Photogenic SNOOT: what size for hair light?

Hi everyone!!!

I have some studiomax lights and the PL7MF.

Photogenic makes a number of snoots from 1" to 5".

I am looking to possibly use one of these as a hair light and was wondering what you folks who would use this particular setup would use.

I like the hair lights for portraits of single or small family groups ( what else would I use them for LOL).

So, with limited resources I am wondering what the best size snoot would be for general hair light use?

I'll have a Photogenic 36x48 softbox as a key if this matters?

THANKS in advance

For the purpose of hairlight I'd be looking at the grids instead personally.

This is the coarse grid at any rate: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/42053-REG/Photogenic_918800_Coarse_Grid_for_PL7MF.html

David

"For general hair light use" ?
Does that mean for one individual, couples, families of 6 or groups of 32 ?

Bottom line, "It Depends" on each situation.

I use a shoot thru umbrella placed above and behind the subject, with a Gobo to control the flare from the shoot-thru umbrella affecting the image. This often illuminates both hair as well as background, depending on placement and aiming.

Seems to work fine for individuals and small families

The OP I believe said single to small groups. A 40 deg grid can do that in the right situation/ studio without gobos or flagging.

As to umbellas for hairlight, once upon a time I used to use a small maybe 30" one in bounce position for hair and backlight. Still a lot of spill but I got some nice results. The best thing about that umbrella was the color IMO. i shot my sweet little Grand Daughter with that rig and have her portrait on my wall here in the studio at about 18mo old. Now she drive a car !!! Where does the time go ?
David

slowhands said:

"For general hair light use" ?
Does that mean for one individual, couples, families of 6 or groups of 32 ?

Bottom line, "It Depends" on each situation.

I use a shoot thru umbrella placed above and behind the subject, with a Gobo to control the flare from the shoot-thru umbrella affecting the image. This often illuminates both hair as well as background, depending on placement and aiming.

Seems to work fine for individuals and small families

Click to expand...

For individuals, I would go with a gridded reflector. What degree grid would depend on how high above the subject, but I generally go for 10° or 20°. It is much easier to slip in a wider or narrower grid than change snoots.

For small groups I use a 40° gridded 1 x 3 foot strip box. I could probably use this for individuals too.

I have used snoots, but since the best ones involve placement on a reflector, they tend to add a lot of space between the light and the subject and mean the light must be higher.

If you are going to use a snoot, then you need to look at the light transition at the edges of the spot. If you are shooting headshots it doesn’t matter so much, but with head and shoulders, does it also add light to the shoulders?

You could also consider barn doors as a variable angle snoot.

So I guess in summary, IMO a small gridded reflector is the most flexible solution for hair lights.

Brian A

I would recommend trying Cinefoil instead of snoots. I use it all the time and it allows me to shape the light any way I desire.
--
http://www.godmanblog.com/

Different strokes for different folks. Gridded reflectors, snoots, gridded strip softboxes, umbrellas, etc. They all work, but they all give different results.

A gridded reflector or a snoot are the two most popular hair lights. The gridded reflector gives a fairly evenly lit circle of light with a rapid fall off at the edges. The snoot gives a circle of light brightest at the center and falling off smoothly to the edges.

Why not just get some thin cardboard, dry cereal boxes work great, spray paint it dull black, roll it into a tube that will fit the reflector of your strobe, and tape it into the tube shape with some black gaffer tape. You can vary the size of the circle of light by shape and length of the tube. Once you figure out what works for you then you can intelligently buy a commercial snoot, if you still want one.

One critical point about a hair light. Place it far enough behind your subject so that light from it doesn't fall on the forehead of your subject.

Currently i use one of these:

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=slave+strobe&start=591&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&biw=1920&bih=879&tbm=isch&tbnid=eiz8BYGoC8kNSM:&imgrefurl=http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-205/Slave-Light--dsh--45/Detail&docid=2VbY2Nf-5BkzaM&imgurl=http://www.tubetape.net/tubetape/Slave.png&w=400&h=374&ei=o5WnTueiPKbX0QGwsLX2DQ&zoom=1&chk=sbg&iact=hc&vpx=188&vpy=197&dur=3092&hovh=217&hovw=232&tx=116&ty=157&sig=116223142225924403707&page=17&tbnh=157&tbnw=168&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:27,s:591

with a neoprene beer cooler wrapped around the light with the bottom punched out. I have it mounted on a boom, but the light is one intensity amd if not careful have gotten some nasty flare but havealso gotten some excellent results. It is small and novel but doesn't appear too unprofessional.

I want to concentrate a beam of light to the back of the head(s). the grid he mentioned sounds awfully broad and a snoot maybe closely resembles the setup I have now.

Dont laugh at my modified hairlight!!! LOL

Sailor Blue said:

Why not just get some thin cardboard, dry cereal boxes work great, spray paint it dull black, roll it into a tube that will fit the reflector of your strobe, and tape it into the tube shape with some black gaffer tape.

Click to expand...

Just make sure you have fire insurance if you do this. The 300 W halogen modeling lights on my lights would be very risky with this idea. I think cinefoil would be a little safer.

Brian A

Hugowolf said:

Sailor Blue said:

Why not just get some thin cardboard, dry cereal boxes work great, spray paint it dull black, roll it into a tube that will fit the reflector of your strobe, and tape it into the tube shape with some black gaffer tape.

Click to expand...

Just make sure you have fire insurance if you do this. The 300 W halogen modeling lights on my lights would be very risky with this idea. I think cinefoil would be a little safer.

Brian A

Click to expand...

With my 60W modeling lights cardboard isn't a problem, but I agree with you that cinifoil is the best way to go since it is easy to shape and fire proof.

I ordered a 3" and the 5" photogenic snoots for my monolights. Lets see how they work....thanks for your ideas!!!

Cool, let us know how it goes !

vdotmatrix said:

I ordered a 3" and the 5" photogenic snoots for my monolights. Lets see how they work....thanks for your ideas!!!

Click to expand...

I received my (2) snoots the 3" and the 5". I used the 3" as a hairlight on a studiomax II hung precariously on a boom light stand. ....

I git nuch better results with a slave flash like this

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/121845-REG/Smith_Victor_690001_FlashLite_45i_Screw_in_AC.html

with a neoprene beer cooler pulled over the end and 3-4 pringles can plastic caps modified and taped to vary the light output. I works really well and is very light.

I was looking at other small lights for hair lights...the photogenic snoots I just don't think will work for me and I hate having my monolites on a boom waiting for gravity.

I think I like this thing + the bracket

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/246869-REG/SP_Studio_Systems_SPS920_920_AC_Strobe_Series.html

Ya, I'm not fond of snoots for hairlight either. As far as the mono on a boom, in my case the boom is mounted to the wall so no sweat there it's very solid. I have two lights on the boom in fact, one mono and one central pack light mounted to the boom with a Super Clamp, both with grids ( actually I switch in and out with a small softbox on the mono, presently that's whats on the mono and grid on the pack head). Did you get the counter weights for your boom and sand bags for the base? That should help.

If you like your flash and beer can insulator method why fight success ? Not sure about your latest idea with that ac slave, do they offer any power control at all, or any light modifiers, ? I suspect they don't.

You might want to try a small softbox and grid on your mono. You can do rim light to hair. Take the grid off and create a glow through the hair, very nice for women. On men I like to use just a grid on my mono, as I think I mentioned in an earlier post. In any event I use a 1/8 cto in all the 5500k lights in my set as a basic gel.

My softbox is an earlier version of the Photoflex Q39 Litedome, they dropped the 16x20 size now and the new one is 16x22. The 16x22 grid can kind of be scrunched into the face of the older softbox though.

Anyway, there is no one way to light hair, I like options. Day in and day out just the 7" round grid in a holder is ok but I'm loving the softbox too. I've heard of others doing as you have done with your flash too. Once upon a time I made snoots for flash from paper painted black, FWIW.

David

vdotmatrix said:

I received my (2) snoots the 3" and the 5". I used the 3" as a hairlight on a studiomax II hung precariously on a boom light stand. ....

I git nuch better results with a slave flash like this

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/121845-REG/Smith_Victor_690001_FlashLite_45i_Screw_in_AC.html

with a neoprene beer cooler pulled over the end and 3-4 pringles can plastic caps modified and taped to vary the light output. I works really well and is very light.

I was looking at other small lights for hair lights...the photogenic snoots I just don't think will work for me and I hate having my monolites on a boom waiting for gravity.

I think I like this thing + the bracket

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/246869-REG/SP_Studio_Systems_SPS920_920_AC_Strobe_Series.html

Click to expand...

There are many different WEIGHTS of strobes, I suggest you invest in a lightweight one for use as hairlight. If doing small groups rather than solo, you may want to add a stripbox + grid too, as one or several speedlights won't do the job easily.

Several pros I know like the small/lightweight Flashpoints from Adorama as hairlights. Smaller than the FP320's

One of the advantages of using a good portable flash as a hairlight is that they typically come with an adjustable ZOOM for easily focusing the light to fit your needs on any given shot. The screen in front of a flash is already a variation on a standard Fresnel-type lens, and many can be "focused" from 24mm to 105mm. They're also cheap to snoot when an even tighter focus is needed. The biggest drawback is, of course, no modeling light. But, it is an option you might already have.

vdotmatrix said:

Hi everyone!!!

I have some studiomax lights and the PL7MF.

Photogenic makes a number of snoots from 1" to 5".

I am looking to possibly use one of these as a hair light and was wondering what you folks who would use this particular setup would use.

I like the hair lights for portraits of single or small family groups ( what else would I use them for LOL).

So, with limited resources I am wondering what the best size snoot would be for general hair light use?

I'll have a Photogenic 36x48 softbox as a key if this matters?

THANKS in advance

Click to expand...

Not going to find a strobe too much lighter than that. It's a plastic case Photogenic mono light. Sounds good as a hair light to me. At least it has control, the AC slave he is looking at I suspect has no capability to adjust light intensity ( but I haven't read about it either).. Long story short, I think either stick with the flash for a hair light and move the Mono to rim or kicker or into a strip as you suggest or just keep the Mono as hair but work with it some more ( grids, softbox, strip box etc.

We all know how this goes, there is no one fits all setup !

slowhands said:

There are many different WEIGHTS of strobes, I suggest you invest in a lightweight one for use as hairlight. If doing small groups rather than solo, you may want to add a stripbox + grid too, as one or several speedlights won't do the job easily.

Several pros I know like the small/lightweight Flashpoints from Adorama as hairlights. Smaller than the FP320's

Click to expand...