Carl Hutzler’s Blog

I never used a softbox until very recently. I just found that a white “shoot through” umbrella worked fairly well and I could never bring myself to spend the $200 or so on a real softbox. But a good friend of mine up in Baltimore donated one to the Carl Hutzler cause. So I have been playing with it.

Softboxes are just a big shoot through umbrella really. But they have a nice benefit in that the back side (usually facing the camera) is not open. This feature means that a softbox prevents a lot of light spill which might normally fall onto the lens and reduces contrast in your image (it can also provide really cool lens ghosting too!). I guess a gobo (go between) which shaded the camera’s lens from the umbrella would work just as well. But the softbox is “all in one” and its easy to move around once it’s set-up (you don’t have to move the light and then the gobo.

And since the inside of a softbox is a silvery reflective material, it likely means you get 25% or so more light onto your subject which is a nice benefit for my small battery powered hot shoe flashes. Oh, I should mention that my softbox is about 2.5 x 4 feet in size and it is powered by a single Nikon SB-25 on 1/4 to 1/8 power. No 600 watt second monsters here :-)

My softbox is also a lot larger in terms of surface area than my small shoot through umbrellas. This provides a larger light source which means softer shadows as well as the ability to light a larger subject. I plan to use this last benefit to do a full body shot tomorrow.

In addition to the softbox at camera right and slightly above the subject, I have two other light sources. One is a big piece of foam core placed just below the camera leaning against the camera tripod and pointing up a bit to fill in the deep, dark circles under my eyes. It does a very nice job of this. I should mention that this reflector is not just reflecting the light from the softbox as it’s not really enough light coming from there…nor the right angle. Instead, I have another SB-25 down low at my feet pointed at the foam core at about 1/8th or 1/16th power. It really does a nice job filling my face. You can also see the reflection of the board in my eyes down low (in addition to the large reflection from the softbox higher up). I think the lower reflection gives a “sadder” look. Not that I was trying for that, but might be something to remember for the next subject.

The last light I have is up high on camera left (directly off the subject’s right side). It is a bare SB-25 pointed mostly down at about 1/32nd power. It provides some hair light and separation from the black background. Otherwise my dark brown hair would just blend in with the background which is not desirable in this shot. It also provides a specular highlight off my forehead which gives a little form and contrast to the shape of my face and some shadows under my neck. I think that soft light alone is just not interesting enough which is what this one small light adds…interest.