Best light modifier for low key body scapes

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Name
Neil Williams
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Hi
I am planning a shoot with two models shooting low key nude body scape's. I currently have 2 x Profoto B1 heads and these modifiers
  1. XL Silver umbrella
  2. 4 ft Octibox
  3. 4 x 5 ft soft box
  4. Beauty dish with grid
  5. Zoom head with grids
Ive been watching some videos on the set up for this kind of shoot and it looks like most folks us a strip soft box with grid............I really don't want to buy any more gear so what would you guys recommend with what I have above

Neil
 
You could use the softbox and feather the light to control it.
 
You could use the softbox and feather the light to control it.
Not sure what you mean by feather the light...........initially I was thinking using the XL silver and just play with the power as that light is quite strong
 
Feather means to point the light across the subject rather than at it. You can get some extremely nice results doing this.
 
Most use a long thin light source for control, you haven't got one, but its easy enough to adapt what you have got

Just pin some thicker material onto your 4x5ft softbox to create a strip of light so you have a 1x5ft softbox and try that

Feathering is simply using light that comes out of the side rather than from being pointed directly at the subject, as such its softer but that might not be what you're after - Google/YouTube for examples of when & why to use feathering

Dave
 
Thats a great idea about the soft box, I will do that.......i'm also convinced that the big silver umbrella will work, at the end of the day its just a case of experimenting until you get it right.......I think I have a plan in place now :)
 
Not sure what you mean by feather the light...........initially I was thinking using the XL silver and just play with the power as that light is quite strong

As mentioned feathering is using the edge to control what hits the subject, have done it many times with bigger softboxes to great effect (before I got some nice stripboxes). easy to do, have the light to the side, then point forward and across the subject, you can adjust how much light is feathered to get eh look you are after.
 
Thats a great idea about the soft box, I will do that.......i'm also convinced that the big silver umbrella will work, at the end of the day its just a case of experimenting until you get it right.......I think I have a plan in place now :)
I think the biggest thing with bodyscapes is to get the modifier really CLOSE... That way you generate a lot of falloff to create/control shadows while maintaining subtle/soft lighting. I'm thinking the umbrella will not work well for that, but if you want to create harder/starker types of lighting/scapes then the umbrella and grids might be the better choices.
 
As mentioned feathering is using the edge to control what hits the subject, have done it many times with bigger softboxes to great effect (before I got some nice stripboxes). easy to do, have the light to the side, then point forward and across the subject, you can adjust how much light is feathered to get eh look you are after.

This is my usual bodyscape lighting - either vertical for a standing body, or clamped to a crossbar between two stands for reclined bodies. (I used to use a boom, but I find they're just an an accident waiting to happen with the angles you need for this - the goal post is far more stable).

You can indeed do it with any softbox: what's happening when you turn the softbox away is that you are making the softbox thinner, from the subject's POV (ie imagine your eye at the point you are illuminating looking at the soft box - as you turn it, the front panel becomes thinner, until it vanishes). This means you can use any softbox as a strip, you just need to turn it until it's apparent width is the width you want. In practice you'll look at the width of the light you create on the subject as you turn it (assuming you have a modelling light). You can also move it forward to achieve the same thing (ie move the light towards the camera assuming your softbox is behind the subject facing towards camera and down - again the front panel will now appear thinner). We have actual strip boxes that are thinner to begin with, to avoid the side effects of turning a wider softbox: bounce off of nearby walls, floor, ceiling etc and flare directly back at the camera.

If you promise not to get offended by nipples (but then you are reading a thread about bodyscapes...), you can click this link for an example with a strip-box (and the whole portfolio and in fact the entire website is definitely "Not Safe For Work" - you'll need to click on the cog at the top and opt in to the dangerous and corrupting material :p ):-
http://purpleport.com/portfolio/scooter/image/2760487/photographer/?referrer=scooter
 
Most use a long thin light source for control, you haven't got one, but its easy enough to adapt what you have got

Just pin some thicker material onto your 4x5ft softbox to create a strip of light so you have a 1x5ft softbox and try that

Feathering is simply using light that comes out of the side rather than from being pointed directly at the subject, as such its softer but that might not be what you're after - Google/YouTube for examples of when & why to use feathering

Dave

I did this, I just used some black towels and clothes pegs to hold them in place on the soft box.

Proper ghetto like but did the trick nicely without spending any money.
 
This is my usual bodyscape lighting - either vertical for a standing body, or clamped to a crossbar between two stands for reclined bodies. (I used to use a boom, but I find they're just an an accident waiting to happen with the angles you need for this - the goal post is far more stable).

You can indeed do it with any softbox: what's happening when you turn the softbox away is that you are making the softbox thinner, from the subject's POV (ie imagine your eye at the point you are illuminating looking at the soft box - as you turn it, the front panel becomes thinner, until it vanishes). This means you can use any softbox as a strip, you just need to turn it until it's apparent width is the width you want. In practice you'll look at the width of the light you create on the subject as you turn it (assuming you have a modelling light). You can also move it forward to achieve the same thing (ie move the light towards the camera assuming your softbox is behind the subject facing towards camera and down - again the front panel will now appear thinner). We have actual strip boxes that are thinner to begin with, to avoid the side effects of turning a wider softbox: bounce off of nearby walls, floor, ceiling etc and flare directly back at the camera.

If you promise not to get offended by nipples (but then you are reading a thread about bodyscapes...), you can click this link for an example with a strip-box (and the whole portfolio and in fact the entire website is definitely "Not Safe For Work" - you'll need to click on the cog at the top and opt in to the dangerous and corrupting material :p ):-
http://purpleport.com/portfolio/scooter/image/2760487/photographer/?referrer=scooter

Very good work there Owen - bit of a lighting masterclass in fact (y)
 
This is my usual bodyscape lighting - either vertical for a standing body, or clamped to a crossbar between two stands for reclined bodies. (I used to use a boom, but I find they're just an an accident waiting to happen with the angles you need for this - the goal post is far more stable).

You can indeed do it with any softbox: what's happening when you turn the softbox away is that you are making the softbox thinner, from the subject's POV (ie imagine your eye at the point you are illuminating looking at the soft box - as you turn it, the front panel becomes thinner, until it vanishes). This means you can use any softbox as a strip, you just need to turn it until it's apparent width is the width you want. In practice you'll look at the width of the light you create on the subject as you turn it (assuming you have a modelling light). You can also move it forward to achieve the same thing (ie move the light towards the camera assuming your softbox is behind the subject facing towards camera and down - again the front panel will now appear thinner). We have actual strip boxes that are thinner to begin with, to avoid the side effects of turning a wider softbox: bounce off of nearby walls, floor, ceiling etc and flare directly back at the camera.

If you promise not to get offended by nipples (but then you are reading a thread about bodyscapes...), you can click this link for an example with a strip-box (and the whole portfolio and in fact the entire website is definitely "Not Safe For Work" - you'll need to click on the cog at the top and opt in to the dangerous and corrupting material :p ):-
http://purpleport.com/portfolio/scooter/image/2760487/photographer/?referrer=scooter
Thank you sir for the info and link
 
This is my usual bodyscape lighting - either vertical for a standing body, or clamped to a crossbar between two stands for reclined bodies. (I used to use a boom, but I find they're just an an accident waiting to happen with the angles you need for this - the goal post is far more stable).

You can indeed do it with any softbox: what's happening when you turn the softbox away is that you are making the softbox thinner, from the subject's POV (ie imagine your eye at the point you are illuminating looking at the soft box - as you turn it, the front panel becomes thinner, until it vanishes). This means you can use any softbox as a strip, you just need to turn it until it's apparent width is the width you want. In practice you'll look at the width of the light you create on the subject as you turn it (assuming you have a modelling light). You can also move it forward to achieve the same thing (ie move the light towards the camera assuming your softbox is behind the subject facing towards camera and down - again the front panel will now appear thinner). We have actual strip boxes that are thinner to begin with, to avoid the side effects of turning a wider softbox: bounce off of nearby walls, floor, ceiling etc and flare directly back at the camera.

If you promise not to get offended by nipples (but then you are reading a thread about bodyscapes...), you can click this link for an example with a strip-box (and the whole portfolio and in fact the entire website is definitely "Not Safe For Work" - you'll need to click on the cog at the top and opt in to the dangerous and corrupting material :p ):-
http://purpleport.com/portfolio/scooter/image/2760487/photographer/?referrer=scooter
That's a really fine image. And I think I can pretty much figure out how you lit it by feathering the soft box. There's a lot of information in your explanation. I learned something today.
 
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