Bowens

Many times photographers think they are held back by lack of gear. However, having just one strobe and one softbox is more than you need to create so many looks and apply your photography to so many subjects.

Photographer Tony Corbell uses a single light and a softbox to show ten different lighting setups and applications.

Now this is not your usual 3 minutes video, it is a full 22 minutes of cubical distraction. The amount of tips that Tony casually throws is amazing.

Tony uses a big Bowens Gemini 500Pro monoblock with a Lumiair 80×100 softbox. But the same principles apply also when you are using smaller and cheaper lights light strobes. you would have to either raise the ISO or open up the aperture for a softer look.

I always love playing with light, creating new techniques or finding a new gadget to help my images stand out from the crowd. I also love creating mood and texture with my light. So I would like to share with you two pieces of kit that are always at hand in my studio when I need to produce that slightly different portrait.

My two ‘go-to’ items when that extra bit of mood or atmosphere is needed are the Light Blaster from Spiffy Gear and the Universal Focus spot from Bowens. Though they produce different results, they are both similar in the fact they create unusual and sometimes bizarre light patterns. The Light Blaster uses simple slides or old fashioned transparencies to achieve this result whereas the Universal spot utilises Gobo’s and pattern cut-outs.