Bed Sheet or Ripstop Nylon

There is one modifier that I do not leave home without, I always carry a large sheet of Ripstop Nylon.  You would also carry a large bed sheet, I just think a sheet has to much weight. 

With a large diffusion sheet be it a bed sheet or nylon fabric, you can shoot your strobes through it or even bounce you light off of it.  In  the photo above, I simply taped the nylon sheet to a window and shot my SB-800 through it.  Soft beautiful light.

If your shooting inside where direct sunlight is streaming through a window, you can use this same sheet to diffuse that harsh light.  I will often in narrow hallways, tape this sheet to the door frame of an office.  Here is an older post regarding that use.

I mention here that I have a Small Strobes, Big Result workshop coming up this August 18th in Denver, for more information regarding attending click HERE.  DT

Chris's Portrait

This is my son Chris. Ever so often he allows me to photograph him, allowing me to try out some new lighting techniques.  This portrait was shot using two SB-800's, one in a 22" beautiy dish and the other inside a super large softbox.
The progression of this portrait is shown below.  The first image on the left is with the beautiy dish by it self, the center is with some fill (too much), and the last image is with the amount of fill I settled on.

The fill that used in this portrait was a super large softbox (4' X 6'). In the detail photo below you can see my silhouette in front of the softbox.


Here is a photo of the set up.

It's nice to have some time at home to shoot for myself and practice with my lights. I really think of my small studio space in my home as my laboratory to work out different lighting scenarios. I am constantly telling my workshop participants that you need to practice with your lights, I've been shooting for 30 years and I still practice with my lights when not working.
I'll be at the University of Miami in Ohio later this month conducting 3 workshops for the UPAA. I also have some space available in my August 18th Small Strobes, Big Results workshop in Denver.  For more information regarding this workshop click HERE