Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/02/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I my opinion your soft boxes are a little on the big side. 2x3' is a tad big now a days. Unless you had 2400 wat secands or more and had them 30 feet away! Then they become more like point sources. I'd use ones which are between 11x14 and 16x20" in size. Yes i think of print sizes when i think of softbox sizes. Or a small white umbrella which is an underestimated piece of equimptment. We really don't need softbox for people. Its just that they are so cheap now. Not as cheap as a small white umbrella one can pick up for 6 bucks at a swap meet though. Also besides using smaller light sources for more controlled and contrasty color saturated lighting use them closer. Like 5 feet away. Using them closer makes them in effect bigger. But it makes light use more efficient You need far fewer Watt seconds. You can get way with 300 to 600 watt seconds or less. The down size is the model can't just run around the joint they have to stay a certain distance from the light but these shots Kyle has this week are like that anyway and would not constrict them. A small light source (small softbox or umbrella) right over the camera on a boom is in effect an on camera flash but its not attacted to the camera itself. Also the use of a larger reflector (say 12 to 16 inch) on a head with some diffusion material over it is popular with me and a lot of people now a days. Or just a white one with the light bounced into it. Calumet sells these cool European round reflectors which go on any strobe. ANd they have diffusion material for the fronts of them when you really want that but you dont really need it. By they way who invented attaching you key light to the camera? Mary Pickford in the 20's. She was a big time producer who needed to produce films of herself looking like she was 15 even way after the fact that she was 40. So she had her (famous) camera man tape the light right to the camera. The lens even! That way she new the key light would never stray to far from the lens axis and when would look as nubile as marketably ever! Mark Rabiner Portland, Oregon USA http://www.markrabiner.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html