DAY 97

FASHION & BEAUTY

Essential Light Modifiers

OCTAGONAL SOFT BOXES

Octagonal soft boxes resemble umbrellas but use rods that are supported by a rigid, metal collar designed to fit specific manufacturers of strobe lights. Boxes range from 30 inches to 80 inches in width. The box is placed over the strobe and the light shoots forward through a white diffusion panel that is on the front of the box. Some boxes have an internal diffuser, or baffle, that softens the light even further (see page 218).

Each diffusion panel decreases the intensity and power of the light by at least one f/stop. Each panel also lowers the color balance from the daylight balance 5500 Kelvin by a few hundred degrees. The shift toward the warmer color spectrum causes a yellowing effect. It is subtle when using one diffusion panel.

A 60-inch octagonal soft box with two diffusion panels was placed to the right side of the model about 3 feet from her face. A large white reflector was placed on the opposite side of the light to fill the shadow with light to reduce the contrast of using one large key light. A small strip light was placed on the floor pointing upward, centered on the eyes and illuminating under the neck. A 150mm lens at 4.0 was used to achieve the limited depth of field so that only the face is in sharp focus. —MR

Photo © Matthew Roharik.