Hello everyone, my first post.
I think its quite fascinating to see how popular lighting in fashion photography has changed over the years. From big softbox, to fresnel, ringflash, beauty disc, to focused soft light (Briese, Broncolor Para, Profoto Giant) at the moment. I have not had the chance to try any of the current generation focused softlight mainly because of the price but have heard mystical things about its light quality.
How exactly would you define it? And is it truely unreplicatable with other fixtures? Of course we cant beat it for its simplicity and beauty in its own right. But how about a strobe in fresnel adaptor, with a diffuser screen wrapping outside? Fresnel adaptor for strobe has always been my favorite with the option of putting diffuser screen at different distance creating different wrapping effect.
Your thoughts would be much appreciated.
Mike
havent used the briese but have set one up. i like mola, kindof the same thing. mola softlight oversized beauty dishes are very nice. wide throw, wrap around, shape defining, no hotspots like the sun...hazy sunlight. i would expect the same type of thing with a huge parabolic. they range from 22, 33, 38, 42 inch i think, i got the 33 for $700.
i have fresnel tungsten lights, 6" and 12" diameter glass, flood to focus doesnt change shadows that much, it does, but not by alot. its broad, even light, crisp shadows. i have heard the 10,000watt tungsten lights, 24-29+ inch fresnels, get a nice wrap around, but require half the power of residential home to operate, and weight something like 140 lbs+.
with my 12" (2000w) tungsten light, when i shoot product at 2-3ft, it is a nice quality of light.
if you are going to diffuse fresnel light, it needs to be bigger than the light, otherwise it doesnt diffuse that much. its a matter of size. but when you fly a big diffusion flat, you have created a softbox.
i went on a quest for the perfect light a year ago and found the molas. also almost all my softboxes dont have interior diffusion, just front and 40 degree grids. it really gives them new life being controllable and directional. i have and have been told that the photoflex large 36x48 inch cine dome (twice as deep from head to front and silver inside for fresnel tungsten lighting but equally at home with strobe) is very much like the biggest mola, but at only $250 vs $950-1000 for the huge mola.