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Print ArticleWhether you're looking for a primary light source or just a little fill, our lighting roundup showcases the latest monolights, heads and packs, reflectors, softboxes, and other lighting modifiers to provide perfect illumination for all your images.
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ARRI |
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Bowens "[For one of my shoots in a Georgian townhouse in Central London], we were going to be moving from shot to shot and room to room quite quickly. I used the Ringflash Pro with the Explorer 1500 Battery Generator, which allowed me total freedom of movement. I was amazed at the amount of light the Ringflash Pro was capable of producing; I was able to light up an entire room from the one light source. The quality of the light produced by the Ringflash Pro and its usability is second to none. The new foam handle is a great addition, too, as it allows for move free-flowing, fluid movements when you're shooting. The thing I was most impressed with from the Ringflash Pro, however, was its continual high-quality light output, which produced some amazing shadows and gave all the models perfect, pure skin tones." |
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California Sunbounce "This image was taken in Colorado for Justin Hats, a division of The Milano Hat Company. I had everyone on site at 5:30 a.m. to be ready to shoot predawn light for 30 minutes, because at 6:00 a.m. the sun was high enough to be over the mountain and behind the models. I had exactly 12 minutes to shoot before packing up and driving four minutes to the next location to shoot there at 6:19 a.m., when the sun got high enough to hit that location. I had every detail planned except the lack of sun due to very heavy clouds. So my crew dragged out the Lumedyne battery-powered location strobes and assembled a California Sunbounce Mini reflector. The California Sunbounce boys pulled out the just-released Sunbounce Flash-Bracket, which allowed me to attach the strobe head to the reflector, thus allowing my assistant to have the pack on her shoulder and walk with the now
© Steve Thornton
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Calumet Photo
www.calumetphoto.com The Genesis 200ws and 400ws monolights provide all the power and lighting needed to create professional-looking portraits and still-life tabletop photos. They provide recycling times as low as one second. "I used a single Genesis 400 for this fashion shot at the Scottish Rite Temple in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I loved getting the light down low as my model relaxed against the wall on a 95° afternoon. I put a simple grid over the softbox to give myself some more control and cut from the softbox. The ability to control the light in 1/10 stops really gave me the ability to capture what I saw."
© Kevin Vu
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Chimera |
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Dyna-Lite |
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Elinchrom "This image was taken with the Elinchrom Ranger RX Speed pack, two 'S' heads, and Skyport remote triggering. Besides knowing the pack would perform flawlessly, the true benefit was being able to remotely control the pack from the Skyport's transmitter. I recently started using the Skyport, and with its performance and price, it will be a permanent part of my lighting system.
© David Verdini
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F.J. Westcott |
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GAM Products |
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Interfit Photographic |
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Litepanels |
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Lowel "Sal Palosi is one of the last nautical wood-carvers in the U.S., and to honor his stature, we photographed him in his studio at the South Street Seaport Museum. The challenges were many: a tiny studio, what nautical pieces to use, and how to use the light to create a compelling portrait. This is where the Lowel Rifa eX came in. I used it to supplement the light that was coming in from his left side, with a 65-watt fluorescent daylight fluo screw-corrected bulb in an accessory eX lamphead. It gave an output equal to a 250-watt incandescent lamp. The light acted as an additional window by rendering character details and giving a fill light to Sal."
© Randy Duchaine
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LumiQuest "I've been a big fan of the LumiQuest line of products for years. This stuff isn't gimmicky: It's actually designed by a guy who shoots and who knows what photographers need under real field conditions (and in my case, it might actually be in a field!). Normally, I'm using the Big Bounce to supplement ambient light, as a source to add contrast, or as a fill light. However, in this situation it was used as a primary source, and it saved the day. This image was shot very early in the morning at Marsh Lake in Rock Creek Canyon [in the Eastern Sierra]. The sunlight hadn't yet reached down into the valley where our workshop group was shooting. Spot-meter readings showed the Indian Paintbrush wildflowers to be five stops under the ambient readings of the peaks in the distance. And the resulting exposure, based on the highlight readings, rendered them as a complete silhouette. A few quick tests with the LumiQuest modifier attached to a Metz flash, and we had the perfect foreground-to-background balance. But, most importantly, the quality of light was exactly what I was looking for."
© Don Gale
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Matthews Studio Equipment |
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Nikon "This shot of my friend Mark was created with two Nikon SB-900 units, positioned on the floor stands that are included with the Speedlight. We created this image on the street, with the camera positioned to the right, aimed upward. No gels were used, and the camera was set to a tungsten white balance, in combination with the white light from the SB-900. We found two busted-up wood pallets that we used to create the shadows and just stood them in front of the lights and let fly." |
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Norman
www.normanlights.com The A400BR portable flash system is ideal for wedding and event photographers and features full-, half-, and quarter-power; recycle times from 0.35 seconds to 3 seconds; flash durations from 1/900 sec to 1/7200 sec; and a weight of only 6 lbs. The Norman power supply delivers 400ws and 200 full-power flashes per charge. "The Norman A400BR is my location workhorse. It gives me the ability to produce great images under any location conditions. The power control lets me overpower sunlight, balance flash to daylight, or set a 2:1 fill ratio that looks completely natural. I take two battery packs to an event and only use full power for larger groups. Most wedding shots are at quarter power, so I average about 600 shots per charged battery."
© Wynn Roberts
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Novatron |
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Novoflex
www.novoflex.com The Auto-Flash-Art features a parallel light-reflection technique that replicates light rays with the characteristics and the shadow rendering of sunlight. A control light--but without daylight intensity--can be used to check the flash illumination in a darker environment before the actual take. The Auto-Duo-Flash small flash studio with two separate flash heads enables any type of light control with individual light variations, just as in a classical studio. You can adapt each reflector with diffuser plates to suit the required light situation. |
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Olympus |
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Pelican |
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Photoflex
www.photoflex.com The StarFlash 150 offers variable power up to 150ws. The modeling light can be set at full brightness or proportional to the flash tube light output. The Tilt Swivel Mount allows for a tilt range of 170° and can be repositioned on the StarFlash to compensate for weight imbalance when using larger softboxes. |
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Photogenic "We've used Photogenic lights for nearly 30 years and can say that Photogenic makes the most photographer-friendly lights. Photogenic provides the highest-quality light and consistency from flash to flash, which is crucial for the creation of a fine image. The Photogenic PowerLight system allows us to remotely program our lights. Once the lights are set, the results are perfection."
© Joseph and Louise Simone
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Plume |
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Profoto |
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Quantum |
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Rololight "The Rololight Softbox is extremely compact, lightweight, and separates into individual light strips. With Rololight, we can better control the light and instantly see the results. In shooting, where there's little light, skin tones have never looked so good!"
© Shoot Studio
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Sharpics |
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Smith Victor |
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TakeGreatPhotos.com |
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ToCAD/Sunpak |
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