Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

i just got it and its too focused. i cant even get one person fully lit evenly. how do you cover more areas evenly lit? back up? my plm was about 6 ft away from the subject and you can see the legs are getting darker quick.

i have this magazing home, and i can see in the reflection that it was a para, but as you can see 5 people lit pretty nice even. is the "soft silver plm" is what i need? im not sure if the "soft light plm" has that extra sparkle or pop.
http://www.spin.com/sites/spin.com/file ... -cover.png

6 feet is too close for full body coverage from Extreme Silver PLM™ (new name for the original Silver PLM™) Tip: if you use a Extreme Silver PLM™ in this scenario, aim it toward the center of the body . . . not the face.

Either move it back to about 9-12' or use the new Soft Silver. (see link below for coverage at 14'). I think you'll get the sparkle you want from the Soft Silver and less fussiness than the Extreme Silver. If you get the front diffuser for the Soft Silver you will optionally have about the best giant softbox type light you can buy. If you bought it less than 60 days ago you can return it under our 60 day satisfaction if you like.

http://www.paulcbuff.com/plm-competitor.php

Is that also true for a 86" PLM? If light source is taller/bigger than the subject, shouldn't it light a full body, especially from 4-6 feet away? I ordered it for that very purpose.

If you want to use an Extreme Silver that close, you should consider adding the front diffuser . . . that will widen the coverage way out and reduce the enormous power. As I said in the other post, the coverage is around a six foot circle at this range. If you point it at the face, that's three feet up and three feet down . . . maybe to the knees. Center it on the waist for full body shots.

I haven't tested this, but (PLM is fairly new to me too), but I figured adjusting the position of the light relative to the focal point should impact the spread too. Moving the light into the umbrella should open up the pattern.

I have the 64" Silver PLM. Used it for these full-length shots. I think it was about 9' from the subjects.
Each person was shot separately - this is a composite (preliminary edit - needs work, I know).

With the extreme silver and the light source in the focal point of the umbrella, you can think of it as projecting a beam or column of light that is pretty much the diameter of the umbrella.

It will spread some over distance, of course. So if you have the 86, it will produce, as Paul noted, roughly a 6 ft diameter beam of light. So, if you point the axis of it at the face of a 6 ft tall person, you will be lighting them only about 3 ft down their body, and will be sending half the light above them.

The attachment of the diffuser will really spread the light, and gives a very nice, soft light. It does lose some of the pop and specularity of the silver, though.

Another option is to deliberately unfocus the PLM.

I have recently received and used the Soft Silver PLMs and they are fantastic. A perfect blend of silver and softness, with a reasonable column of light (not as tightly focused as the extreme silvers).