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Lighting: The Extras
Among the many cool lighting tools we've seen in the last 12 months, one of the most clever comes from photographer Kenneth Kobre, author of a bestselling textbook on photojournalism. The Kobre Lightscoop (about $30, at lightscoop.com) does something that was difficult if not impossible before: It provides the lighting benefits of a ceiling- or wall-bounced shoe-mount strobe from the pop-up flash built into the pentaprism of most SLRs.
Basically an angled-up mirror in a plastic housing, the Lightscoop slides over the camera's hotshoe and deflects the flash output upward toward a ceiling or sideways toward a wall (when the camera is held vertically). In addition to providing a much softer, more flattering on-the-spot light, that technique eliminates redeye and shadows cast by long lenses, as well as opening up the backgrounds of interior portraits.
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The equally useful Litepanels Micro (about $300) also fits on a camera's hotshoe, but is essentially a grid of continuous, daylight-balanced LEDs that provides light for still or video capture. Its output is continuously adjustable with a knob, and is sufficient for an exposure of 1/60 second at f/4 with the subject at four feet and the camera (or film) at ISO 200. Its four AA cells yield about an hour and a half of bright, white light that's flicker-free and generates little heat. The panel's light also improves autofocus operation in dim conditions, and creates nice catchlights in the subject's eyes.
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The next best thing to an assistant, the LiteShaper Arm Kit (about $200) is a light stand topped off with a gooseneck arm that holds a reflector. This design allows you to position and angle a reflector with more ease and freedom than you get with traditional lightstand-mounted reflectors. Just reach out, push the reflector into position, and it stays there. The kit's four interchangeable reflectors, which have white, silver, gold, and black (light-absorbing) surfaces, can also serve as softbox baffles -- quickly turning a square box into a narrow strip light, for example.
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Like the SunBounce Flash Bracket, the Lastolite EzyBox can transform a hotshoe flash into a serious studio tool. A softbox available in 15x15-inch ($157) and 2x2-foot ($190) sizes, the EzyBox includes all the necessary hardware for mounting it with a shoe-mount flash on a lightstand. The softbox folds flat for easy transport or storage, sets up in just a few minutes, and even supports its own line of accessories including a handle for handheld use, a carrying case, and a support clamp that allows you to use the EzyBox in venues where a light stand can't go.
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Just when you thought on-camera flash diffusers had gone about as far as they could go, along comes the MilaGrid PowerGrid (about $40). While most such devices soften the flash's light with a translucent sheet of plastic or nylon-like material, the MilaGrid features an opaque/translucent panel perforated with thousands of tiny holes that allow light to pass directly through. The benefit? A softening effect comparable to conventional diffusers, only with less light loss due to absorption.
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