Are Exotic, Pricey Modifiers Over-Rated?

I've become of the mind that we, as photographers, have been brainwashed into believing our images will only sing if we're using the right most expensive gear.

Actually, I didn't *just* become convinced of this but remembering that, at some point in time, I did become convinced of it gives me something to write about today. And writing and doing stuff that keeps my mind busy is a good thing. Otherwise, I end up dwelling on shit I really don't want to dwell on which ends up brainwashing me in ways I *really* don't want to deal with. BTW, for this particular update (Whew! Back on topic) I'm mostly talking about gear that modifies and controls our light sources even though this brainwashing thing--the first brainwashing I mentioned, not the other--applies to nearly all the gear we use, from cameras, to grip and lighting gear, and beyond.

Manufacturers of the more expensive gear want us to believe all their hype that claims getting the best shots only happens when we use their products. That's why they make deals with uber-shooters for them to use their gear, attempting to convince us that we'll only be able to shoot like those celebrated pros if we use the same gear they're using. Companies who produce the pricier lighting gear, whether it's the lights themselves or accessories that manipulate the light, are no exception. It's not just camera manufacturers who get the big boys and girls to endorse their wares. No matter. I don't blame them. It's business, right?

But why pay more for certain brand names and their products? Because they're so much better, right? They make better pictures, right? The hottest, most successful snappers on the planet use that gear, right? Well, I don't know. Certainly, many upscale products trump their cheaper counterparts in build quality, functions, ease of use and more. But do you always need all those extras? It's like automobiles. You can order one with a leather interior or one with a vinyl interior. Will the car with the leather interior do a better job of getting you from Point A to Point B? Probably not, although it might get your there a bit more comfortably.

When it comes to lighting pretty girls, there's only a couple of things we want from our lighting modifiers: As the generic term, "modifier," suggests, we want to modify the light (soften it, create wrap-around effects with it, create specular effects, etc.) and we also want these accessories to control the light.(Spread it out, keep it confined, focus it, knock it down, etc.)

Lately, I've been using a very basic modifier for my main light: A 70's or 80s era Larson Reflectasol. (I bought mine at a used-camera show for about $10.) It's a pretty simple design. It looks like an umbrella when it's folded but when you open it up you see that it's a flat, square, silk, transluscent diffuser. (Not sure if it's actually made of silk... but silk sounds better than, uhh... cotton or polyester.) Mine looks sort of like THIS, only mine is bigger and doesn't have the black trim around its perimeter. The diffusion material is attached to an umbrella-like frame (Larson calls it a boom arm) and is mostly used as a shoot-thru. Leastwise, that's how I mostly use it. The Reflectasol, as you've already figured out, attaches to your light source where an umbrella would normally be attached, but in front of the light, like a shoot-thru... and it's flat. (Oh yeah. I already said that... that it's flat.)

This modifier doesn't do a very good job of controlling the light but it softens it as well as any pricier Chimera or Photoflex modifier is going to soften light. It doesn't have any special light-handlling qualities by using internal baffles (hell, it is a freakin' baffle) or interior reflective material or quality-of-light aspects realized through a convex or concave or other shape. It's simply simple. And, for the most part, it gets the job done.

If and when I need to control the light passing through the Reflectasol, I simply use flags or black foil or whatever. Or, I pull out and use some other modifier that is designed to do a better job of controlling light. But I don't do so too often. Why? Because I'm lazy? Well, maybe a little. But, more importantly, I want to use gear that doesn't take much work in terms of setting it up, moving it around, or tearing it back down. The Reflectasol certainly meets that criteria. Besides, I'm usually under-the-gun in terms of time. On production sets they expect me to set up my gear in minutes and get through the photo-sets in not-too-many more minutes. It's always rush, rush, rush. I'm usually the lone photographer amongst a crew of video production people and they don't like having Jimmy slow them down. It's often as if they *just* tolerate me only because they know the pictures are a necessity and/or required by whomever is funding or producing the show. (Which makes sense, of course. Try selling your freakin' movie without pictures for advertising and packaging and all that stuff, guys!)

The pic at the top is Kayla from yesterday's Vivid Entertainment shoot. (Click it to enlarge.) She was one of four girls I shot throughout the day. I had about ten or fifteen minutes with her. Okay. Maybe twenty. They had me shooting in a second-story, small-ish room of the two-story brick building that served as our location. If I had more room to work, I would have had Kayla further away from the brick wall, allowing the light to fall off a bit more before reaching the bricks and, in so doing, darkening it. Oh well. "More room to work," ample time, or extra pairs of hands to help are all luxuries I'm not always usually afforded.

I quickly set up three lights on stands. On two of them, the back lights, I put small shoot-thru umbrellas. For my main or key light, I attached my trusty Reflectasol. I had everything set up in short order and, with Kayla in front of my lens, I snapped away. I spotted that old stand-up light in the room, as well as the old oak chair, so I dragged that stuff onto my little "set" and plopped Kayla onto the chair and asked her to work with the chair and the light for 20 or 30 snaps. Canon 5D w/28-135 IS USM, ISO 100, f/8 @ 125.

I suppose Kayla figured turnabout is fair play as she aimed that old light on the olde photographer and shined some light on him... I mean me.