One Light LED Mirrorless Portrait

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

Portrait Glow Grand Softboxes are available in 47-inch and 71-inch versions and have a parabolic design creating a light source that’s designed to simulate sunlight. Other Glow (not Grand) softboxes are available in sizes as small as 24-inches, including one for speedlights.

The Glow Grand’s bowl reflector combines the strength of a key light while acting as a great reflector. It maximizes the effectiveness of a single light source into direct soft light. Unless you have a large camera room or shoot on location in large open spaces, the 47-inch Glow Grand Softbox I tested is probably the best all-around choice.

The critical ingredients in any softbox are the internal reflective fabric, front diffuser/baffle and the shape of the box itself. Silver-faced fabric lines the softbox’s interior surfaces and adds a crisp quality to the output. The reinforced support rod pockets, seams and Velcro closures make assembly and setup simple. The 47-inch Glow Grand Softbox, like all of the Glow-R Series softboxes feature removable internal and external diffusers and comes with a Bowens-S compatible speed ring that easily mounted on Fotodiox’s Pro High-Intensity Studio LED studio light.

Following the basic lighting guidelines that a big, diffuse light source being placed close to the subject creates the softest possible light, I placed 47-inch Glow Grand Softbox this close to cover girl Pam Simpson photographed against a black Savage Infinity vinyl background. Camera was a Panasonic Lumix G5 with 14-42mm kit lens (at 42mm) with an exposure of 1/25 at f/5.6 and ISO 800.

Model Pamela Simpson is featured on the cover of my book “ Posing for Portrait & Glamour Photography” and you can see more of her and learn about my posing techniques in the 159 pages of this book. Brand new books are available from Amazon.com for $14.75 (non Prime.)