Soft
Boxes,Umbrellas
& Diffusion Panels
Here is a little
information from my lighting book that may help you
understand the difference in light sources.
As I am fond of saying,
life is far too short to make things difficult and time
consuming. I believe in adopting the simplest approach to
everything. Especially lighting! For the main light there
are many options ranging from hard light to soft light.
These light sources come in many shapes and
configurations from bare strobe heads to huge soft boxes
and medium size parabolic lights to free standing
diffusion panels. I believe in creativity and the use of
multiple lighting techniques within a single sitting. Why
be boring? For most sittings a soft light source for your
main light is a practical and good choice. It works well
with most subjects and is sort of goof proof. I do
however encourage you to leave your options open and use
other lighting techniques to expand your abilities and
creativity. If my subject is young with good tight skin,
I will probably use a small, hard light for a few images
in their session. Just to clarify, when I say hard light,
I mean that no diffusion or light modifiers will be used
in front of the strobe head to make the light source
bigger and therefore softer. Umbrellas, diffusion panels,
and soft boxes are all examples of larger, softer light
sources.
Let’s talk about hard
lighting first. My strobe head always has a set of barn
doors on it to control the quantity and placement of the
light. This is essential! Without barn doors, you are
just pouring light onto the scene and are out of control.
Barn doors allow you to adjust the amount of light that
you are placing on your subject and at the same time
control where the light goes. You may wish to light the
subjects face but not so much their chest and arms. Barn
doors give you this control. You can also light the
subject without undesirable spill over onto the
background. Barn doors are a must!
This hard light is nearly
always used in conjunction with a soft focus filter and a
moderate lighting ratio. Perhaps 1 1/2 stops to 2 stops
difference between the main and fill. An exception to
this might be a character study of an old man with many
wrinkles where the purpose of the portrait is to
emphasize the wrinkles. Hard light is fast and straight
forward to work with. A strobe head on a light stand is
very easy to move and reposition and takes up little
floor space. Because the light is bright and direct, it
is easier to see the effects of even minor changes in
position. Hard light is very glamorous with its
1940’s, Hollywood look. It produces bright
highlights in the eyes and chisels out the shape of your
subjects features.
Soft light of course comes
from larger light sources. Umbrellas, soft boxes,
parabolic reflectors, and diffusion panels placed in
front of strobe heads are all examples of larger light
sources. The parabolic isn’t really that big but at
15 to 18 inches across I lumped it in with the larger
light sources. What are their differences? Well, that may
take a while to learn since we are talking about
differences that are subtle. Umbrellas are very common
and still in wide use. I don’t like umbrellas as the
single main light because we have no control over their
size. If you have a three foot wide umbrella, it will be
three feet wide no matter what. I feel that any fixed
size, light source is less than desirable because you
have no way to change it. This of course would included
soft boxes. They come from the same family as umbrellas.
One fixed size! I guess you could have a whole assortment
of soft boxes and umbrellas in varying sizes but unless
you are made of money and have a ton of storage space,
you are just adding to your own confusion. Parabolic
reflectors have been with us for a long time. They are
usually made of metal and like the others already
mentioned, are fixed in their size, offering no
flexibility.
You can do fine portraits
with any and all fixed size light sources but for control
and flexibility, I cannot recommend any of them as your
main light. So what’s my light source of choice? The
diffusion panel. Why? Control. As usual, I am
using something that allows me to control it rather than
it controlling me. Funny, how the things that allow us to
stay in control tend to be simpler and less expensive. I
have been using panels for nearly 20 years and now sell
them here on my site faster than I can manufacture them.
They are cheap, they work well and they allow the
photographer unprecidented control over the quality of
light. I recommend them highly. You will see them used in
nearly all of the diagrams shown in my image galleries.
You can learn more about them by clicking the link at the
top to visit the product area and then click on the link
the refers to umbrellas, soft boxes and diffusion panels.
There is a graphic below that show the panel's in use and
there is also a link next to it to take you to the panel
page of the product area.
The diffusion panel really
shines as a light source because of how it works. It just
sits there. The white, transluscent panel gives you the
ultimate in control over the quality of light while the
black panel keeps it standing up and blocks light from
striking your cameras lens, creating lens flare. You
place the panel set near your subject (typically 2 feet
for head and shoulders and 5 to 6 feet for a full length
portrait) and then decide how large you wish the light
source to be to acheive the look you desire. It is the
placement of the light source behind the white panel that
determines how large or small your light source will be.
It's much the same as spraying paint from a spray can.
The closer the can is to the wall, the smaller the spot
of paint. The farther it is from the wall, the larger and
softer the pattern. Light works just the same. If you
want a large light source, move the light back to a
greater distance from the panel. If you want a smaller
light source, move the light in closer to the panel. For
a medium size light source, select a position in between
the two extremes. There are an unlimited number of light
source sizes instantly available with a diffusion panel
and all you do is adjust the position of the light
source. Total control! It’s the size of your light
source that controls the character of the light on your
subject. If that’s not enough, add barn doors to
your flash head or other light source and you will have
ultimate control over the quantity of light just by
changing the size of the opening. You can have a large
light source, a medium one or a small one and at the same
time control how much light reaches the subject. If
that’s still not enough, you can adjust the light up
or down since the panel goes all the way to the floor. A
tall person or a short person are both easy to light.
Diffusion panels provide incredible control for a very
small investment!
Now let’s go back for
a moment to umbrellas, parabolics and the ever popular
soft box. These fixed size light sources
create a source of light that has a very specific size.
The size or width of the shadow edge is determined by the
size of the light source. The bigger the light source the
wider the shadow edge will be. This softer effect is most
needed when you have a customer with wrinkles or other
roughness in the skin that needs to be de-emphasized or
if you simply wish to have a softer look to the light. A
larger light source will do just that. To show character
or beauty in a more youthful person, the smaller light
source can be effective. The problem is that for many
different situations you need many different sizes of
lights with as much control as possible. No fixed
size light source offers control. The diffusion panel on
the other hand, offers total control. You
can’t control the umbrellas size without
substituting a different size umbrella. What I mean is if
you are using an umbrella as your main light and all of a
sudden you feel the need for a small light source, you
have to move the umbrella back or substitute a smaller
umbrella. Of course when you move it back you change the
amount of light falling on your subject and also your
background relative to the subject so you change the
entire look of the scene. What a lot of trouble! With a
diffusion panel, if you are using a large light source
and then need a small one, you simply move the light
source in closer to the panel and you can maintain the
same taking aperture and ratio by closing the barn doors
a bit until your meter reads the same as a moment ago.
Now that’s control!
I will mention again that
while great images can and are made with soft boxes,
umbrellas, parabolic reflectors etc., the only light
source that gives total flexibility and control to the
photographer is the diffusion panel combined with a light
source and a set of barn doors. With this combination you
have an almost unlimited number of light source sizes and
total control over the amount of light reaching the
subject. Spending money on lighting devices that can only
be one size and shape is a waste of money. It is no
secret that I am not a fan of soft boxes. I find them
bulky, overpriced and limiting in what they can do. Sure,
you can do fine
images using softboxes but how many do you want to buy so
you have a wide array of sizes to choose from? They look
cool and that is perhaps one of the reasons they sell so
well but when you come right down to it, it’s what
you can do with the product in the real world that should
influence your decision to purchase it. I demand for
myself and teach my students that flexibility and control
are most important if you are going to stay out of a
photographic rut. Spending more money will NOT make one a
better photographer. It never has.
Typical
panel setup with barndoors on strobe head for control.
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Copyright © Scott Smith. All rights reserved.
Revised: February 07, 2005.
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