Bowens Archives - Page 2 of 2

10 Different Lighting Setups Using A single Light And A Single Softbox

November 2, 2015 by Udi Tirosh Leave a Comment

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.

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Thinking different – a couple of distinctive creative lighting techniques to try

September 30, 2015 by Glenn Norwood 1 Comment

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.

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Creating A Midday Sun In The Studio – A Lighting Tutorial

August 26, 2015 by Glenn Norwood 3 Comments

As we know, shooting in harsh sunlight at midday is a portrait photographers nightmare! But, it can produce a very striking and edgy look thats fantastic. However this particular author lives and works in Northern Ireland – now, most will agree, this is a beautifully scenic part of the world unfortunately though we are not blessed with a lot of sunlight. In fact this year its hard to remember a day when its wasn’t raining!

Hence my project to create a wonderfully hard Mediterranean sunlight effect in the studio! In fact this is a fairly easy task and using the correct modifier can produce excellent results. For my first test I wanted to create a textured wall effect rather than use a seamless paper roll. I purchased a 4′ X 8′ sheet of plasterboard (Drywall) and produced a textured effect by liberally applying Spackling Paste to the board.

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The Versatile Beauty Dish – My Favourite Lighting Patterns

August 10, 2015 by Glenn Norwood 7 Comments

Most folks will be fairly familiar with the Beauty Dish and its usefulness in both fashion and general portraiture. In this tutorial I would like to share with you just how versatile I think the humble Beauty Dish can be and show you just how many lighting patterns you can create with my personal favourite light modifier.

First of all, I should describe exactly what a Beauty Dish is for those perhaps unfamiliar with the modifier. Beauty dishes are essentially large metal bowls, which typically are available in a variety of sizes such as 16″, 22″ or 27″ in diameter. They can be used with both studio strobe and speedlights with the correct speedring fittings.

Inside the dish is an internal reflector. This is a disc of metal, spaced a few inches in from the strobe. This deflects the light from the strobe and pushes the light towards the outside of the dish, ensuring that the only light hitting the subject has been reflected. This creates a very smooth, even and flattering light though this can also depend on the interior of the reflector. Beauty Dishes typically have silver or white interiors. Silver interiors are very specular and produce harder more contrasty light, whereas white interiors are softer and more even as the light inside gets more scattered before leaving the dish, reducing the specular reflections.

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