Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Perhaps this thread has been posted already, but thinking about a soft box or PLM. Have a small 4 by 4 by 8 high studio with white walls. Already using a Paul Buff BD and light tends to go everywhere. Looking at the PLM system. Wanting to get good shadows on portraits and perhaps use it on location. Used an octobox once or twice and loved the shadows but worried it blows away too easily.

What size PLM and what color fabric is my question.

If you like the light from the beauty dish, but want to restrict the spread, you can get grids for them, or you can get a silver beauty dish that has a narrower beam spread.

The smaller the PLM, the more resistant to wind it will be. A 64 or 51" soft silver with front diffuser will be the closest to our 47" Octabox. With the PLM, you get the advantage of a silver PLM when you want it, with the octabox, you can grid it. Either way, you will need to sandbag or otherwise weight your light stands.

In my experience, PLM's are more prone to blowing over in the wind and require more sandbagging than softboxes.

Shadows will be softer with a larger light source relative to subject - achieved with larger modifiers or placing the modifier closer to the subject. A smaller modifier will produce harder shadows - you could even use a 7" or 8.5" reflector with direct flash.

Shadows will be more prominent depending on placement and brightness of fill light. In a small space you're probably getting lots of bounce fill. Grids for a BD or softbox will help as TS suggested. You could also use black flags (perhaps a black sheet or black foam core) to reduce unwanted reflected fill light.

Are you missing any digits? That's more like a small bathroom or closet :-O

Grids are your only hope in something that small...and even then, you'll probably have to hang black drapes on the walls or paint them black because of the tiny space...

Thanks for the reply's. I'll map things a little clearer. It is a small space, and have been shooting with grids on the BD. Will be setting up blah flags and curtains later.

My only thought with a smaller PLM was it was more for half body shots. But guess that it is more for shadow effects.

Don't quite understand the sentence below. What is the advantage of a silver PLM? Have used a gridded octoabox before, do know that it controls light spill.


With the PLM, you get the advantage of a silver PLM when you want it, with the octabox, you can grid it.

A PLM with front diffuser will be similar to an octabox (which has the front diffuser). Without the diffuser, a silver PLM will be more contrasty, more efficient, and more controlled (i.e. less spill, which goes hand in hand with the efficiency).

The extreme silver will exhibit these characteristics strongly, while the soft silver will be less, but still more so than an octabox.