Become Better Photographer: The Best Position for your Softbox with Gavin Hoey

February 14, 2019

*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with Gavin on Instagram. The model - Brian Mansi IG: @bmvoh

How diverse can a portrait photograph be if you are confined to a small studio with just one strip soft box? In this episode the amazing photographer Gavin Hoey with Adorama TV is going to share his PRO tips on what positions of just one light can bring to your photo portfolio!

Gavin introduces his only modifier – ” I’ve got this 48 inch by 16 inch strip box. Yes I know it is a big light source, but it also opens up some questions being fairly large where should it be positioned for best use? Should it be in front of the model? Should the model be in the middle? Or should it be behind the model? The answer is it depends on the look you want to achieve.”

In Gavin’s setup there is simple grey background, one light on camera’s left, and one model – Brian, who will not move at all for the sake of testing how exact same images would look with different strobe light positions.

Gavin continues: “The distance between Brian and the background will remain exactly the same throughout all these shots. The only thing that’s going to move is the position of the Softbox, so we can see how that affects the pictures. Now to begin with, I’m going to start with a fairly standard position for a Softbox. In other words it’s in front of Brian. “

“What we get here is just a classically lit portrait. There’s a little bit of shadow on Brian’s right-hand side as we look at the picture and when Brian turns to look towards the light source, it’s a very similar story. “

“For my next setup what I’ve done is moved the Softbox backwards, so now the back of the Softbox is more or less in line with the back of Brian’s head. This is actually my go-to lighting setup for head-shots. It means that most of the surface of the Softbox is in front of Brian. That means we get light coming all the way around, wrapping around and lighting well both the side nearest the Softbox and a little bit on the cheeks over the other side too.”

Gavin also notes that due to change of the light position, the exposure will also change. So with every move of the light, make sure that you are still shooting at the same exposure by adjusting the light power (light meter might come in handy).

“Now we have a portrait with a lot more contrast. There’s plenty of shadow on the right hand side but there’s also plenty of detail. I can see Brian’s eye. There’s a catch light in it and even when Brian turns towards the light source, this still works and has a lovely three-dimensional feel.”

“Now I’ve moved the light so it is exactly central on Brian. There’s as much light on the back of him as on the front. Now in theory this should give me a split light look; a lit side and a shady side.”

“There’s a bright side and a dark side and in those shadows there’s very little detail, not even a catch light but when Brian turns to look towards the light it’s a different story. This works fantastically well as a portrait and the background, well that slightly brighter because of course the softbox is closer to it.”

In the last scenario Gavin continues: “So finally I’ve got the softbox, so Brian is in line with the front edge. That means almost all of the softbox is behind him. That should give some interesting effects. Firstly it means much more of the light is going to reach this background that should go a lighter tone of gray and very little light is actually going to reach Brian. Certainly very little on the opposite side of him at least but the challenging part of this is actually getting the metering right. “

“The background is much brighter which is to be expected and the shadows on Brian’s face, well they’re creeping evermore to the left-hand side as we look at the picture. When Brian turns towards the light, well actually I can see a little bit of detail in the eye on the right-hand side and this would make a great portrait if the background was a nice deep dark black. “

Mr. Hoey concludes: “as you can see by moving the softbox around, we can completely change the look on Brian, so let’s do a little bit more creative photography!”

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Watch the full episode with Gavin Hoey and Adorama TV:

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