Studio lights and modifiers

I will be explaining to you in this post why and how to use light modifiers. I will also be going into detail about what kids of light modifiers are available out there to use in indoor/studio photography.

So to start off with, the light I will be referring to is a Bowen Gemini 500 compact flash monolight.

A monolight has all the settings and adjustments on the unit themselves. This makes them very portable but can lack in power.

A head light consists of a head light and power pack which are attached via a cable. They can be mains or battery operated.
Having all the head lights attached to the power pack can make it easier to afjust the flash heads as this can be done in one go rather than individually changing the settings of the monlights. That said, in most studio photography each flash head tends to be on a different output to aquire the desired effect.

I think head lights would be more useful for outdoor photography when available light is not enough and needs to be powerful enough to overcome the sun.. Mono loghts are ideal for indoor studio photography as they take up less space, more versatile and provide enough power for the indor studio lighting techniques.

IMPORTANT: NEVER change a light modifier when the light is turned on. You could easily break the tube and get a nasty electric shock.

HEAD ACCESORIES:

Reflector modifier:

Most lights come with a standard reflector, if possible, a zoom reflector is ideal as it enables you to control the light without having to swap and change. A wider reflector setting gives a larger softer pool of light whereas a narrow reflectors gives a small harsh direct pool of light. 







Now once you have your reflector you can attach other modifiers onto this such as:


Barn door modifier 

Theses often come in kits like this:

This kit consists of the Barn door which allows you to direct the light onto different parts of your subject. You can create narrow strips of light, wide or when attaching a grid ( like the one attached) you can create a more harsh direct light. The honeycomb on the grid prevents the light from spilling.So in turn, the small the honeycomg, the tighter the light.
The gels clips over similar to a GOBO (see further down)
to create erm.....colour.


Snoot Modifier

A snoot attaches to the light head and creates a diect intense channel of ligh on the subject, obviously the closer to the subject it is, the more direct the light is, whilst moving away creates a larger but still direct area of light.








The next modifier is an Umbrella

One of the most commen of modifiers are the umbrellas.

Reflecting umbrellas produce a diffused and soft light due to the larger size of the reflecting surface. They are attached so  that the strobe light is actually facing away from the subject or model. Light flies from the strobe head hitting the inside of the umbrella and then bounces back towards the subject.
There are silver-lined, white, and gold tinted umbrellas. Silver-lined umbrellas are the most efficient and can focus light more narrowly than the other types. White umbrellas offer a wider spread of reflected light, and gold umbrellas produce a warm tone.







A Soft box is a type of photographic lighting device,
one of a number of photographic soft light devices. wiki

Softboxes come in a wide range of shapes and sizes in order to produce the desired affect. They can be packed flat and almost all have an metal adapter called a speedring to enable it to be attached to most flash head units.

A softbox square diffuses the light in a soft but direct angle.
A softbox Octa, sometimes known as a octabox diffuses and directs the light with a much softer edge with more wrap round light.
A strip light is ideal for full length portraits as they direct and diffuse light across that full length. They are useful for placing on the groundangled upright to highlight texture in surfaces.

In regards to  beauty portraits, the octabox or a flash ring would be my favourite. The catch lights are far more attractive.


Last but not least are the light grips and stands:

These are used to support your light sourse, modifiers and even back drops.
There are different stands available. The more heavy duty one is called a C stand, which could be used outdoors (in windy conditions)  or for heavier objects to be held like heavyduty backgrounds.
They are also stronger and more sturdier to use with a boom arm.
A boom arm is an extension to the light stand that allows the light/modifier to almost float in the air. To be positioned overhead.
 

 

 

I hope this post has been informative and gives you a better idea as to what flash lights and their modifiers can do for you in regards to studio lighting.

Throughout my blog you will come across various examples of these modifiers and example images of what they can do!

 

Lea