Softbox Truths And Traps | LIVE with Gavin Hoey

The softbox is an essential part of any portrait photographer's toolbox and there’s almost no end to the range of sizes and shapes you can choose from. From a stripbox to octabox, there’s a softbox design for almost every situation but with so much choice comes lots of misunderstandings.
In this live-streamed photo session, Gavin Hoey tries to unravel some of the more common misconceptions about softboxes. He’ll explore popular softbox preconceptions about which softboxes should and should not be used in certain circumstances. Some are true, others are traps!
As always, Gavin will squeeze as many real-world hints tips, and lighting tricks in an hour as possible. Join the conversation, get your questions answered live, and help steer the session… or watch along and discover if you are a softbox saint or sinner!
SUBSCRIBE AND BE PART OF THE ADORAMA FAMILY:
➥ kzbin.info
__________________________________
Be the first to shop our great deals and sales by signing up for emails from Adorama!
www.adorama.com/MyAccount/Login
__________________________________
✘ PRODUCTS USED:
Flashpoint XPLOR 300 Pro
www.adorama.com/fplfx300ptb.html
Flashpoint R2 Pro Transmitter
www.adorama.com/fprrr2proo.html
Glow S2 Round Flash S-type Bowens Mount Bracket
www.adorama.com/glbdsm02pro.html
Flashpoint 10’ C-Stand and Grip Arm
www.adorama.com/fplsc.html
OM SYSTEM OM-1
www.adorama.com/iomom1.html
OM SYSTEM M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro II
www.adorama.com/iom1240pb.html
Glow 40" Translucent Umbrella
www.adorama.com/glu40t.html
Glow EZ Lock Quick Octa Large Softbox With Bowens Mount (36")
www.adorama.com/glsbez36octa.html
Glow EZ Lock 12x36" Quick Strip Rectangular Bowens Mount Softbox
www.adorama.com/glsbez1236.html
Westcott 7 Feet Silver Parabolic Umbrella
www.adorama.com/weuslp7.html
Westcott 4631D Umbrella Diffuser
www.adorama.com/we4631d.html
Glow EZ Lock Deep Parabolic Quick Softbox (48")
www.adorama.com/glsbez48.html
Glow EZ Lock Collapsible Silver Beauty Dish (42")
www.adorama.com/glbdez42s.html
Flashpoint Zoom Li-ion Mini TTL R2 Flash
www.adorama.com/fplfsmminlca.html
#softboxlighting #lightingtutorial #adorama
__________________________________
❐ LET'S GET SOCIAL ❏
➥ TikTok www.tiktok.com/@adoramanyc
➥ Facebook adorama/
➥ Instagram adorama
➥ Twitter adorama
❐ MORE ADORAMA ❏
➥ Shop www.adorama.com/
➥ Blog www.adorama.com/alc/
➥ Live Events www.adorama.com/g/42-live
__________________________________
Follow Gavin Hoey on
thegavinhoey
Model: Chloe Kerley
chloekmodel
__________________________________
THANKS SO MUCH FOR WATCHING!

[@scottburcham441]

I love watching Adorama tv and Gavin teaching. I was lucky enough to see Daniel, Seth and Kaydence live on December 14th in New York. Maybe someday I’ll catch you in New York. 🤞🏻

[@brianreed5791]

I have to admit ... the discussion about the difference between the deep parabolic softbox versus the beauty dish ... MIND-BLOWN!!!!! That one caught me completely off-guard with regard to what I thought might be the difference. Wow! Thanks for including that. I have been on the fence as to which way to go but now that question has been answered.

[@alanroderick7153]

Could not make the Live, which was a shame. Watched and learned today - super. Strip boxes are my favourite and I must remember to use them horizontally as well as my more normal vertical, just they become a little accident prone when horizontal in small spaces. Well done to G, S, & F, and to Chloe who makes any picture a winner ! Thank you All

[@jpdj2715]

Parabolic nature - Gavin proves my point I made in other places. The parabolic hype we see in the fluencer space is just that: hype. Generally these modifiers are used as awkwardly deep softboxes that have no place in small studios. As the owner of a deep parabolic light modifier with a focusing mechanism, below my more nerdy explanation - hopefully in a form that every reader can understand. A parabolic light modifier only has parabolic properties if, and only if, 1- its inside surface is a perfect mirror 2- it has a true parabolic shape 3- there are no diffusers in it 4- the light source is precisely in the parabola's focal point "We" all know these principles very well from the electric torches we, as children, had with us on exciting nightly walks in nature and we could focus these by rotating the head giving a very focused smaller diameter output, or a weird inconsistent larger diameter light circle. So if you have all that and the modifier has a focusing mechanism, then you can defocus it. The mathematical assumption with a focused light source in a parabola can be "point source" (zero dimensions). Draw lines from that focal point to the wall of the parabola and anything that bounces out from there is sent in parallel to the parabola's center (mirror) line. If your light source is a perfect "point source" (that only exists in mathematical theory) then only part of the light coming out of the reflector will be organised along parallel lines. As our light sources are not perfect point source and do not emit light in all directions, the practical problem is how to use the parabolic reflector as such. The electric torch of the past solves this with tiny light bulb that approaches the point source and so we can focus its light very well into a bright light circle. With strong LEDs we generally get a flat board with LEDs on it - not a concentrated point, not 360*360*360 degrees. In the case of speedlights (and strobes with their flash tube in a reflector as in the case of Profoto) the bundle of flash light has a limited angle that we may be able to vary. In the case of flash heads with studio strobe packs (and an incidental speedlight) we have an exposed flash tube that generally sends its light out in a much larger part of a sphere. I fire two speedlights (~75 W.s each) into my deep parabola from its focal point - two, as Gavin demonstrates with the umbrella, not because I need the power but because it halves the recycle time between flashes and doubles the number of flashes on a charge and shifts the increase of recycling time by a lot out in time - and get less light fall off, so I can keep the big thing at a larger distance without too much fall off. Quality of light? A focused parabolic reflector, provided a real mirror reflector will put out focused light that compares to a torch of theatre spot light. I still must find a parabolic reflector that has a mirror inside surface. This means that diffusion is going on and we do not get the extremely focused "organised" light that our torches put out. And every grade of diffusion added to conditions 1..4, takes away from pure parabolic properties and light quality. Shoot a speedlight/strobe into the parabola's rear opening and it's completely defocused. Also, the light head may be at an angle that barely touches the side walls of the modifier. This applies to all light modifiers when you fire reflector-encapsulated light sources into them: speedlights, Profoto. broncolor and the Holy Cow (God Ox) brand stil have exposed flash tube models. Is a parabolic reflector (with focused light in it) more efficient or does the Inverse Square Law still apply to it? If we compare the focused output from a theoretical parabola with a LASER's output, then a very good mathematical treatment of this question is in URL www.scienceforums.net/topic/9586-laser-and-inverse-square-law/ under [ "timo" (Scientist) - Posted April 24, 2005 ] As to requirements above 1- its inside surface is a perfect mirror - never seen one 2- it has a true parabolic shape - probably never the case, except in the very expensive likes of broncolor, etc. 3- there are no diffusers in it - sic 4- the light source is precisely in the parabola's focal point - ...

[@PhillipBassPhotography]

Hello Gavin I am totally enjoying watching your videos. Keep up the good work.

[@ale.giacobazzi]

Another AMAZING video from Gav and his Team. All the info we need about softboxes 🤩

[@Garbid]

That was very useful. So no need in parabolic. Only grid makes slight difference. If no grid then umbrella with diffuser can do all. Feathering doesn't make light softer or shadow transition smoother. It's just makes less or more light on a background. That was really surprising as I saw few days ago the theory with diagrams which shows difference in hot spot and edge of light source and etc)

[@thats_mr_b_]

I'm only here for Gavin humor hahaha. Good stuff man. I bought glow products BECAUSE of you !! I can't thank you enough

[@GTGeorgeW]

Loved the video. Very instructional and it opens our minds as to how each modifier is been used.

[@timothyquan6304]

Thank You for doing the live SoftBOX Video. For me, this answers many questions on how to use softbox. I look forward to seeing the next session.

[@focus1ist]

A great tutorial again! Filled in some blanks here! Thank you!

[@rmccutchan6287]

Such incredibly valuable information. Thanks for putting these tutorials out there!!

[@dandonovan1]

You really did a great job putting various “rules of lighting’ to test!

[@almostinfamous42]

Just started watching and already interested by the energy

[@almostinfamous42]

New to Bowens and the tip to put the head into the modifier may save me a bunch of headaches too

[@GavinHoey]

I spent years struggling with dofboxes before I realised that was the way to go... Glad I've spared you that pain 😅

[@charlesjames9783]

This was a fantastic video. I spent a lot of trial and error buying and learning to use modifiers. Wish I had this video then. Each modifier affects the final image. People seem to have forgotten about beauty dishes. For portraits it can make your look more unique.

[@almostinfamous42]

One of my dishes fell off a boom once. nobody was injured but the dish had a few dents in it) and somehow the dinged up one gave me some interesting light while I still had it.

[@richardmalmberg7722]

The lithium ion mini is quite a bit better in recycle time than the double A version. Great talk! Love seeing the comparisons and seeing the wide shot of the modifiers.

[@alun7006]

Thanks Gav & team! Another great live session.

[@jamesrobinson3663]

A very informative class 😃

[@charliegreen1989]

Great video Gavin really enjoyed it. I always wondered about a smaller light like the AD100 in a larger modifier. I will take a shot of it to see how much it’s covering, thanks for the tip.

[@jkennan]

I didn’t see this live so was initially a bit confused as thought maybe Gavin had started a new camping equipment channel and was doing tent reviews. 😂 Always a great watch thanks!

[@johnclay7644]

informative photography content Thanks Gavin

[@josefrobrigado7335]

this is so helpful...thank you.

[@eoslove2022]

We never miss one of these!

[@mikeno62]

Happy New Year Gavin and the team 😃. It was actually a great tutorial in light modifiers, very well explained so one easily could see the difference in how the light patterns works. Keep up your great work. Best regards from Denmark 🇩🇰

[@lim2001burger]

Happy new year Gavin, Sam, Freya and Chloe! Another great Livestream as usual 👍

[@pjsam002]

Maracas Valley..Trinidad and Tobago

[@johnwood4561]

Hi Gavin, fom Guelph Ontario. always fun and informative!

[@stephaniepuffy1]

He’s a great instructor

[@jocliff7387]

This video was amazing many thanks❤

[@ShadowlightPhotography]

HNY Gav and family, great video as always, must admit despite having both a 42" Beauty style SB and a 48" Deeper Softbox I still was expecting something different ;) - I thought perhaps the light comes out more evenly as it has time to spread about and bounce around in the depth more, but as we saw zip all difference ;)

[@markglenday7291]

Hi Gavin, I am watching this video as I missed the live stream. If for any chance you do make it to Australia and you head up to Toowoomba can you please let me know as I live in Brisbane and would love to meet you guy's face to face thanks, Mark in Brisbane Australia😄👍

[@MartinV.]

Great Video!!

[@canucklehead28]

Amazing lesson Gavin!

[@geraldinebryce594]

Another great session thank you 😊

[@biddybix9154]

Great tutorial Gavin! Happy New Year to you all! 🙂

[@ChuckJ7777]

Great video

[@RobinPrichard]

I'm watching at 8am on Friday. Happy new year Gav, Sam and Freya!

[@RobinPrichard]

And Chloe! Sorry Chloe :)

[@mikehenthorn1778]

when i was still doing convention costume stuff i would have a strip box at the side to bring out edges and detail on the costumes. my big 7ft octobox as a fill and a smaller square softbox up high as a key. it worked for most . the strip box was set where the people would enter so there was less items for them to hit or trip on. may of the costumes had poor visibility.

[@cosmo0080]

hi, i also some times look at lighting in a tv or movie to see how it was done

[@michaelkroening]

Great Session

[@jamesliu4260]

Amazing video ❤

[@jrmandrial]

watching in honolulu, a couple days late. happy new year.

[@josediazh3890]

Muchas gracias.

[@garyholland7282]

Really enjoying the tutorials, with buying from Adorama, are there import duties coming from the US?

[@jorgebracero3614]

Happy New Year from Costra Rica.

[@Cotictimmy]

Props to Wescott Marketing Dept for giving us 8 foot tall Chole. 🤣 Ps. One of those Godox PB960 power packs will drive a speedlite and let it recycle sufficiently fast in a big modifier. You can run 2 speedlites from the same power pack.

[@MaryJane-tm5ee]

Dear lord, I had my jaw dropping at every photo of that amazing model.

[@ericarnold9072]

Hi Gavin, have you discovered any advantages to using the circular metal plate that comes with most if not all of the Glow softboxes?

[@kanhaiyalalsalunke3561]

best guidence

[@jerrydenham1466]

Hi from Knoxville, TN

[@stuman673]

Stu from Coffs Harbour Australia

[@pjcornelius]

Hello from Colorado.

[@photodan24]

When you feathered the softbox, I wouldn't say the light was softer but you just weren't getting as much of the center hotspot directly on her face. The light just seems more even.

[@chrissutton7183]

The other reason that you got "less light" out of the parabolic is because Chloe, while still one ICAL from the surface of the softbox, is still further away from the origin of the light. The Parabolic softbox is DEEPER that the beauty dish. Inverse square law.

[@pedroagonzalezfoto]

Hi, Gavin. First of all, let me wish you, your team, your family and relates a really great 2024. As for the bouncing of the light when using an umbrella instead of a softbox, I guess it can be somehow limited if your flash includes zoom. This way, the narrower the zoom the lesser bouncing, as you would be narrowing the beam of light produced by the flash. Does that make any sense?

[@PhillipBassPhotography]

Does all this work with continuous lighting as well?

[@sebkomo]

I have a question… If you wanted to light her face only, would have you used another light naked with a small grid on it or would you instead use a strip box with a grid?

[@karlshikles]

What about umbrellas with diffusion?

[@grahamwalker3819]

The image you got at 27 minutes… would you call that chiaroscuro, or would you want darker darks?

[@geraldmathieu8455]

Gerald from New York, Is it ok to choose my ISO & Aperture and let the meter picks the shutter speed inside a studio

[@kundamanda4286]

greetings, compliments of the season. i got ad600 pro, my question is, can it work with small rig softbox, or kindly recommend me a good softbox that can match with ad600pro

[@lewisertan7240]

Hello Gevin, watched almost all your videos and learned so much from you! Thanks for that ! I watched this too and I noticed you were not sure why you were measuring different numbers by two same sized soft boxes one is parabolic, one is not. I just wanted to point that the light falls off in your Parabolic soft-box that is why you were getting different number with the same size diameter softbox and parabolic . I feel like if you put two different light sources side by side on the same line, one is parabolic and the other one is the same diameter soft-box and you will measure different f stops at very front of each . I hope I was able to explain what I meant. Let me know what you think please .

[@GavinHoey]

Thanks for the comment. My uncertainty was somewhat staged and all was revealed at 46:19 when I showed the deep softbox actually has an inner diffuser that has a hot spot reducing extra thick layer... Which the shallow "beauty dish" did not 😉

[@greglarUK]

Hello!!

[@nealewatson3937]

What are you changing to get your f stop to 8 each time

[@vibrasieve]

Good video❤

[@stephaniepuffy1]

What is the gadget he used ? A meter do we need that I don’t know how t on use that yet

[@dandonovan1]

What tethering software are you using? Thanks!

[@paulstreeter1655]

Good evening

[@jgates]

Hello Gavin!

[@stephaniepuffy1]

What light are they I want to learn ocf

[@geraldinebryce594]

Hi Gavin I have just looked on the Adorama website but can’t see the UK for delivery. Do they ship to the UK if so is it expensive, do I pay taxes ? Thanks

[@jimowens8105]

Comment submitted

[@PatrickKelliher-h4u]

😊

[@robjphotos]

what software is gavin tethering with?

[@corykphotography]

Hello Gavin! Sorry i am late!

[@djxuppavic]

Hello

[@isoawe1888]

Can you send Chloe my way? I need her arm to duplicate your setup. 😂

[@masud184]

Hallo ❤

[@pbkayakyer]

Hello in the comments!!

[@pjsam002]

Softbox,,,would be more efficient and effective i n this case

[@edwardgreven7819]

HELLO 🙂

[@namenloss]

Kind of funny how you are supposed to be advertising gear for adorama, but all your demos basically comes down to you need one simple soft box with an optional grid…

[@YoungBlaze]

What the heck are you talking about we are here for Chloe 😂❤

[@tintin69rr]

Hello in the comments 😂

[@steffenwinkler572]

Great Video ❤