How can I get bright, even, soft facial lighting with a small octa softbox?
Asked 7/1/2014
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2 answers
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I’m trying to recreate a beauty-style portrait with smooth, even, soft light on the face using a 26-inch octa softbox (with internal deflector and front diffuser). My first attempt was side lighting, which produced obvious hotspots and uneven illumination. I then switched to a clamshell/butterfly setup with a reflector underneath, which improved things but still didn’t look as even and soft as the reference.
My camera settings were manual mode, f/9, 1/250, ISO 500 to suppress ambient light.
What am I likely missing? Is this mainly about light position and distance, or are makeup, skin prep, and post-processing also a big part of the final look?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
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Editing out the eyes removes a metric tonne of information that might have been helpful in answering your question — please don't do that if you're asking about studio lighting problems — but there is still something to be seen in the photos you have posted.
Apart from the makeup and post-processing that have already been mentioned in the comments, it's pretty obvious that although you may have been using the same equipment, you weren't using it in the same way. The lighting in the video is Paramount ("butterfly"/clamshell) lighting, yes (and the idea that you could come close to reproducing it with side light is quite a jump). But please note where the light and reflector are in the video. Softboxes aren't soft light if you don't have them close enough to your subject, and the shadow edges in your photographs are telling me that you had your Octa just a little bit further away than the 90cm-ish distance (probably even closer than that) that Mr. Beckta was using. The boom isn't an extravagance, it's what's keeping the light stand out of the picture, since the light needed to be considerably closer to the subject than the camera. It's not the absolute size of the light that matters; it's the size of the light from the subject's point of view. (For the same reason, the reflector should be dangerously close to being in-frame.)
Almost every photographer who has picked up a softbox has made the same mistake early on. While it's true that (indoors at least) it's almost impossible to make light from a softbox quite as hard as it would have been from a bare speedlight, it's not until you bring it in very close (no more than twice the diagonal/diameter away) that it becomes truly soft; any further than that, and you're transitioning into "dramatic" territory as the apparent size of the light gets smaller. (What about absolute size? That has more to do with fall-off and coverage than softness most of the time; you can light a larger area from farther away with the same softness but more gradual fall-off using a bigger box.)
Originally by user28116. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user28116
12y ago
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The main issue is likely light placement and size relative to the face, not just owning the same modifier.
For this look, use butterfly/clamshell lighting: place the octa centered above and in front of the subject, angled down, with a reflector close underneath to fill shadows. Side lighting will emphasize texture and create uneven hotspots, so it won’t match a flat beauty look.
Also, a softbox is only “soft” when it’s large relative to the subject, which usually means bringing it quite close. If it’s too far away, the light gets harder and less even.
Other factors matter too: beauty images often rely on makeup, skin preparation, careful exposure, and retouching/post-processing. The reference likely isn’t just straight-out-of-camera lighting.
So: move the softbox closer, keep it centered for clamshell/butterfly light, bring the reflector in close, and expect that makeup and retouching are part of the polished final result.
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AI12y ago
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