What I need to ask myself now, with so much at hand, is what is my best quality light?

This is of course a tough question to answer with only one answer, but if I am tasked with creating the best possible light (light source, modifier and application), what would that be?

I like certain mods for their versatility and I have a plethora of light to push through them, especially for stills (theoretically 7x gn 60 flash units and about 350-400w of constant light via 3 Cob and 6 LED’s of various types), but quality over quantity is the key.

Rory Lewis is a good example, a photographer I discovered recently, he can produce perfect light using just a decent light and a mod as simple as a shoot through brolly, 80cm soft box or deep silver reflected. I have these and more, so surely I can produce something in the same class.

To be fair, I have only been tooling around in this arena for a while (if you do not count a stint years ago as a pro’s assistant), probably getting lucky more than I should, becasue I know that doing is much more productive than reading and researching, but this has already given me a preference for the softer effect of reversed white umbrellas. These are inefficient, but reliable with smooth and gentle highlights.

After my tests recently, I became aware of the two distinct looks to mods. They are either gentle-soft or run hotter-contrastier. Even some of the more open mods can be hot, and some of the smaller ones can produce softer, smoother looks. Stem position, mod to subject distance and type (bounce or straight through) are the things that matter. One brolly of a decent size (42-52”), used at different distances, angles, reversed or as a shoot through, can be all you need and if a diffuser and grid are available, you have pretty much every base covered.

What I am chasing is a soft, clean brilliance, something I have noticed more from shoot-throughs or silver brollies. Maybe the hot spots I have been trying to avoid are there the brilliance lies?

The options are many, too many probably, but in my rockery, no stones are undisturbed.

The 7’ white brolly (1). This is the Annie Leibovitz super soft look. I have used this for a group shot pushing two flash units into it reversed over an area of about 15x8’ and it produced a soft and even look, but it was flat and a little lifeless. It can have the potentially massive spill issue controlled by a light weight black blanket laid over it. Video or stills.

The 7’ silver brolly (1). This one has the interesting effect, being one of my more “open” or shadow reducing mods, but with some brilliance and it’s about a stop or more efficient than its softer partner. Like it’s companion, these are of limited use, being too big for some environments, stand limited and very easily wind effected. Video or stills.

42” white brolly (2). These are my favourites, probably my “desert island” mods (and handy in the sun and rain!), doing the job when others have been too complicated or difficult to work with and are largely responsible for my preference for reversed brollies over shoot through. Light spill is an issue, so they tend to get used in larger spaces. I used these recently in a 1 mod shoot as shoot throughs and they worked well. My hunch is, these will be my studio go-to’s but as shoot throughs. Video or stills.

4’ octa-umbrella soft box (4). I have two Neewer and two Godox in these, both a little different. They are broad, efficient, versatile and multi faceted. The two types are different, both in depth and finish and I have a few ways of deploying them. They can be used as straight, deep silver brollies (potential?), single or double diffused and gridded. For travelling jobs, these will be ideal as they are more resistant to wind and I really want them to work, but the jury is still out on them, but I am confident one of their forms will be ideal, with others to fall back on. Video or stills.

33” Neewer brollies (various x10). I have a ton of cheap little 33” brollies in silver, gold and white all bought in those cheap beginner sets early on, often to get the stands and I have to say, you could do worse. The 33” white is more neutral than the Godox 42’s and very similar in performance and the silvers are very good also. I have not used the gold ones yet, but it’s nice to have a warm option. Video or stills.

26” ArtDNA Soft box (1). This is a vexing beast. I had no luck using it with constant light as it was too intense up close and needed to be for softness. For flash on the other hand, it produced very nice light in comparison to the Neewer 4’ soft. It is also bulky to transport, clever, but fragile to set-up and small for the effort. It has a grid borrowed from the Neewer below, so directionality is good. The right hand image below is with the 26”, the left with the Neewer 4’. My preference is for the bigger modifier look, but …………. . This is only a stills option at the moment.

Neewer 24” square soft box (1). This one is similar in a lot of ways to the 26” above, so I use it ready to go in the studio as the non gridded version, although thinking about it, I should probably put the grid back on this one (done) as the hard sides may work better for control. These two mods are nice, but small. They work well in my small studio, but their annoying form factor and small size mean that will likely be that for them. Stills only as it does not fit any video lights.

Neewer 8x40” strip box (1). This wins the award for “least likely to go on the road”, being a right pig to assemble, but in the studio it will get much use. The shape is so easily controlled and promotes creativity, but I doubt it will ever be broken down in its working life. A grid would be good, but it can’t take one, so lesson learned. Not part of the master plan, more a creative problem solver.

Neewer 32” and 43” soft box umbrellas (1 each). These are both good units, but don’t add much to the equation. They are both umbrella types, so they can be transported easily and the 43” in particular adds another dimension to the brolly dynamic. I will likely add one or the other into a travel kit in case a windy outdoor application is needed, which being closed, they will be safer with. Too small for video lights

12x5’ white diffuser cloth (1). A huge sheet of white diffuser cloth, big enough to be triple folded, it is a real option for the “wall of light” effect and book lighting. It can even be pushed into service as a white backdrop with light coming from behind.

Reflectors (various-4-5). Not light mods as much as post lighting problem solvers, reflectors in many sizes are the first fill/light quench option and the second choice for diffusion. I recently shot some video with my Neewer 480 RGB through a 60cm one and it worked well.

40cm LED soft box (1). New today, this may make an LED panel (480, 660, 2x NL140) an option.

Ok, lots.

Right now, knowing what I know, what would be my one choice?

My heart says 42” as reflected. Hard to control but so nice and gentle and control is possible using a black blanket over their back.

My head says 4’ octa’s as work-horse mods. Are they the “ones that can do anything” mods I hope they are?

My gut says 42” as shoot through. The “B”option to the first one, but harder to control.

The reality is, exploring all the options and variants just one mod can offer can be the work of years.

We will see.