In this video
I show you why simply moving
your Softbox will radically
change the look and feel
of your portraits.
Hello I'm Gavin Hoey
and you're watching AdoramaTV
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the camera store that's got everything
for us photographers
and today you join me in my small home studio.
Now you might think working
in a small studio space
means you have to use a small light modifier,
well you'd be mostly right
if I'm honest with you
but I do have something a bit bigger.
I've got this.
This is a 48 inch by 16 inch strip box.
Yes I know it is a big light source.
It's a wide light source
when you use it this way around
and that's how I like to use it for headshots,
but it also opens up some questions
being fairly large
where should it be positioned
for best use?
Should it be in front of the model?
Should the model be in the middle?
Or should it be behind the model?
Well the answer is
it depends on the look you want to achieve
and that's what we're going to explore
in this video.
So let's get some light set,
let's get a model in,
let's get shooting!
So to help me out today I've got the amazing Brian.
Brian is going to be the model for this shoot
and he is not going to move.
The distance between Brian and the background
will remain exactly the same
throughout all these shots.
The only thing that's going to move
is the position of the Softbox,
so we can see how that affects
the pictures.
Now to begin with,
I'm going to start with a fairly
standard position for a Softbox.
In other words it's in front of Brian.
I've already metered this out for f/5.6
Let's take a picture,
see how it looks?
Okay Brian here we go
and what we get here
is just a classically lit portrait.
There's a little bit of shadow
on Brian's right-hand side
as we look at the picture
and when Brian turns to look
towards the light source,
well it's a very similar story.
For my next setup
what I've done is moved the Softbox backwards,
so now the back of the Softbox
is more or less
in line with the back of Brian's head.
This is actually my go-to lighting setup for head-shots.
It means that most of the surface
of the Softbox is in front of Brian.
That means we get light coming all the way around,
wrapping around and lighting
well both the side nearest the Softbox
and a little bit on the cheeks
over this side too,
but being closer to the light
it will affect the exposure.
I could do trial and error
or I can just get my flash meter
and work out how much light is on Brian
and it is f/8 so I've gained a stop.
I can either dial in f/8
or just turn the power
of the flash down
which is what I'm going to do
and I can get back to f/5.6,
okay let's take a shot like this.
Okay Brian here we go.
Now we have a portrait
with a lot more contrast.
There's plenty of shadow
on the right hand side
but there's also plenty of detail.
I can see Brian's eye.
There's a catch light in it
and even when Brian turns
towards the light source,
this still works
and has a lovely three-dimensional feel.
Now I've moved the light
so it is exactly central on Brian.
There's as much light on the back of him
as on the front.
Now in theory
this should give me a split light look;
a lit side and a shady side,
but before I take the picture to prove that
I'm going to check the exposure.
If you've moved the light,
check your exposure,
here we go
and in fact it's exactly the same
as it was before,
so that's great! Let's take the picture.
Okay here we go.
This is exactly what I expected.
There's a bright side
and a dark side
and in those shadows there's very little detail,
not even a catch light
but when Brian turns to look towards the light
it's a different story.
This works fantastically
well as a portrait
and the background,
well that slightly brighter
because of course the Softbox
is closer to it.
So finally I've got the Softbox,
so Brian is in line with the front edge.
That means almost all of the Softbox
is behind him.
That should give some interesting effects.
Firstly it means much more of the light
is going to reach this background
that should go a lighter tone of gray
and very little light is actually going to reach Brian.
Certainly very little on this side of him
at least but the challenging part
of this is actually getting the metering right.
Now I could get my flash meter
and point it at the camera?
If I do that I'm only getting f/2.2
I need to meter it for the light.
I want to meter it for the highlights,
so I'm going to point my flash meter
actually at the flash
and I get f/5.
That's still not quite f/5.6
so I can adjust it
and get back to f/5.6
Okay let's take this picture.
Now the background
is much brighter
which is to be expected
and the shadows on Brian's face,
well they're creeping
evermore to the left-hand side
as we look at the picture.
When Brian turns towards the light,
well actually I can see
a little bit of detail in the eye
on the right-hand side
and this would make a great portrait
if the background
was a nice deep dark black.
So as you can see
by moving the Softbox around,
we can completely change the look on Brian,
so let's do a little bit more creative photography.
I'm going to change the light around
and we'll take a few pictures,
so Brian are you ready?
Okay let's do a shoot.
So let's start by getting that Softbox
back to the front of you,
so let's move that Softbox
so you're in the middle
and then because more light
will reach the background
I'm going to put a different background in.
Something with some texture.
Right that Softbox is all the way behind you now,
so I'm going to need to turn
the chair a little bit
just so you look into that
front edge of the light.
So where should you place your Softbox
in relation to your model
for the best portraits?
Well the answer is;
everywhere!
Because the more you move your light
the more you'll learn
and the more variety
you'll be able to create
in your portraits.
Now if you've enjoyed this video,
don't forget to leave me a comment below
and of course
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click on the bell icon.
I'm Gavin Hoey
thanks for watching.