If you shoot a lot portraits or beauty work, you likely spend a lot of your time thinking about lighting, including what the right modifier for the look you're going for is. This very comprehensive and well-explained video will walk you through the standard octabox and beauty dish, as well as the more exotic adjustable parabolic reflector and Satellite Staro.
Coming to you from Karl Taylor, this truly awesome video will show you how four types (with many variations) of lighting modifiers work and the results they give. In it, he tests the following modifiers:
- 70 cm silver beauty dish
- Broncolor Para 88 Parabolic Umbrella (in focused, mid-focus, and defocused positions)
- Satellite Staro (a reflector with a heavy center-weighting, as opposed to the mostly even diffusion of a softbox)
- Broncolor Para 133 Parabolic Umbrella (in focused, mid-focus, and defocused positions), a larger version of the Para 88
- Broncolor Para 222 Parabolic Umbrella (in focused, mid-focus, and defocused positions), an even larger version that can completely envelope a person in light, giving a very different look
- 150 cm octabox softbox
I've shot with the Para 222 and can tell you it is indeed a spectacularly unique and wonderful modifier. In particular, the focusing rod that allows you to vastly reshape the light output makes it both highly versatile and a ton of fun to shoot with. Nonetheless, it's all about picking the modifier that most resonates with your creative vision. By the way, if you're wondering why Taylor mentions that the Para 88 functions well as a beauty dish, it's because a beauty dish is actually a parabolic reflector, though its light properties are not identical to those of the parabolic umbrella.
I do like Karl Taylor's style of conversing with his audience. Not a studio photographer myself, but useful just the same to understand different studio light sources. Thank you.
Yeah, I'm a big fan. He has complete control of complex lighting setups and teaches them so well.
God, this makes me feel like I really need to work on my use of artificial light... Continuous lights are one thing, but strobes are pure voodoo to me. :(
"it's because a beauty dish is actually a parabolic reflector". Not really. I've never seen a single beauty dish that's shaped like a paraboloid or where the light source can be positioned at the focal point - and that's without even taking into consideration that there can't be such a thing as a white parabolic reflector. 95% of the modifiers labelled "parabolic" just aren't and aren't even trying to be. Not that it should matter that much, people tend to be obsessed with parabolic reflectors for the wrong reasons. Some of the effects Broncolor's paras are known to produce, such as the ring light effect, aren't the result of them being shaped like a paraboloid (or at least as close as it gets to it from a fabric reflector). Not that paras are useless, in fact I love them.
A true beauty dish is a parabolic reflector, generally with a low quadratic coefficient. Yes, a lot of manufacturers essentially lie about things being parabolic, and correct, you can’t position the light at the focus (thus my comment about the varying properties).
Broncolor are if not the most, one of the most expensive brands out there for studio lights. I'm sure this is really useful for those advanced pros that have the chance to get work for really high fees that then allows them to buy really expensive gear.
But maybe those pros already know how to use this lights?
I don't get much whats the point of this tutorial, besides advertising Broncolor, of course.
Elinchrom has parabolic reflectors and their lights tend to be on the more affordable end (compared to Broncolor).
I am not aware of any modifier in Elinchrom's range that's shaped like a paraboloid. There's plenty of terrific modifiers, but a parabolic one ? I don't think so. The good news is that a parabolic modifier, as desirable as it may be, isn't strictly required in a lot of situations.
Elinchrom Litemotiv 190cm Octa Parabolic
None of the Litemotiv conform to the definition of a parabola and the material they use scatters light a little too much to get the right effect. And if you're talking about the octa and not the 16 sided one, it doesn't have enough sides.
That's not saying that they're bad modifier, far from it. Just not parabolic.
Well, you get what you pay for, I guess. I guess they just refer to it as "parabolic" because most photographers aren't mathematicians and they're not going to sit there measuring whether their parabolic light modifier is going to conform to the graph of y=x^2...
As for the octa vs. 16-sided, on Amazon, the item listed as 190cm Octa is 16-sided even though it's called "octa". Go figure.
You can always buy the Broncolor modifier and adapt it to cheaper lights.
I guess that "Parabolic" is a very convenient marketing mumbo jumbo that's thrown around because it sounds important. But most of the time it's just BS. Which is too bad because I think that it detracts from marketing non parabolic soft boxes like the Litemotiv or others on their real strengths.
BTW : even Broncolor is to blame. They call their Focus 110 "parabolic" despite it being as far from a paraboloid as a 12 sided umbrella can go :D.
Check out Parabolix: https://www.parabolixlight.com.
Quite affordable, work with almost any brand of strobes and are good quality (from what I've heard).
Beauty dishes and octaboxes especially aren't particularly expensive, and I think it's great to understand all one can about how light works.
They can also be rented. Or rent a studio that already has them.
Hi Guys, for those who would like to see my fashion and beauty work much of it shot with Paras then please visit this site www.karltaylorportfolio.com
BTW Karl, thanks for the How To series. It's of course in part promotional material, but sometimes genuinely insightful and I've learnt a few tricks thanks to them. This IMO is promotion done right (or at least a lot better than some other brands).
This is from a Broncolor Para 133. It’s gorgeous. Everything about that modifier is just right. I love it.