Backgrounds
I've noticed on the few forums I frequent, there have been quite a few people who are just starting out 'agonising' about backgrounds, which is best; paper, vinyl, cloth/muslin, canvas...for me paper has always provided the best results and should be considered a studio consumable. However, as an amateur the lure of vinyl did get to me with the benefits of a potentially long life span so a roll of grey was duly purchased. Up until this point I'd usually only used cotton, painted canvas or paper and the most negative aspect of the cotton (or indeed any other cloth) is its propensity to crease. Well mine are stored 'scrunched-up' in a stuff sack so very heavily creased and that how I use them, either out-of-focus as a mottled background or just as a very wrinkled background in focus. I currently only have one painted canvas and that's a small portable roll of a 'cloudscape' (used to be a Forest scene before it was over painted) but this is now over 25 years old and starting to crack and flake. So vinyl, well yes it's OK but the stuff I have has a bit too much of a shine/reflective quality for my liking and I also find it's rather pungent smell off-putting (even after nearly 6 months) then we add into the mix it's overall weight and I think I'd have preferred paper to be honest - then again although it was from a popular seller of studio equipment, it wasn't that expensive so perhaps there are much better brands out there!
Recently, in response to someone asking to come up with a background with, as they put it, some 'pizzazz' for head & shoulder shots I ended up using some material that costs 82 pence for a 1.5 x 2.15 meter sheet (actually £4.02 for 5) and here are the results.
Recently, in response to someone asking to come up with a background with, as they put it, some 'pizzazz' for head & shoulder shots I ended up using some material that costs 82 pence for a 1.5 x 2.15 meter sheet (actually £4.02 for 5) and here are the results.
Well I think those backgrounds have quite a bit of 'pizazz' and certainly in the 'bang for bucks' stakes, not bad at all. Yes it's quite amazing what you can do with a sheet of 12 micron metalised polyester! Yes the humble foil emergency blanket that everyone should have in their equipment bag as it makes a great low cost reflector. You can stretch it over frames, pin it to polystyrene boards, well there are loads of uses and as the cost is so low there really isn't any reason not to have some!
The first four shots are with the 'blanket' scrunched-up and lit from the front (between the subject and background) with a coloured gel over the reflector.
The second four used an unscrunched background lit as before but this time I punched loads of small holes in the blanket and had a flash firing behind the background to provide those out-of-focus highlights. Anyway a good result at a low cost that I think looks quite dramatic!
The first four shots are with the 'blanket' scrunched-up and lit from the front (between the subject and background) with a coloured gel over the reflector.
The second four used an unscrunched background lit as before but this time I punched loads of small holes in the blanket and had a flash firing behind the background to provide those out-of-focus highlights. Anyway a good result at a low cost that I think looks quite dramatic!
New Softboxes in the 'shed' October 2016
I’ve never really been too worried about the time taken to put-up/take-down my old style ones, it only takes a few minutes after all, so never invested in the current move toward Umbella style ones. I have however been rather taken by the idea behind the Lastolite Ezybox Switch range where each box can be formed into either a strip or square format softbox, so the large version was ordered to try out. This converts from a stripbox (44x89cm) to a square softbox (89x89cm).
First thing that needs to be mentioned, is it comes with a back-plate, but you'll have to add in the price of the speedring (or flash bracket for speedlights) and this adds £36 (average internet price) to the already rather high price and in the case of a studio flash we are just talking about a stamped out ring of metal which comes with a standard 150mm adaptor, plus a small bolt and a machined finger lock bolt. Conversely, the speedlight bracket for the same price seems positively wonderful value for money as it's complete with the bracket, two link cables, an umbrella holder (so it can be used with a 'brolly as opposed to a softbox) & a 'tilt top' stand mount, which I remember selling for over £20 on its own! - see pictures below:
First thing that needs to be mentioned, is it comes with a back-plate, but you'll have to add in the price of the speedring (or flash bracket for speedlights) and this adds £36 (average internet price) to the already rather high price and in the case of a studio flash we are just talking about a stamped out ring of metal which comes with a standard 150mm adaptor, plus a small bolt and a machined finger lock bolt. Conversely, the speedlight bracket for the same price seems positively wonderful value for money as it's complete with the bracket, two link cables, an umbrella holder (so it can be used with a 'brolly as opposed to a softbox) & a 'tilt top' stand mount, which I remember selling for over £20 on its own! - see pictures below:
Anyway, when it was initially delivered, I opened the box and was greeted with the familiar Lastolite blue bag, but in this instance a really substantial one, very heavy duty material, so unzipped it and pull out the contents (nice to note there is an internal pocket for the rods) and put the softbox together which did take a few minutes, but will be much faster next time. First thoughts on the construction of the softbox body are that it is well made and finished, but I suppose by necessity, very light weight, but that after all is one of its selling points. The plastic moulded back-plate by contrast is very well finished and substantial; clipping it into the back of the softbox was straightforward and after giving the whole assembly a vigorous shake holding onto the back-plate only, decided it was going to stay put. One point to note that although you may be used to putting the softbox face down and offering up the flash head to this isn’t really an option here as even with a lightweight head, it’ll just collapse down. Easiest option I feel is to mount the speedring/plate to the head then clip on the softbox. The internal diffuser fills the inside of the box with little or no gap and also has a double thickness of material at its centre section. Front diffuser fits very well and of course as this converts between a strip to a square you are supplied with two of each internal and front. I’ve yet to try this in anger as yet but the quality of light looks very even. Moving between stripbox and square format is an absolute breeze; however in square format the box is quite shallow as opposed to being nice and deep when as a stripbox – but that’s just geometry for you. Also there is a warning on the back-plate not to use with over 250 watts (presumably modelling/continuous lamps) so using this with my large Variolite's 650w halogen unit is a no go especially in square format where the light source won’t be that far from the internal diffuser. Overall I'm reasonably pleased with my new acquisition and will be getting rid of one of my old manual style softboxes. It still isn’t as fast to open and mount as the modern generation of umbrella mechanism softboxes, but it does put away into a nice compact package and you do get two options with each box.
After using it over the weekend and being very pleased with the result both in the context of the physical use of the item and the quality of light produced an XL version (strip 117 x 44cm & Wide format 117 x 90cm) was ordered and my older softboxes sold to another photographer.
A few days later the XL version arrived & my view of the XL version is a bit less enthusiastic, now I don’t know if this is just production variation, but the back plate on the XL version was less secure. That is to say I didn’t need to cajole the fabric into place and although it passed my shake test in stripbox format, in wide format, one edge did slip off the backplate ‘ridge’. OK so you’re not going to shake the softbox in regular use, but perhaps outside on location this could be an issue in windy conditions. All in all though I have to say that whilst I can’t say the Lastolite ‘Switch’ Ezybox’s are great value for money they are great based on their unique selling points; packed size, weight and each box does provide two format options that are a breeze to switch between. So I’m happy to have replaced my old manual style ones for them as their benefits far out way any of my perceived shortcomings’.
After using it over the weekend and being very pleased with the result both in the context of the physical use of the item and the quality of light produced an XL version (strip 117 x 44cm & Wide format 117 x 90cm) was ordered and my older softboxes sold to another photographer.
A few days later the XL version arrived & my view of the XL version is a bit less enthusiastic, now I don’t know if this is just production variation, but the back plate on the XL version was less secure. That is to say I didn’t need to cajole the fabric into place and although it passed my shake test in stripbox format, in wide format, one edge did slip off the backplate ‘ridge’. OK so you’re not going to shake the softbox in regular use, but perhaps outside on location this could be an issue in windy conditions. All in all though I have to say that whilst I can’t say the Lastolite ‘Switch’ Ezybox’s are great value for money they are great based on their unique selling points; packed size, weight and each box does provide two format options that are a breeze to switch between. So I’m happy to have replaced my old manual style ones for them as their benefits far out way any of my perceived shortcomings’.
Three month update on the Ezybox XL
Now I'm not a prolific photographer and this usually means I get many years of usage out of my gear however on using the XL box for only the forth time I was a bit saddened to notice the stitching that holds the broad Velcro edging for securing the front diffuser and accessory grid had come away near one of the corners. Now given that Lastolite aim their products at the professional market this was quite poor and added to the previously mentioned bad fit of the back plate I contacted the seller to inform them of the stitching fault - a post paid return label was instantly emailed to me for its return. I'll update when I know more.
Ezybox XL update
A big thumb's up to WEX Photographic, who instantly sorted this out, sent a prepaid label for the return of the defective unit and agreed to replace it the day they received it back - great service. The replacement one also resolves the main issue I had with the first one, in that in this case the backing plate was far more secure, so there is definitely a bit of variation in the fabrics! Anyway, I'm much happier with this current XL and will be putting this to use shortly.
Backgrounds part II December 2017
Once again in response to a query on a forum about suppliers of backgrounds I thought about the cloth ones that I'd bought maybe 20 years ago and they are still going strong - the company was called Colourscape and just like my backgrounds they also appear to be going strong and now as then, their prices seem great value.