Beginner Controlling the spread of light for head shots

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iancass

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Does the quality of my modifier make the difference? I have tried using a cheap soft box and or umbrella. Will better/more expensive modifiers help? My working space is relatively small so I can’t get anything to large which I would prefer for soft light.
 
Yes, it can make a massive difference - or very little. Generally speaking, it's both subject and skill dependent. For example, if you're doing high end product photography, and especially of shiny items, the difference between good and cheap softboxes is enormous. If you're photographing high end clothes (or cheap clothes that you want to look high end, then again it's vital to have the right softboxes.

But if you're just photographing family groups, size can be much more important than quality and even a real expert may struggle to see the difference.

But, regardless of the subject, it's getting the right type of modifier in the right position (height + angle) that makes most of the difference. Most people put them far too far away, and many just stick them where they don't obstruct them in any way - 100% wrong.

Here's a fairly detailed answer, provided in another thread https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...-years-out-of-date.696899/page-3#post-8464885
 
Seems that my cheap modifiers that I have been using maybe causing me more problems than solving then, I thought sticking any old umbrella or Softbox in front of my flashes would produce this lovely light, well thats what they say on Youtube! Thanks for the link.
 
It’s hard to say if they are or aren’t without seeing any images. I have a good quality softbox and studio head and I can produce some awful work with it if it don’t put it in the right place. I’ve also produced very pleasing light with a flash in a cheap umbrella.
 
iancass said:
Seems that my cheap modifiers that I have been using maybe causing me more problems than solving then, I thought sticking any old umbrella or Softbox in front of my flashes would produce this lovely light, well thats what they say on Youtube! Thanks for the link.
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Well, that's Youtube for you - there's some good stuff there, if you can find it, but much of it is just marketing material masquerading as real tutorials. Normally, the presenter is good, slick and persuasive and the objective is either to con you into buying either useless equipment or a subscription to their online course . . .

The giveaway is always that they only show heavily retouched images, where basically they have painted in the lighting effects that they claim to have created with the equipment. Honest videos either show images that are straight out of camera, warts and all, i.e. totally unretouched, or retouched images next to unretouched ones.

I've made a few tutorials myself, for Lencarta, which you can find here https://www.youtube.com/user/lencarta/videos

There are some promo ones too, but they are obviously promotional and very different from the tutorial ones
 
If the space you are working in is too small and if the wall & ceiling are light coloured walls there will be a large amount of extraneous light from the strobe\softbox combo which will bounce around the room resulting in some extraneous light illuminating parts of your subject that would not be lit if the lights and modifiers were being used in a larger space where extraneous light could not reach the subject.

The small space you are working in almost certainly has more of a negative effect on your lighting than the perceived quality of your softboxes
 
redsnappa said:
If the space you are working in is too small and if the wall & ceiling are light coloured walls there will be a large amount of extraneous light from the strobe\softbox combo which will bounce around the room resulting in some extraneous light illuminating parts of your subject that would not be lit if the lights and modifiers were being used in a larger space where extraneous light could not reach the subject.

The small space you are working in almost certainly has more of a negative effect on your lighting than the perceived quality of your softboxes
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This^
The best ‘studios’ I’ve worked in are massive spaces.
I’ve got a £20 brolly box that works as a fab large soft box.
If you can’t change the space, try a good grid on a soft box, it helps with the control of direction, beware the cheapest ones as the pockets are too big or not deep enough, or both.
 
iancass said:
Does the quality of my modifier make the difference? I have tried using a cheap soft box and or umbrella. Will better/more expensive modifiers help? My working space is relatively small so I can’t get anything to large which I would prefer for soft light.
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It's quite possible to produce all kinds of work in a small space with cheap or bodged modifiers but it takes practice & understanding. A larger space is much more forgiving.

But... any advice you get is speculation until you post some pics of your setup and the results you get from it.
 
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