Help with choosing a soft box

[jonathan7007]

To TrumpetPower:

Love the shot. The reference to "red 580EXii" implies that the shot was originally intended to be seen in color, right? So, looking closely at the saw body and blade I have to guess: the 580 was attached to the motor body of the saw but set so that the light angled back at the bottom of the blade. A grid or snoot might have been attached. Without the color cue it's hard to know how much red light was cast forward toward the viewer.

Client? Self-assigned? Tell us about the idea you were asked [asked yourself] to create.

I love doing setups like this!

jonathan7007

 

[Ewinter]

i'd like to say in the UK that an alien bee or einstein could be an alternative to the speedlights...

 

[TrumpetPower!]

To TrumpetPower:

Love the shot. The reference to "red 580EXii" implies that the shot was originally intended to be seen in color, right? So, looking closely at the saw body and blade I have to guess: the 580 was attached to the motor body of the saw but set so that the light angled back at the bottom of the blade. A grid or snoot might have been attached. Without the color cue it's hard to know how much red light was cast forward toward the viewer.

Client? Self-assigned? Tell us about the idea you were asked [asked yourself] to create.

I love doing setups like this!

jonathan7007

Thanks, Jonathan.

The artist is Dad, Gary Goren, and the portrait is at least a publicity shot and will likely also make an appearance in a coffee table book of his art that I'm working on. I'll attach a shot of one of his works, the first one that's actually going to go in the book, that I finally was able to get this past week.

The hotshoe flash was mounted to a light stand and positioned just on the other side of (and hidden by) the saw's swivel post on the left side of the frame. No grid or snoot; just a piece of red gel taped over the head.

I had a vague thought of using the red as a bit of mood lighting in addition to its ability to freeze the motion of the saw blade, but it was much more useful to be able to selectively adjust the exposure of that part of the scene in post using the channel mixer in Adobe Camera Raw.

Cheers,

b&

 

[jonathan7007]

TrumpetPower,
A wonderful way to honor his skills. Wonderful to do this together with him.

I attach a shot I did among other portraits of craftspeople featured in a brochure about fine printing papers from Monadnock, a New England specialty papermaking company.

To the OP: several softboxes used, with Norman packs. 120 Plus-X film, Hasselblad with the 80mm. There were three, because the light had some small amout of fill toward the back of the scene. Two pointed at the subject.

At that time Chimera was the undisputed leader. The ring system attached to the metal head casing was always the strongest arrangement and allowed better tilt control. Some of my current units are a little more dodgy about holding their angle chosen adjustment when pointing down. We didn't have to get inside the box after finishing the setup because power was changed at the power pack. In this dark workshop modeling lights are a godsend. No auto focus!

We went to the workshops of a flutemaker, canoe builder, too. Great assignment. A grandfather clock and a canoe came back to the studio for beauty shots. The futemaker said "No way" (gold) and we shot that gold instrument in his basement. More softbox use!

jonathan7007

yikes-edited to get rid of some of the dust on the scan. Sorry, everyone. gotta re-do that...