A controlled look at light shapers
Hello world! DC Chavez here. I am a Los Angeles based photographer / videographer that uses Profoto lighting in my day-to-day workflow.
When I first started using various Profoto light shaping tools, I wanted to see what each one of the different modifiers was used for — how each worked. After much searching on the Web for a detailed description, photo, blog post or anything, I could not find the information I was looking for. I decided to create this blog series to give the technical background on each of these tools, and show how they work for the beginner, or for the more technical photographer. I wish someone would have done this when I was getting started!
The Profoto crew was excited someone was willing to spearhead a project like this. They got me in touch with the gang over at Samys Camera to get me the gear for the shoot. It’s always a pleasure working with the guys over there. They are very knowledgeable and they have any Profoto piece of equipment you need. I grabbed a Pro-B2 1200R, 2 Pro Heads, some light modifiers and headed to Southbay Studios in Long Beach to set up the shoot in a controlled environment. This video will give an introduction to the project and the methodology I used to show how various light shapers work.
Profoto- Beauty Dish Blog Intro from DC CHAVEZ on Vimeo.
Hopefully that gives insight to what I am doing here. I must say I am a fan of the scientific method — each experiment has a control group — a standard for comparison. Here is a list of things that remained consistent throughout this experiment:
- Output of the Pro-B2 Generator: 1/2 power
- Head used: Pro Head
- Distance of head from cyclorama wall: 15′
- Height of head from ground: 10′
- Location of Canon 5D Mk II Camera
- Shutter speed and ISO- ISO100 at 1/125
- Location of where light reading is taken
This is the foundation for the rest of this blog series. Today I will discuss the Profoto Zoom Reflector(s) and the Softlight Reflectors.
“Classic” Zoom Reflector
Now it’s time to take a look at the standard Zoom Reflector and then work our way up from there. The Zoom Reflector is by far the most versatile modifier in the Profoto light shaping system. On its own the reflector can cast a softer, even light as wide as 105° at position 8 or a narrow 45° with quick fall-off. It also works in combination with umbrellas, snoots, barn doors or grids to customize the light even further. This modifier is a very direct light and produces clean, edgy shadows.
I wanted to show how differently light is spread depending on which position the reflector is set. The image below gives a visual account of what happens to illumination at positions 4, 6 and 10.
As you can see, the spread and concentration of the light varies tremendously, depending on which position you have the reflector set. Position 4 gives a center-weighted, narrow beam of light that falls off quickly. The focusing of the light increased the intensity of light, requiring a smaller f/stop to expose properly.
In my test, position 6 produced a wider, softer light than 4, however, as you can see in the picture the very center was a bit darker than the surrounding area- almost like a “donut of light.” I can only assume this is part of the reason Profoto recently revised the zoom reflector, with great results, I must say. More on that later. I have used this exact setup in countless shoots with great results, but never noticed this phenomenon until now.
Pulled all the way back to Position 10, you get a wide, even, soft light with much less center intensity when compared to position 4. Position 10 is great for use with an umbrella, providing great coverage of even a 4′ umbrella. Looking at the exposure, you can see the variance of a couple of stops from Position 4 to 10. Light intensity at Position 10 is traded for a softer light with wider spread and a more even fall-off.
All around this is a great light-shaping tool, but Profoto decided they could do better….
“New” Zoom Reflector
When I picked up the Pro-B2 kit and heads from Samys, they had the new Zoom Reflector on the Pro Heads. They explained this reflector provides a smoother, more precise light with a higher dynamic range. On top of that, this reflector accepts Profoto grids directly, without the need for a grid holder. The last improvement is the longer reflector body helps to eliminate stray light when compared to the old reflector. Here is how the new reflector performed for me:
As you can see, this is consistent with what we saw with the old reflector design. Position 4 provides a concentrated, more intense light compared to position 10. The one thing that really stands out to me with this new design is how evenly the light is distributed from edge to edge with such a nice feathering of light as it falls off. In comparison, the old reflector is much more center-weighted in distibution. I am very happy to have updated my photographic quiver with this amazing new light-shaper. Below is a comparison of old vs. new reflector at each position..
Position 4
This is a great demonstration of how “hot” the center of the old reflector is in comparison to the new reflector. Also, the range of light produced with the new zoom reflector is vastly improved.
Position 6
This really demonstrates the “donut of light” that we saw earlier with the old reflector. The new zoom reflector does a much better job of providing consistent, even light across the illumination area.
Position 10
As you can see, both reflectors provide a wide spread of light, but the new reflector is a bit cleaner light. Both would work, but if I had to choose one it would be the new one, hands down.
Profoto Softlight Reflector
This light shaping tool is something I use frequently. The reflector comes in two finishes, silver and white, with a 26° and 65° spread, respectively. Here is a side-by-side comparison of the two.
The White Softlight Reflector or “Beauty Dish” provides a wide, uniform light with gradual fall-off. This quality of light it provides is perfect for portraits, beauty, fashion or just about any sort of photography. The silver softlight reflector is focused, yet the large diameter provides soft shadow definition. Looking at the image you can see how much more center weighted the light is from the Silver Softlight Reflector.
Softlight Diffuser
This diffuser reduces the light output from the reflector by 1/3 stop, but softens and spreads the light a bit more, making it almost like a small softbox. I typically use this diffuser when I have the beauty dish very close to the subject, or if I want to feather the light a bit more.
Softlight Honeycomb Grid
This grid slides directly into the face of the Beauty Dish, alllows light to pass straight out, with a 25° spread when used with the white reflector and 10° with the silver reflector. This grid is two stops less efficient, however, is very effective in controlling where light is directed.
WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?
I hope this shows how with a Profoto head and one of the many light-shaping tools available you can sculpt, refine, customize and create the light you need for your shoot. Here is the result of using the Beauty Dish and an updated zoom reflector with our model Steph, a player for the Lingerie Football League. She has an amazing physique, so I wanted to use these lights to carve out every muscle in her body. My personal style is high-contrast, moody lighting, and these Profoto Light Shaping tools helped me to accomplish the look I was going for with Steph.
Click here for a rough lighting diagram.
Click here for a rough lighting diagram.
Next time…
This is the first in the series of blogs. If you have any comments, questions, or something you would like to see in the next installment, please let us know.
Thanks again to our sponsors for making this happen:
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Awesome!
Great to see the side-by-side comparison between the new/old zoom reflectors and the softlight white/silver reflectors.
Thank you. This is very usefull and well made. :)
love the demonstration, well done, would love to see more in the future. keep up the good work.
it will be nice to see the different light effects on models :-)….soft with and without grid or honeycomb… bigger & smaller distance from model etc.
great idea and execution!
I tried out my collection of reflectors after I bought them with a D4 generator a couple of years ago. The widezoom reflector, I think (all in storage now), was the only one at the time that didn’t create a donut or hot spot like the the old zoom. It was sweet everywhere. Glad to see the new zoom is like that and happy to hear we won’t have to lug grid holders around with it.
I replaced the center on the beauty dish with a glass diffuser and my model ended up squinting in one eye for most of the shoot. Should have tried it out on myself first.
Same shoot I had a magnifying eyepiece on my Canon 5D and few of my outdoor shots (off tripod) where level. (Lined up the curve of magnifying view finder with an architectural element). The eyepiece had barrel distortion.
Can you say re-shoot or lost client?
Great. And thanks. This is exactly what is missing from the product pages of most manufacturers of studio lights and modifiers on the net and in printed form.
Ok, you can get a feeling for what effect you can achieve if you look around on Flickr, but never this easy to compare.
Looking forward to a comparison of the rest of the Profoto light shaping tools :)
Very nice! A lot of work, but very detailed and comprehensive. Looking forward to more.
[...] comparison of light shaping tools http://blog.profoto-usa.com/?p=290 [...]
Great demo!! Extremely useful in getting a visual representation of what the light shapers sampled, do.
One question. In some of the images, in the data at the bottom of the shots, there would be something like “1/125 @ f/8 +2″. Of course I know what the shutter speed and f-stop data is, but what is the “+2″ part. Can someone inform me? Is that the change in ratio from the light without the modifier to the light WITH the modifier?
Pls. inform me.
Otherwise, this was a fantastic idea, and hope to see it done more with other common Profoto light shapers.
[...] again everyone! Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions regarding the last blog post. It is nice to hear that this information is useful to other photographers. The folks at Profoto [...]
[...] [...]
The silver softlight and white softlight with diffuser look like the same picture on my screen.
[...] First, the quality of the light is just gorgeous. And on top of that, I can “zoom” them for a wide range of light shapes from the standard reflectors. (You can see much more detailed into of this, here.) [...]