Author: David Hobby

Such a simple idea, and not so difficult to do—unless you count all of the self-inspection it will require. Iranian-born (now in Dubai) photographer Atbin Eslami’s video-bio of herself first made me think, “that’s really cool.”

And second, “Why haven’t I done that?”

To some a foot bridge abutment, to others a studio.

I’ve long kept a picture file of versatile nearby locations for photographing people. This foot bridge abutment on Columbia Road about two miles from my house is a great example, and it actually gets used a lot.

Above it’s seen in normal daylight. But with the right light it offers so many different looks.

For lighting photographers, the first thing to consider about a tripod is this: a tripod is your most powerful light.

You can’t exactly put this stuff in your pocket. And what you get to carry it around will be largely driven by, well, what you care carrying around.

Most of you will end up using two small lights with stands and mods and a modest bag of camera gear. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. You can do a ton of cool stuff with two speedlights. I have gone far past that level of gear in the past, and often to my regret.

If that’s you, grab the shoulder-slung camera bag of your choice. Then augment it with this:

The LumoPro Padded Lighting Case is cheap ($30), lightweight, protective and perfect for a two-speedlight lighting kit. It’ll carry two compact stands, speedlights, mods and various doo-dads perfectly.
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If you need to go beyond that, I’d take a serious look at ThinkTank bags for your fragile gear and whatever size sling bag you need for the stands/long mods.

ThinkTanks are fantastic: well-built and well-designed (and frequently updated by the thinking photographers who design them.) I absolutely love mine and I recommend them without reservation.

For a camera/laptop backpack (not a roller) I’d say go with the Airport Essentials case. It holds a good amount of stuff, very securely. It’s also the perfect size to curl up with on a plane in coach. Just put it on your lap, wrap your arms around it and rest your head atop it on that Toys-R-Us pillow they give you. That’s the best way I know to sleep on a plane.

If you need more capacity (or wheels) step up to any of ThinkTank’s bigger rollers without hesitation. They are all solid choices. Capacity-wise, they go pretty much from “mirrorless cameras” to “I need to move a body.”

Carts

Or rather, cart. Because there is one, standout choice.

I hesitate to even bring this up. But one day you may find yourself looking at a pile of bags and light stand slings and rollers and you may start thinking, “I need a cart to do all of this in one trip.”

Let me first say that I do not envy you. And second, also say that I have been there myself. Not full-blown McNally-ladened, but too much to carry in one trip. By a long shot.

When that day comes, you’ll start thinking about a folding cart. And rather than endure all of the mistakes (and wasted money) that I did, I am going to suggest you go straight to a Rock-n-Roller MultiCart.

Why MultiCart? Solid build, folding, expand to a big size if needed, can be a dolly, can hold a board to double as a digital tech’s desk on set—you name it. They rock. And roll.

They make several sizes, but I recommend either the R-8 (smaller) or the R-12 (bigger).

If you have not yet heard of them, that is because they were originally designed and marketed for the music industry. (Those guy hump a lot of gear around, too.) But increasingly, they have been adopted by backache-plagued photographers everywhere.

They are highly functional, versatile and built like tanks. Either of these will likely be the last cart you ever buy.

As a bonus, you will likely (and hopefully) use them more around the house than you even do for work. At least I hope so. Because it kinda sucks to travel with that much gear in tow every day.

But if you are gonna, this is your cart.

NEXT: Books and More

With the gazillion or so soft light mods out there, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the choices available. And while I have probably shot with more of them that I would care to admit, there are four soft mods that I go back to again and again.

As it happens, these four are reasonably priced, too.
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Soft is Relative

So, which of the light sources above is the softest? The one in the back, right?

Not necessarily. The 60″ source in back is not as soft at 10 feet away from your subject as the 8×9″ source is at 10 inches away. A good rule of thumb to remember is that a light source is soft when it looks large to your subject. This nets out the two variables of size and distance.

Example: Even a bare speedlight looks soft to a subject only a couple inches away.

Long story short, if you want soft light you will have to consider the working distance at which you’ll be using it. The further back your light source, the larger your light mod will have to be.

So front to back, here is the straight dope on the four mods pictured above.

1. The LumiQuest Soft Box III

At 8×9″, the LumiQuest SB-III can be very soft — as long as you are working the light literally right up next to the subject. Case in point, this headshot of Ben I did for an ad for the SB-III when it first came out.

With a flat front edge, the light is easy to feather. This means you can work in the edges of the beam for more interesting (i.e. uneven) illumination.

Pros: The SB-III is small, and folds flat. This means it travels great, hiding in the back flap of my Domke F3 or just about anywhere else. It is also pretty reasonable, at under $50. (Especially considering the SB-III has a lifetime guarantee, unique on this list.)

Cons: It’s small size means it is literally soft in only in the knife-fight range. Back it up more than a couple of feet and it starts to get hard. Actually, I tend to use this to my advantage, making the light more versatile just by varying the distance. That is one of the reasons I use it so much.

And speaking of that, most of the time I use an SB-III, I will do so in combination with a fill light. (Example here.) This gives a combination of both shape and detail.

2. Beauty Dish

The next step up, size-wise, gets us to a beauty dish. A broad, shallow reflector, it throws a modestly soft light at portrait distances. There is nothing particularly “beautiful” about it. The dish just has good PR, I guess.

A light this size won’t wrap as much as a giant octa or umbrella when used at the same distance, which can be a good thing. So while some people may think of it as a beauty dish, I tend to think of it as a character dish.

Again, I almost always use it with fill. The shot above (more here) is a good example.

When used with a giant, on-axis fill light, as in this Martin Prihoda cover shoot, the beauty dish really starts to live up to its name. The shadows from a dish are distinct, and controlling their depth with another light source gives you a wide range of possibllity.

Pros: A dish gives you soft(ish) light that can stand up to a breeze. Soft boxes and (especially) umbrellas can turn into a sail in even a light wind. The beauty dish will hold up in a moderate wind — especially when sandbagged. Also, the fact that the dish is circular gives a signature shape on the face as compared to a rectangular soft box. Some people prefer this, but I find it kinda arbitrary.

Cons: Does not fold in any way, so travels like crap. Expect to have to buy a protective case for it. Which only adds to the next downside. Of the four sources listed here, the beauty dish is the most expensive.

I have a few dishes, including one that I got for free from Profoto in a promotion that would have cost me north of $300. I did not know which I wanted (silver or white) so I chose silver for more efficiency. In hindsight I should have chosen white, which I now use far more often.

But I was not gonna pony up for another full-price Profoto dish. So I ended up with the white FTX 22″ Beauty Dish ($105.00 – $130.00) shown above.

Being an aftermarket universal fit dish (one dish, many mounts) it can be a little quirky in some ways. But overall I have been happy with it. They also do a grid for the dish ($85.00). So if you are into controlling the beam of the light, the price difference (OEM vs aftermarket) may be even bigger.

3. Westcott Double-Fold 43″ Shoot-Through Umbrella

Usually recommended as the first soft light mod for a space-conscious photographer, the double-fold umbrella practically disappears in your bag. It collapses down to 15″. (Best of all, they are just silly cheap.)

I started out using it in typical fashion, 45 degrees up and over, as do most photographers. These days I am much more likely to fly it over the top of a subject, as in the falconer shot seen above:

(You can read a full rundown here.)

Or sometimes it is literally on the floor, as in with this portrait.

Pros: Hello … it’s dirt cheap. Also, travels extremely well. If you are into guerilla lighting, this is your mod. Also can be very powerful, used right up next to your subject. This is something you cannot do with a reflected umbrella because the shaft can get in the way.

Cons: They are pretty fragile. Between the double folding arms and the telescoping hollow shaft, expect them not to last too long. (A little breeze can get them, too.) Also, the light is hard to control — an umbrella spews out light like a frat boy puking at 2:30am after a party. Very little directional control. Raw light can spill past the edge, too.

But for under $20, who can complain? I usually grab a couple to be safe.

4. Photek 60″ Softlighter II

Combining the best features of a shoot-through umbrella and a large soft box, I like to think of the large Softlighter II as a poor man’s octa.

It is a convertible shoot-through umbrella that can double as a reflective one due to the removable black backing. And it comes with a very efficient diffuser screen, turning the umbrella into a wonderfully even light source. As a bonus, the umbrella shaft is segmented, so you can remove half of it after you open it. This makes it possible to use it in very close. It is large-octa light quality, for about $120.

How good are they? Even people who can afford to use any expensive mod they want frequently opt for the affordable Photeks. If you are an Annie Leibovitz fan, she frequently uses them as her key light, as seen here:

(And for a bit of fun, you watch this video annotated—Annie-tated?—in this dedicated post.)

Pros: Way cheap, as compared to the octa it largely replaces. Versatile as an umbrella, as described above. Gorgeous light with the diffuser. Very lightweight — easy to boom without expensive gear. Takes a speedlight well.

(A Photek 60″ how we lit the photo above, as detailed here.)

Cons: They are not as heavy-duty as an octa — but to be honest I have yet to kill one. Also, the front is not a clean light source like an octa. You can see the strobe unit. So if you are shooting reflective objects (glass, etc.) this may not be for you.
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So those are my Four Horsemen of soft light. I have bought (and shot with) a lot of soft mods over the past 35 years, but those are the ones I keep going back to. I highly recommend each, for the reasons above.

The main thing is to look at your working distance and see which light source will create the light you want at that distance. Fortunately, as you can see above, you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get versatile, soft light.

NEXT: Hard and Specialty Modifiers

Light stands are designed to oppose gravity. Pretty simple. And the designs are, for the most part, pretty similar. I think of light stands as being in three categories: normal stands, compact stands (seen just above) and specialty stands such as C-stands.

For light stands I like LumoPro for many of the same reasons I like the LumoPro LP180 speedlight. Their stands are well-built, reasonably priced and guaranteed out the wazoo. LumoPro has good service, too, should you need to replace a broken knob or bolt or whatever.

Honestly, it makes me wonder why other manufacturers don’t warranty their grip gear like this. Seems like a no-brainer, if you are making good stuff.

For normal, full-sized stands, I like the 10-foot LumoPro LP608. It is air-cushioned, has a five-year warranty and costs $45. It is a solid value choice and you can certainly spend more but get less.

Most stands are pretty interchangeable. That’s not to say that there aren’t some cool designs to be had. For a “splurge” light stand I’d consider Manfrotto stackers. They have a unique design that allows them to snap flat together for easy transport and space-saving storage. They are more expensive ($84 for 8-foot version and $115 for the 12-foot) so you’ll have to make that call. But they are a great upgrade if you frequently lug around a flock of light stands.

If you don’t need all of that functionality, skip the stackers. In fact, many speedlight folks who don’t need a lot of stand height prefer to use “compact” 5-section stands. They rise to about 7 feet and collapse to about 21″.

For that, my recommendation is easy and clear-cut: get the LumoPro LP605, seen above. It is the best-built of the five-section stands, includes ground spikes for more stability in wind and has LumoPro’s outsized warranty.

For $40, it is hard to go wrong here. There are more expensive versions of this, but they are not as well-built, have no ground spikes and you won’t get a five-year warranty either. Done deal.
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As far as C-stands go (more on what they are, here) they are pretty much all built like tanks. Which is part of their weighty charm. LumoPro C-stands ($100 for the riser and another $35 for the arm—make sure to get both pieces) are a good value choice as they back up the build quality with their five-year warranty.

If you want to get fancy, Kupo C-stands offer a quick-release mechanism for faster setup. But both are all but indestructable.

Buy Some Sand Bags…

While we are on the subject of stands, please do this: Take $23 (for 4) and buy some sand bags. Get the bags from Amazon. Four will do you well for many small shoots.

And the first time a stand fails to blow over because you had it properly (and cheaply) secured, they will have paid for themselves.

But Don’t Use Sand.

Skip the sand, as it will probably leak in your car or screw up the zippers. Rather, use “pea gravel,” from your local home improvement store. It’s super cheap ($3.50 worth will fill three sets of sandbags) and way less messy than sand.

You won’t need these cheap insurance policies until a stand comes down in the wind, breaking your flash or your mod or your subject’s noggin. Then you will have needed the sand bags retroactively.

Start with four or so. You’ll probably end up getting more as you go. Cheapest insurance (and piece of mind) policy you’ll ever buy.

NEXT: Soft Modifiers