Advanced Light Modifiers
By Steven H. Begleiter / Published by Amherst Media



Bored with umbrellas? Steven H. Begleiter offers an introduction to snazzier modifiers, such as the Globe, TeleZoom reflectors, and octagonal softboxes.

This excerpt from 50 Lighting Setups for Portrait Photographers is provided courtesy of Amherst Media. To purchase the book and learn more about the publisher, visit the Amherst Media website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We all know about umbrellas, grids, and rectangular softboxes (if not, be sure to buy my book The Portrait Book: A Guide for Photographers). In addition to these everyday modifiers, there are some advanced tools that each create a specific quality of light—a quality you may find desirable and one that may even shape your style of portraiture. The following are some that have become my favorites. (Thanks to Profoto for letting me try these out!)

Octagonal Softbox

The three-foot octagonal softbox is a nice alternative to the regular rectangular softbox. The octagonal shape wraps the light more evenly around the face, creating a softer light and less contrast when using Rembrandt lighting. (The final photograph of Brenda on page 9 was taken with an octagonal softbox.)

Octagonal Softbox

TeleZoom Reflector

In the final portrait of Brenda on page 9, I also used a Profoto TeleZoom reflector and grid for a backlight. The TeleZoom is an oversized reflector that, in combination with the grid, produces softer lighting than a regular reflector and grid. You can also control the spread of light by sliding the reflector away from the flash, resulting in a narrower beam.

TeleZoom Reflector

This modifier is great for use as a hair light or back light, as shown in the image of Michael and Gay below. Here, the broad spread of the backlight helps separate the subjects, who were wearing black and photographed against a black background. A silver reflector was also placed on the left side of the subjects to bounce light back onto the shadow sides of the faces.

The lighting used for this image of Michael and Gay is a great basic setup that can easily be adjusted to suit the shape of the subjects. If the subject’s face is round, for example, you might want to slim it by moving the reflector away from the subject to create more shadow (or you could eliminate the reflector entirely, resulting in a more dramatic image). Here, I was photographing a couple, which can make posing difficult if you are not prepared. I like to create tight, simple compositions by bringing my subjects as close to each other as comfortably possible. In this case, I placed a posing stool behind a padded piano bench set at a 45-degree angle to the camera. With Michael sitting on the stool, Gay sat on the bench and leaned back to be cradled by Michael. To close the physical gap, I had the couple get “cheek to cheek” and wrap their arms around each other. I find this technique also loosens up the subjects and results in a more playful photo session.

The Globe

The Profoto Globe light produces a very soft but modeled quality of light. Because of its small size (around fifteen inches in diameter), round shape, and frosted Plexiglas surface, the light doesn’t have the coverage of a three-foot octagon softbox, but the gentle quality of the light it produces is similar.

Globe

The best way to determine the type and placement of the main light in a portrait is to examine the subject’s eyes. The shape and placement of the catchlight (the reflection of the main light) will tell you where and what type of light the photographer used. In the inset shown with the portrait of Julie below, you can see a round reflection just above the pupil. This tells you the primary light source (main light) was round (like a globe light) and that the light was placed to the right of the subject and about two feet above her head.

Here, the main light was a Profoto Globe, creating a soft look. I also used the TeleZoom reflector to highlight Julie’s hair. A white reflector was used opposite the main light to fill in the shadows and prevent blue reflections from the wall to bounce back onto the subject’s face. To clean up the shadows under the chin and nose, I used a piece of white frosted Plexiglas as a table. This also provided a support for Julie’s arms.

In the setup shot above, you can also see that I am working in a small space. This is a great application for the globe light, since there isn’t much room for a large softbox. Notice that the placement of the light is similar to that used in the Rembrandt lighting setup (see page 9). Here, the triangle highlight is rounder because of the shape, size, and diffusion of the globe.

The Beauty Dish

The beauty dish is a large, flattened reflector (36 inches in diameter), with a deflector in front of the flash tube to redirect the light into the dish. Placed close to the camera, this virtually eliminates shadows on the face. The quality of light this renders is cleaner than a softbox or globe, resulting in a commercial look. It’s a great choice if your client happens to be a cosmetics company.

Beauty Dish

Like the globe light, the beauty dish creates a round catchlight. As you can see in the eye inset photo below, however, there is a black dot in the middle, caused by the deflector in the middle of the dish. Notice the highlight in the pupil is more centered. This tells you that the light is closer to the camera.

In the above image you see what the model sees—pretty daunting. In the image below, you see the result of this setup: the almost shadowless lighting that is popular in commercial photography. Notice how Julie extended her forehead, drew her chin in and down, then looked up with her eyes. This smoothes out the neck (in men, if there is a pronounced Adam’s apple, this will soften the bump) and makes the eyes look bigger.

The Ring Light (a.k.a. The Bug Light) 

The ring light was actually designed to create a circle of flash around the lens to evenly illuminate insects and other macrophotography subjects (thus, I sometime like to call it the “bug light”). The quality of the light was so unique, though, it was quickly adapted for use in portrait and fashion photography.

Ring Flash

The ring light mounts directly onto the camera body using the tripod mount. Your lens goes through the center of the flash and you’re off to the races. When hand-holding your camera with the ring light, it is extremely important that you and the model set your positions for accurate exposure. Any camera movement toward or away from the subject will also change the distance from the light to the subject, altering the exposure. (Note: The ring flash can also mount to a tripod, but in my experience this restricts your movement.)

The catchlight created by the ring light (seen in the eye inset image in the portrait of Julie below) is similar to that seen when using on-camera flash. The big difference is that the reflection is round and dead center in the pupil. Note, too, the dilation of the pupil.

Like light from a beauty dish, light from a ring light is shadowless. However, it is also much harder. Notice how it brings out the form in Julie’s face. Since the pupils are dilated, the eyes also appear much darker.

The ring flash in action. Photo by Pam Voth.

Ultimately, the ring light is a great choice for edgier portraits and fashion since the quality of light creates a specific style. However, you must be aware that the ring light produces a powerful burst of light. If your subject is sitting in a dimly lit studio staring straight at the light, this can create eye discomfort. Be sure to warn your subject when you are ready to shoot, and give them a count. Because it is so close to the lens the ring light will also create red-eye; fortunately, this can easily be fixed by most digital imaging programs.

A Lesson Learned

Now that we’ve covered a lot of interesting equipment, I would like to end this introduction with a story about how I learned that keeping it simple is sometimes the best place to start—and that listening to your subject can save you time.

I had been working with John R. Howard Fine Art, photographing their art and architecture, and was asked to take a portrait of John for his web site. As I was mulling over how I wanted to take the portrait, I started thinking of Arnold Newman and his iconoclastic portraits of great artist in their studio. I scouted out a location in the gallery and devised a somewhat elaborate lighting setup—I even brought my 4x5 field camera to get the Newman feel.

The session went well and I liked the portrait, but my client wasn’t excited about the end result. He felt he looked too stiff; he wanted to portray himself as an open and friendly person. Rather than letting my ego get in the way, I decided to listen to my client and try it again—but this time outside. He agreed and I came back the following month (John had grown a beard in the meantime). This time, I came with just my flash and 35mm digital camera. I scouted the outside property and saw that the sun would be moving behind a grove of pine trees in about an hour, which would make for a good backdrop. It was a simple setup, using the backlight for separation and a fill flash to illuminate my subject. It took about two minutes to set up and ten minutes to shoot—and it was the perfect shot for my client’s needs.

The top portrait, created using a complex studio lighting setup, was my first idea. I felt it was a successful portrait with a strong composition and classic pose, but it wasn’t quite right for the client. The bottom image suited him better. It was shot using only on-camera flash and backlighting from the sun. I set my Canon D30 camera to the program mode, and my Canon 580EX flash was set on the ETTL mode; I increased the power of the flash to +1.

The moral of the story is that sometimes, we (photographers) can get too hung up on gear and grand ideas and forget the needs of our clients.

Category:
Lighting

Featured photographer: Steven H. Begleiter, Pam Voth

Featured gear:
ProGlobe Only
Telezoom Reflector
3-foot Octagon Softbox
5-foot Octagon Softbox
Softlight Reflector for Ringflash
Softlight Reflector White

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