Friday
Sep032010
Portalite+Speedlight= KickerLite
Friday, September 3, 2010 at 10:18 AM
I love gear. It's the little kid in me. But as much as I love getting new stuff there's always a certain - shall we say economic? - reality to contend with.
I was reading about Lastolite's KickerLite recently. It's essentially a softbox that goes on the floor and angles upward, allowing to fill a subject from beneath. Great for portrait. It folds up nicely (a bit like the Hilite) and I'm sure it's a joy to work with. It's $265 (CDN). Well worth it I'm sure. But still...
So anyway... I was cleaning up my studio yesterday, trying to organize things a bit better. It's a small studio, with space at a premium, and I was thinking of folding up the two Portalite softboxes that came with the Elinchrom BX500ri kit I bought a while ago. They're fine but a little small and I don't use them all that much (I usually prefer the 60" Softlighter). I put one down on the floor while trying to decide what to do and noticed its angle: more or less 45 degrees. And stable. I also thought: "hmm… an SB-900 would fit perfectly through that Elinchrom speedring."
I was right. And now I have my KickerLite:
[gallery link="file" columns="4"]
In fact, I can even have two of them if I want :-)
This diagramed shoot shows the effect it has. It works really well for a clamshell lighting look, and since it's used as fill the SB-900 doesn't even flinch at the job: I'm at 1/128 power, shooting at f6.3 with the BX500ri as key. I could go way up with this setup.
New gear is nice. Finding uses for the gear you already have: priceless.
I was reading about Lastolite's KickerLite recently. It's essentially a softbox that goes on the floor and angles upward, allowing to fill a subject from beneath. Great for portrait. It folds up nicely (a bit like the Hilite) and I'm sure it's a joy to work with. It's $265 (CDN). Well worth it I'm sure. But still...
So anyway... I was cleaning up my studio yesterday, trying to organize things a bit better. It's a small studio, with space at a premium, and I was thinking of folding up the two Portalite softboxes that came with the Elinchrom BX500ri kit I bought a while ago. They're fine but a little small and I don't use them all that much (I usually prefer the 60" Softlighter). I put one down on the floor while trying to decide what to do and noticed its angle: more or less 45 degrees. And stable. I also thought: "hmm… an SB-900 would fit perfectly through that Elinchrom speedring."
I was right. And now I have my KickerLite:
[gallery link="file" columns="4"]
In fact, I can even have two of them if I want :-)
This diagramed shoot shows the effect it has. It works really well for a clamshell lighting look, and since it's used as fill the SB-900 doesn't even flinch at the job: I'm at 1/128 power, shooting at f6.3 with the BX500ri as key. I could go way up with this setup.
New gear is nice. Finding uses for the gear you already have: priceless.
tagged D300, SB-900, clamshell, diagram, equipment, kickerlite, lighting, nikon, photek, portalite, softlighter, speedlight, studio in BX500Ri, elinchrom, feature, flash, gear, photography, portrait | Tweet
D300, SB-900, clamshell, diagram, equipment, kickerlite, lighting, nikon, photek, portalite, softlighter, speedlight, studio in BX500Ri, elinchrom, feature, flash, gear, photography, portrait | Tweet
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Reader Comments (1)
Mark Minasi (well-known in the IT world and one of the few people that can talk about paint drying and still hooks you into it, ideally suited for interesting tech talks, he makes them interesting :-) ) recently said: "Computers guys have 1 or more of 3 hobbies: music, cooking and photography because it involves learning things, master new concepts and you have to buy gear"
He is right. I'm into cooking and photography and while I love music, I couldn't play an instrument to save my life.
I have to say, a post like this on the gear gets me going all Pavlovian ;-)