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Relationship between Diffusion, Softening and Distance

I came across this interesting article by Ed Moore and Stephen Murphy, where they tested a lot of different lighting diffusion materials. I recommend checking it out: Here is the stills version and the video version.

Some selects from that post:

Half soft frost diffusion

Half soft frost, one of my favorite diffusions because it's most efficient, getting you the most softening for the least loss of output available. Not surprisingly,  that's what I use as the front face in Airbox Inflatable Softboxes.

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Images of people lit by LED panels with Airbox Inflatable Softboxes on them

Lit only by LED panels wearing Airbox Inflatable Softboxes

People ask me, so why an  Airbox? What's it do?  This post is long overdue, some work samples of shooting I've done using just LED panels and Airboxes. It is notable that much of the time I light with my panels and Airboxes, I do use an extra layer of diffusion in the front pocket when I don't need all the output and I do want it a bit softer. Good thing precut gel + diffusion kits are available to fit our softboxes then!

Lighting used: 2 1x1 Litepanels with Airbox Model 1x1 Softboxes with extra sheet of diffusion in front sleeve and eggcrates), Switronix TorchLED with Airbox Macro, Dracast 160 with Airbox Macro kit with eggcrate

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Litepanels Astra review

Litepanels Astra Review

 4.5/5 stars

If you're into lighting with LED panels at all, you must have heard about the Litepanels Astra that came out last year. Litepanels were the first in the field of LED panel lighting for video, and after being thoroughly and extensively copied over the years, they've now released a spiffed-up design of their original product. They were also kind enough to lend me one, and here are my impressions after playing with it around the house and using it on several shoots.

•Output

What I noticed first is how bright it was. 
  

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LED panel comparison: color charts, vectorscopes, light loss

People ask me all the time, "what LED panels do you recommend?" "What's the color like on that panel?"and ""Does putting an Airbox Softbox on the light affect the color?", so I decided to do some testing, as scientifically as possible.  What you're looking at is footage shot of the DSC labs OneShot chart, where each of the color patches is carefully calibrated to match up to the six points on a vectorscope, as well as four skin tone patches that line up with the "skin tone" line on a scope.  A perfect light source and a perfect camera would land each of the dots right on the vectorscope targets.

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More lighting and camera gear 2014: FS7, Sourcemaker blanket, Twintube Dolly, Gruvgear Muver

New lighting and camera equipment from 2014 that bears mention:

Sony's Fs7 has been one of the most ballyhooed releases this year. I recently got the chance to do some testing Adam Wilt and Art Adams. Adam Wilt wrote some thorough articles about it which are worth reading. I'm looking forward to reading Arts writeup when its done, but here's my really quick .02 - like the smarty handgrip. All those controls you can operate without taking your eye of the eyepiece! I was also very impressed with the dynamic range. S-log 3, we were actually short of hard pressed to create an indoor situation that exceeded what camera could still resolve. Granted,  our biggest light was an 800 joker, but it was still impressive that the camera could still see detail on the t/45 white curtains where the beam of light was hitting them as well as in the unlit T/1 patch of dark wood in the foreground, about eleven stops apart.  We'll wait and see the actual test results though once Art has done the edit.

Sony FS7, test shoot w/Art Adams and Airbox Lights

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Custom Catch Lights or Eye Lights

Lighting Exercise: Custom Catchlights

I've always had this thing for unusual catch lights in people eyes, something other than the usual rectangle or dot.  Catchlights, also referred to as eyelights, are generally understood by photographers and videographers to be important; people's eyes seem a little dead when there's no light reflected in them. Not coincidentally, the times there's no light reflected in someone eyes is usually when there isn't any light source in front of them, so they're usually a bit backlit or sidelit anyway, which might lead people to feel that the person looks a little gloomy. 


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