If it's good enough for Annie L it's good enough for me. Leastwise, it's good enough to give it a try. I'm talking about the Photek Softlighter. I just ordered one today. Been wanting to give this modifier a try since seeing Ms. Leibovitz working with it in a couple of behind-the-scenes videos of her photo shoots. The Keith Richards shoot comes to mind. If you've not seen it, you can view it HERE.
Anyway, I ordered the Photek 60" Softlighter from Samy's Camera via Amazon. (I had some Amazon gift certs to apply to my order which knocked the price down a bit.) I've read some good stuff about the Softlighter's light qualities. In the Annie L vid, I think she's using a 46" Softlighter but I wanted the bigger one since so much of what I shoot is 3/4 body shots. I'll mostly use it on a stand and an arm so I can semi-boom it to where I want it to go. One thing I like about the Softlighter is you can get it in quite close. Doing so should make some really soft light.
The two B&W pics of the pretty girl at the top is Melanie from a couple of weeks ago. (Click to enlarge.)
4 comments:
I have several softlighters, including one 60" one. They are convenient and don't require too much work to set up and tear down, but like most big light sources, they take up a lot of room and are hard to use in a confined space. If you intend to use it like Annie does and have an assistant hold it and move it, it probably will work out. I like them, but don't use them very often. I have come to prefer the shoot through umbrellas. There may be more spill that way, but the umbrellas are easier to set up and tear down.
@Bill-- Thanks for the 411. I rarely have an assistant. I plan to hang it and my monolight off the end of a grip arm and sort of semi-boom it off a stand. I often shoot from just barely behind and under my main light.
Bill's comment is very interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing your impressions of it, too.
I use the 60" for my large family formals when I shoot weddings. It is a great, large modifier and so easy to pack and carry around. I also have a smaller one that I'll occasionally use for portraits.
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