Click to Enlarge Lighting: The Extras
Among the many cool lighting tools we've seen in the last 12 months, one of the most clever comes from photographer Kenneth Kobre, author of a bestselling textbook on photojournalism. The Kobre Lightscoop (about $30, at lightscoop.com) does something that was difficult if not impossible before: It provides the lighting benefits of a ceiling- or wall-bounced shoe-mount strobe from the pop-up flash built into the pentaprism of most SLRs.
Basically an angled-up mirror in a plastic housing, the Lightscoop slides over the camera's hotshoe and deflects the flash output upward toward a ceiling or sideways toward a wall (when the camera is held vertically). In addition to providing a much softer, more flattering on-the-spot light, that technique eliminates redeye and shadows cast by long lenses, as well as opening up the backgrounds of interior portraits.
The equally useful Litepanels Micro (about $300) also fits on a camera's hotshoe, but is essentially a grid of continuous, daylight-balanced LEDs that provides light for still or video capture. Its output is continuously adjustable with a knob, and is sufficient for an exposure of 1/60 second at f/4 with the subject at four feet and the camera (or film) at ISO 200. Its four AA cells yield about an hour and a half of bright, white light that's flicker-free and generates little heat. The panel's light also improves autofocus operation in dim conditions, and creates nice catchlights in the subject's eyes.
The next best thing to an assistant, the LiteShaper Arm Kit (about $200) is a light stand topped off with a gooseneck arm that holds a reflector. This design allows you to position and angle a reflector with more ease and freedom than you get with traditional lightstand-mounted reflectors. Just reach out, push the reflector into position, and it stays there. The kit's four interchangeable reflectors, which have white, silver, gold, and black (light-absorbing) surfaces, can also serve as softbox baffles -- quickly turning a square box into a narrow strip light, for example.
Like the SunBounce Flash Bracket, the Lastolite EzyBox can transform a hotshoe flash into a serious studio tool. A softbox available in 15x15-inch ($157) and 2x2-foot ($190) sizes, the EzyBox includes all the necessary hardware for mounting it with a shoe-mount flash on a lightstand. The softbox folds flat for easy transport or storage, sets up in just a few minutes, and even supports its own line of accessories including a handle for handheld use, a carrying case, and a support clamp that allows you to use the EzyBox in venues where a light stand can't go.
Just when you thought on-camera flash diffusers had gone about as far as they could go, along comes the MilaGrid PowerGrid (about $40). While most such devices soften the flash's light with a translucent sheet of plastic or nylon-like material, the MilaGrid features an opaque/translucent panel perforated with thousands of tiny holes that allow light to pass directly through. The benefit? A softening effect comparable to conventional diffusers, only with less light loss due to absorption.
Print
Stumble It 
Comments
Be the first to comment!