Soft Boxes / Strip Boxes
Square or Rectangle Boxes of Light.
1. Pixapro 60x90cm Easy-Open Softbox+Grid
This little box is a great source for head shots and portrait work. Also makes for s good hair/kicker light as well.
Well made and comes in a handy carry case. It’s size makes is easy to take on location.
2. Pixapro 35x160cm Strip Box + Grid
I have a pair of these. Made the mistake of buying the none Easy-Open versions years back. Great light modifiers but they live in the studio. I may switch them out for the 30x140cm Easy-Open versions soon.
3. Godox 90cm Easy-Open Deep Umbrella Softbox
This thing is great, it has various configuration options and provides a nice punchy light but OMG the front diffuser is a pain in the ass to fit. Mine is the older gen so it could just be that.
4. Westcott 50” Apollo Umbrella Softbox.
This is an indirect softbox meaning the light fires in to the back of it. It gives a nice soft light but construction for the price is a bit poor. Pixapro have a larger one believe it or not.
5. Westcott 28” Apollo Umbrella Softbox
The baby brother to the 50”. Really nice light out of this but construction lets them down, mine is more a soft diamond than a box thee days. The Pixapro 60x90 has pretty much replaced it.
Umbrellas
The often discarded and misunderstood modifier that can actually be really bloody good.
I own a wide range of umbrellas that have been collected over the years. Linked just a few of the most used ones below, I mean who uses a gold 33” reflective these days?
1. Pixapro 160cm (63”) Silver Parabollic Umbrella + Diffuser.
Whilst not a true parabola modifier it does still focus the light and allow for selective control by moving the light further or closer to the umbrella central on the umbrella shaft.
I used a couple of these to simulate natural light on a recent workshop. You can see a breakdown on the Pixapro blog here.
2. Pixapro 59” Shoot Through Umbrella
Great for environmental portraits, lighting groups, fill light. They don’t like wind but then no umbrella does.
3. Pixapro 40” Shoot Through Umbrella
A smaller shoot through umbrella for when I have to work fast but in smaller spaces.
Beauty Dishes, Hard Reflectors, Grids, Optical Snoot, Etc
I have far too many standard reflectors because they come with every light you buy and I have had to buy others to fit weird none standard grids over the years also. I also own a couple of beauty dishes which are far more interesting to use.
1. Pixapro 21.6” White Beauty Dish + Grid & Sock
I love this dish. Most of my modifiers are silver lined but for a beauty dish I prefer the white over a silver. That said I also have a silver below.
Great for portrait, head shots and of course beauty.
2. Pixapro 21.6” Silver Beauty Dish + Grid & Sock
This dish give you a more specular light with it being silver which you sometime want to show a texture of a fabric or product but watch out on skin.
3. Pixapro 55" Degree Standard reflector + Grids for Storm, Kino and Lumi Studio Lights.
I picked up one of these so I could run grid spots on my Storm II 400/600 lights. My older reflector and grid kit would only fit if I took out the modelling lamp.
The grids are 10,20,30,40 degree so give plenty of options to tightly control light.
4. Standard Reflector, Grid, Gells Kit for Pika/Hybrid 360ii
This gives me a small 5” reflector for the Pika200 and 360 along with a small grid and Gel kit for location work.
5. 14cm Reflector with Umbrella Holder for Pika 200 & Hybrid 360.
This allows for a shoot through or reflective umbrella to be used with the Pika or 360. Does not see a tone of use these days since I moved to using the S2 Smart Brackets.
6. 12cm 180 Degree Diffuser Globe for Pika 200 / Hybrid 360.
This thing is handy for a few things, lighting up a room that is white all round and bounding light around in a light box for all round even light. You can even do a hard light soft chaser with this and a single Pika/360 along with a reflector.
7. Pixapro Barn Doors.. no no not actual barn doors.
I use these when I shoot the white seamless setup as they will allow control of the light spill from a standard 7” reflector. The set from Pixapro comes with gels also.
8. Pixapro Optical Snoot + Gobo’s.
I grabbed this used so I don’t have the full gobo set but the ones I do have are the ones I would use most anyway.
I also added the Iris Diaphragm and the Framing Shutter Blades for additional options and control.
Also I am totally blaming Tommy Reynold for this purchase.
9. Pixapro High Performance Magnum Reflector
This thing is brilliant. It gives me 2 stops more light than any reflector I own. 2 Stops.. that’s 4 times more light. The diffuser sock provided will take 1 2/3rd of a stop out of the exposure.
Reflector Panels/Scrims/ Diffusion
You can use a number of thigs to diffuse/reflect light from cardboard and foil to bed sheets or foam board but at some point you will probably want something that can be reused and folds up whilst bringing multiple uses along with it.
I do also keep white foam board and silver/gold cake bases for product work or when I want a small yet highly reflective surface in a portrait.
1. Pixapro 100x150cm 5in1 Reflector.
Gold, Silver, White, Black & Diffuser. A lot can be done with these things and the bags are great for laying on a dirty floor when you have the reflector deployed.
I have other reflectors in the kit also which have been in the kit for years.
2. Pixapro 60cm 5in1 Reflector
Handy to have in the bag just in-case you need it on a job.
3. Rolls of Diffusion material.
I keep a couple of these in the studio so I can diffuse light on a product set or portrait or build a white set/box for reflective products to prevent them seeing the camera and studio behind the camera.
The rolls I use are tracing paper because it works just as well as the more expensive rosco rolls.
4. Diffusion Sheets 1.5 x 1.8m
These are handy for flying over sets and are a little tougher then the rolls above.