over size and also the amount of light when you use a set of barn doors with it. With a
diffusion panel, if you are using a large light source
and then need a small one, you simply move the light
source in closer to the panel and you can maintain the
same taking aperture and ratio by closing the barn doors
a bit until your meter reads the same as a moment ago. Once again, that is extreme control!
I highly recommend diffusion panels and
have done so decades before I began manufacturing and selling them. You
will see them used in nearly all of the diagrams shown in my image
galleries. You can learn more about them by clicking the link at the
top to visit the product area where you can read about each one we make
and what it is best used for. There is a graphic below that show the
"Regular Diffusion Panel" in use and there is also a link next to it to
take you to it's page of the product area.
Spending money on lighting devices that can only
be one size and shape is a waste of money. It is no
secret that I am not a fan of soft boxes. I find them
bulky, overpriced and limiting in what they can do. Sure,
you can do fine
images using softboxes but how many do you want to buy so you have a
wide array of sizes to choose from? They look cool and that is perhaps
one of the reasons they sell so well but when you come right down to
it, it’s what you can do with the product in the real world that
should influence your decision to purchase it. I demand for myself and
teach my students that flexibility and control are most important if
you are going to stay out of a photographic rut. Spending more money
will NOT make one a better photographer. It never has. I would much
rather my customers be impressed with my creativity, flexibility
and the quality of my work than by the impressiveness of the equipment
that I use. - Scott
Typical
panel setup with barndoors on strobe head for control.
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