A "Beauty" of a deal...

One of my favorite lighting modifiers is my Speedlight beauty dish and it's one of my favorites for several reasons:

1. I love the light it gives me

2. It's very easy to use

3. And it's extremely portable

It also easily customizable, just 2 of pieces of printer paper and 4 clothes pins and you have instant barn doors. Another option is paper + tape = snoot, but be sure to attach it to the beauty dish with gaffers tape (or much less expensive hockey tape) so no sticky residue is left behind.

If you don't have a beauty dish (but want one) you really only have two options, you can make your own, or you can buy one.

If you are leaning towards the "buy one" option I have something for your consideration.

Adorama has a 12 inch beauty dish kit that is $84 (with free shipping) and comes with everything you would possibly need.

It includes a mounting bracket that will allow it to fit onto any tripod or light stand, it comes with two center rings - one deflector AND one diffuser, it also comes with a honeycomb grid, and a washable fabric diffuser sock (with a heavy duty elastic band to hold it securely in place).

So you can follow this link and learn how to make your own beauty dish, or follow this link to buy one that will give you just a few more (lighting) possibilities.

Softbox or Umbrella, part II...

Here is part II from photographer Joe Farace, and in both of these posts he compares the kind of lighting you will get from an umbrella vs. a softbox.

Be sure to checkout the sample images near the end of this post and see how the light source impacts the catchlight in a subject’s eyes.

To learn more about Joe, his photography, and his workshops be sure to check out his website and his blog.

Now for part II with Joe Farace:

In portrait photography lighting, the shape of the light source — a soft box, umbrella, or anything else — can create different kinds of effects. Let's compare several popular soft box shapes.

A light bank or softbox for flash emulate the soft, directional lighting produced by window light. A softbox is usually rectangular, but it can be any shape; in fact, the shape of your light bank/softbox (same thing, really) can make a big difference in shaping the quality of your portrait photography lighting. Long, thin lightbanks that emulate stage footlights are called striplights, and produce dramatic portrait lighting. Lightbanks can also be octagonal and produce a direct yet wraparound light source with an even light spread. Like traditional softboxes, striplights and octagonal lightbanks are available from many sources including Photek, Westcott, Elinchrom, and Flashpoint.

An affordable alternative to the octagonal lightbank is to use a white umbrella in “shoot-through” mode by firing the flash directly though the fabric. Because the flash is not enclosed, some output is lost as light spills out the sides. Umbrellas usually have 16-ribs, so light quality is not quite the same as an octagonal softbox. In a future installment, I’ll do a shoot-off between and an umbrella in shoot-through mode and an octagonally-shaped lightbank, so you can make up your own mind. In the meantime, let’s see what these different kinds of softboxes can do.

To show the differences, I shot a test using three different shaped Flashpoint PZ Soft Boxes. These lightbanks are available in various sizes and come with baffles, recessed fronts to control directionality, and a carrying case. To attach these softboxes to your monolight/head you’ll need a speed ring that costs from around $20 (Flashpoint) to ($39.95 Profoto) In my tests, a Flashpoint 620M monolight was placed in the same place for each shot. Output was set between one-quarter and one-half power and the lightbank’s shape produced differences not only in how the light fell on the subject but on the gray seamless background as well.

For this unretouched photograph, a single 36 x 48-inch Flashpoint PZ Softbox  ($119.95) was placed at camera right. Exposure with a Canon EOS 5D and 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens was 1/125 sec at f/10 and ISO 100. In each of the examples, the background becomes darker or lighter depending on the shape of the light from the softbox. © Joe Farace

Here I used a 12 x 36-inch Flashpoint PZ Softbox ($79.95) aka striplight, although the Adorama web site (as I write this) does not call it that. The light is at camera right and the exposure with Canon EOS 5D and Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM was 1/125 sec at f/8 and ISO 100. © Joe Farace

This is the set-up that was used for each example. In this case the 12 x 36-inch Flashpoint PZ Softbox is shown in place. Special thanks to model Amber Nicholson for recreating her pose under each set-up. Although I had three lightbanks, I only had one speed ring and had to dismount, disassemble, and assemble a new light modifier before making each portrait! © 2012 Joe Farace

If any lightbank could be called the Goldilocks light source it would be the Octabox. It provides a wraparound soft light and seems to be the perfect light source. Exposure with Canon EOS 5D and Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens was 1/125 sec at f/10 and ISO 100. © Joe Farace

Different kinds of soft boxes create differently shaped catchlights in a subject’s eyes. Catchlights are specular highlights from a light source and draw attention to the subject's eyes. A catchlight is not the same thing as red-eye, which is an undesirable effect, created by the reflection of light from the retina inside the back of the eyeball. Catchlights are aesthetically pleasing and the type of light source and placement affects their size. It’s a little thing, but paying attention to lots of little things can make a portrait more than just a snapshot.

Here are catchlights from the three different lightbanks used in this test. L to R: The catchlight from the 36 x 48-inch Flashpoint PZ Softbox looks like it was created by a window, so the effect appears natural. The catchlight from the 12 x 36-inch Flashpoint PZ Softbox is long and thin, mimicking the shape of the lightbank, but windows can have that shape too. The third catchlight is from the 36 x 36-inch PZ Octabox looks almost as if it was created by an umbrella but without the shadows produced by a bumbershoot’s ribs. © 2012 Joe Farace

The purpose of this test is not to pick a winner, but to show the effect of changing the shape of a lightbank when lighting a subject. The Octabox may be a Goldilocks light source but if you want to add drama, a striplight might be the right choice for a specific subject. And if you want a window light look, you can’t beat a big rectangular softbox. The takeaway is that you need to match the light source to the kind of portrait you’re trying to create and not all portraits should look alike because not all people look alike.

Softbox or Umbrella, which should you use?...

Here is an article by photographer Joe Farace, in it he compares the kind of lighting you will get from an umbrella vs. a softbox.

The answer to the question "which should I use" will not come from what you read, but from what you see, because Joe does a great job showing how the subject is lit using both. After seeing how each will light your subject (and how much they cost) it you be up to you to decide which one you end up with.

In part two tomorrow Joe will show us how the shape of the light source (be it softbox or umbrella) impacts our photograph, right down to the shape of the catchlight in a subject’s eyes.

To learn more about Joe, his photography, and his workshops be sure to check out his website and his blog.

Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Farace:

What kind of light modifier should you use? Here's why Umbrellas are great to start with, but lightbanks give you added directionality and control.

Portrait lighting has four major characteristics: color, direction, quantity, and quality. When working with light sources—from speedlights to monolights—the best way to improve the light’s quality is with a modification device such as an umbrella or a lightbank. Each light modifier has its own unique advantages and disadvantages. No matter which one you chose, both devices are governed by the same important rule: The closer that a light source is placed near the subject the softer it is; the further away the light source is, the harder it becomes. So let’s get to the differences between an umbrella and a softbox.

Umbrellas can be downright cheap. A 33-inch Flashpoint White Interior Umbrella costs lest than fifteen bucks! They are also easy to use, because if you’ve ever opened a rain umbrella you’re halfway to knowing how to use one. Umbrellas produce a broad and soft source of lighting that could, for the sake of simplicity, be considered to emulate outdoor lighting. When used in the traditional position, umbrellas produce indirect, bounced light that may require more flash output from the light source you’re using. Because umbrellas produce broad lighting, they are easier for beginners to use. You point an umbrella at a subject and bang, you’ve got soft lighting! Use two of them and you’ll think you’re a lighting genius.

Lightbanks, which are often called softboxes, are usually rectangular but can also be octagonal or square. They emulate the soft, directional lighting produced by window light. The key word here is directional. Lightbanks are the light modifiers that many big time photographers use so that’s what many beginning photographers aspire to as well. Because your flash fires directly through a lightbank, it produces direct lighting, even though the lightbank may have a diffusion panel in front of the flash tube to soften the flash. Because you're shooing through rather than relying on reflected light, your flash requires less power output than when using an umbrella to obtain the same lens aperture. Softboxes are available in many sizes, including large ones that, when placed close to a subject, produce very soft, yet directional light. There are lots of accessories available for lightbanks, which as grids or louvers, that make the lighting even across the plane of light.

To show you the visible differences between an umbrella and a softbox, I shot a comparison test using two large light sources. In this corner was a white Flashpoint 16-rib 64-inch parabolic umbrella ($44.95) In the opposite corner was a 36x48-inch Flashpoint PZ Softbox ($119.95) As you can see, even an inexpensive lightbank, like the PZ series, isn’t cheap so all that directionality comes with a price. For my test shots I didn’t use any fill light or reflector because I wanted you to see the total effect of the light modifier that was used.

This is the lighting set-up that I used for my test in my 11x15-foot in-home studio. A Flashpoint 620M monolight was placed at camera right, just outside the frame. My first shot was with the 36x48-inch Flashpoint PZ Softbox  and then later I used an umbrella the monolight was in the same location. ©2012 Joe Farace

To give me an f/8 aperture and achieve the kind of depth-of-field I like when making a three-quarter length portrait, I set the power on the Flashpoint 620M between one-eight and one-half power using the monolight’s continuously variable output knob. No reflector was used, only the light from the 36x48-inch Flashpoint PZ Softbox and the exposure was 1/125 sec at f/8 and ISO 100. ©2012 Joe Farace

To make sure nothing moved when I switched to an umbrella, I placed gaffer’s tape on the floor to position the Flashpoint 620M now with Flashpoint 16-rib 64-inch parabolic umbrella mounted. Two things happened: One that’s obvious and one that’s not. The obvious thing is that the lighting is much broader, softer with less modeling on the subject’s face and there’s more light spilling onto on background. What is not apparent is that because the light is bounced the quantity is less, so my exposure setting changed to 1/125 sec at f/6.3 and ISO 160.

Unlike umbrellas that are forgiving, lightbanks require some basic knowledge of balancing the main versus fill light (that fill could even be an umbrella or just a reflector) so it won’t produce overly contrasty lighting (unless, of course, that’s what you want) Softboxes are also slightly more complicated to set up although Flashpoint’s series of PZ Softboxes are the easiest to assemble that I’ve ever used. But choices are what this whole discussion is about. You select the light modifier that matches the kind of portrait you’re trying to make. Sometimes that will require an umbrella, and sometimes it’ll be a lightbank. There is no “one size fits all” solution to lighting. Just as you will select the right lens and ISO for a natural light photograph, when it comes to working with artificial light you need to select the right tool for the job.

Independence Day images...

Here is a little more catching up from last week.

Some of our readers were kind enough to post their Independence Day images on our Flickr Group, and here are a few of them.

Click in any one of these images to view larger.

And it just so happens that our good friends to the north were celebrating a day that is important to them as well, here is one to mark that occasion.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their images.

Please... please forgive my absence...

Sorry to have been gone so long.

In the five years since Weekly Photo Tips has been in existence I have never had a week with just a single blog entry, that was of course until this past week.

But in the last 7 days there have been four weddings to shoot. And as if shooting four weddings wasn't enough, some of them have been a haul to get to (and home from), like the last one on Saturday which was in Bar Harbor (Maine), a 3 1/2 hour drive (each way).

So, I share this not as an excuse, just so you understand I wasn't simply ignoring you.

I promise to make it up this week, really.

Thanks for being such great fans of the blog, seriously, THANK YOU!

Back to my nap, but I'll see ya tomorrow.

Long exposures and Neutral Density filters...

Our most popular videos on YouTube is the Long Exposure tutorial that Scott Kelby was kind enough to do for us (and you).

Here is that video:


The two most important tools for using this technique is a tripod and an Neutral Density filter, and I frequently get emails asking "where can I get an ND filter?".

Well, I have a great answer for you today, you can get a Tiffen 77mm Variable Neutral Density ND Filter, that will allow you to go as low as 2 stops and as high as 8 Stops, for just $169 (with free shipping).

I am sure some of you are thinking "well that's great, but my lens is a 68mm, so this deal isn't for me". Yes, this is for you as well.

When I buy a filter I buy it to fit my largest lens (which happens to be 77mm) and then purchase a "Step-Up Ring" that will bring any lens from it current size up to the desired size (in the case 77mm).

So check out the Tiffen 77mm Variable Neutral Density ND Filter deal, and if you need a step-up ring you can find a bunch here.

Tips & Tricks for photographing fireworks...

As the 4th of July is just two days away I wanted to provide a few resources that will walk you through how best to photograph fireworks.

It really is much easier than you might think, with the most important tool (other than the camera itself) is a tripod.

So here are the links:

National Geographic - Photographing Fireworks

Digital Photography School - How to Photograph Fireworks Displays

Free Digital Photography Tutorial Site - Firework photography

Mason Resnick- Take Pictures of Fireworks You Can Be Proud Of

And to wrap it all up here is a short video from the Photo Tips podcast (a great resources for all things photography), in this video they will walk you through photographing fireworks (and the people watching them) from the initial setup (with detailed camera settings) to tweaking your setup and settings during the shoot.