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Soft boxes offer directional light. © Rick Sammon |
I'm taking the weekend off from posting. Just finished five days of Alaska photos.
This was my most popular posts, so I'm re-posting it for those speedlite shooters who might have missed it.
On my
Master Your Flash Workshops, I illustrate - among several other lighting techniques - the difference between portraits taken with softboxes and orbs. We place a speedlite in each flash accessories and get to work – and start to have fun.
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Catherine Hall. © Rick Sammon |
Basically, softboxes with recessed diffusion panels offer more directional light than orbs. The two illustrations above illustrate directional light from a softbox.
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© Jason Ludwig |
Above is a picture of me (taken in
Dave Cross' studio) using a
28-inch Westcott Apollo softbox to light the subject from above, which was the same technique I used when I photographed Catherine Hall at the Google studio. Speaking of me: You can hire me as a voice activated light stand :-)
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Artist Eddi Flemming. © Rick Sammon |
Orbs with recessed diffusion panels produce a wider and softer beam of light than softboxes. They are nice to use when you want to light a wider area with softer shadows. I used my
Westcott Orb for the photograph above. Orbs also wrap the light around a subject for softer light.
Umbrellas? I don't use them too often, but they are nice for large groups.
For more lighting tips,
see my apps.
Explore the light,
Rick