Light modifyer recommendation

joel222

joel222

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Lee
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In a few weeks I will be shooting some location portraits, something like a style that you'd see from a photo booth. I will be shooting against a plain coloured background in a hotel and plan on using 2 lencarta studio heads. I have umbrellas, softboxes etc but was wondering what would be the most practical to carry, set up and use. I want to travel light and don't mind buying something if it will help me. The shots will all be from waist up.
 
Thanks @juggler. Maybe I should of been more clear. The set up wont be like a photo booth just the results will. I will set up a background where guests can wear photo booth style props and have their photos taken. I plan on lighting with a light either side, nothing fancy, just even light.
 
joel222 said:
Thanks @juggler. Maybe I should of been more clear. The set up wont be like a photo booth just the results will. I will set up a background where guests can wear photo booth style props and have their photos taken. I plan on lighting with a light either side, nothing fancy, just even light.
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That's why Simon said 2 lights aren't necessary, what you're planning is absolutely the worst lighting setup. 2 lights 'balanced' is unnatural and just 'wrong' (whilst being most newb's guess at 'even'.)

One light placed well looks much better.
 
I disagree @Phil V . I need the lights to be out of the way so at the sides is the only position for them. I'm not talking about level with the subject but at around 45 degrees. If I only had one it would give too much shadow on one side for the look I'm going for. I have done this before I'm not asking advice on set up, just wanted to know what others would use for modifiers.
 
At the risk of sounding shallow (3 pints in)

If you don't care about the light pattern, why does it matter what modifiers you're using?

A couple of brollies will look close to a couple of octaboxes, not too different from softboxes...

Different modifier characteristics are most visible in the transition to shadow area, if you're filling that shadow area with a mirrored light, the point of choice is irrelevant.

Really close inspection might see a difference, but it'd take an expert view and a layman wouldn't notice.

My advice is still to light it more attractively
 
Really the original question should of been what is the smallest modifier that I can get away with using, I want to travel light and want them to be less intrusive. Also with the two lights set up I will have one as a key and one as a fill, but not to the extent that it will give strong shadows I do want to keep it sort of even as I could go from shooting one guest to six guests in a group. If I had the lights/light set up to create more shadow then half of the group would look darker than the other.

I get what you're saying and totally agree if it was a different situation, but I know what I want to do and what results I want to achieve, just wanted to know how small I could go with a modifier.
 
joel222 said:
I get what you're saying and totally agree if it was a different situation, but I know what I want to do and what results I want to achieve, just wanted to know how small I could go with a modifier.
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Well you have really explained it poorly, there is such a difference between location portrait and what you get from a photo booth, but as you said you know what you are doing then i fail to see how I could help, your idea for lighting will happily produce mediocre lighting whereas a quick listen to @Phil V could mean a simple tweak and you have something so much better - maybe if you had added all the extra info then we would have got here quicker such as what types of lights are you using?

Mike
 
joel222 said:
Really the original question should of been what is the smallest modifier that I can get away with using, I want to travel light and want them to be less intrusive. Also with the two lights set up I will have one as a key and one as a fill, but not to the extent that it will give strong shadows I do want to keep it sort of even as I could go from shooting one guest to six guests in a group. If I had the lights/light set up to create more shadow then half of the group would look darker than the other.

I get what you're saying and totally agree if it was a different situation, but I know what I want to do and what results I want to achieve, just wanted to know how small I could go with a modifier.
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Well I'd suggest the same thing Joe McNally did in the above video

'2 small unobtrusive' isn't a thing.
  • Small lights create harder shadows
  • 2 light stands is twice as much risk of getting in the way particularly as people are grouping together where they have to avoid a bloke with a camera and two light stands (3 obstacles)
I'd go for one large brolly from behind and above the camera position, which gives:
  • Only 1 light stand and in the safest place (right where you can look after it)
  • One uniform light source
 
+ small lightsources equals getting them in close + Inverse Square Law = (maybe hard) shadows from opposite directions = unnatural looking pics.
 
I covered a charity fashion show a while back and pre-show I was asked to provide some headshots as well. My standard go to set-up is a 60cm softbox with a Nikon SB-800 controlled by my Yongnuo trigger and receiver, please see if this is the kind of result / quality you are looking for.

 
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