What do the different light shaping tools actually do?

A light shaping tool is any accessory that fits to the front of a flash head and alters the character of the light it produces.

Accessories may make the light larger or smaller, they can diffuse and spread the light (as with softboxes and umbrellas) or they can concentrate it (as with honeycombs and spotlights).

There are no 'right' or 'wrong' positions or distances for most light shaping tools, but some positions and distances work much better than others, so we've produced detailed info that shows exactly what can be done with each of the most popular tools.

Please click on the small pictures below right to see this info.

The easiest way to illustrate the different effects is with photos, but before we get to them let's explain the method used for the comparison pictures below right.

1. We sat our model, Jade Hespin, on a seat and asked her to adopt a similar facial expression for each shot and to look at the same 'target' for each shot.

2. We used the same flash head, a Lencarta ElitePro 300 set to 1/4 power, for each shot. The flash tube was exactly 7'3" from our model. That isn't necessarily the 'right' angle or distance for any light shaping tool, let alone all of them, but for our purpose the setup needed to be the same for each shot. The various light shaping tools are of course different sizes, so the distance from the front of the tool is less with some tools than with others.
3. No fill or other lights were used.
4. The model was 3' in front of a white wall.The wall was unlit and you will see from the photos that the fall off of lighting intensity varies according to the tools used.
5. The amount of light transmitted by the various light shaping tools varies. In each case, we measured the aperture required using an industry standard Minolta V flash meter and set the indicated exposure as accurately as the camera allowed.
6. Other than resizing and adding an inset of the light modifier used, each photo is 'as shot' with no computer work carried out.

Each shot shows the indicated exposure. For example, f/5.6 d5 means f/5.6 decimal 5, which is .5 of a stop less that f/5.6 Please click on the small pictures below right