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Meet My New Best Friend Among Speedlite Modifiers…the Westcott Apollo Orb Softbox

By Syl Arena On October 22, 2011 · 19 Comments

I have a new best friend…at least as far as Speedlite modifiers go. The gang at F.J. Westcott Co. sent out a couple of their recently-announced Apollo softboxes for my Advanced Speedliting workshop. I immediately took to the Apollo Orb (as did everyone in the workshop).

In case you’re not familiar with the Apollo [...]

I have a new best friend…at least as far as Speedlite modifiers go. The gang at F.J. Westcott Co. sent out a couple of their recently-announced Apollo softboxes for my Advanced Speedliting workshop. I immediately took to the Apollo Orb (as did everyone in the workshop).

In case you’re not familiar with the Apollo line, here are a few factoids:
• they open and close like umbrellas–think “quick to set up, easy to transport”
• you connect your flash to it with an umbrella swivel adapter (which you likely already have) rather than a $pecialized $peed ring
• the flash mounts inside and fires backwards into a silver interior, so there’s no need for a power-eating inner-diffuser
• you can load in several Speedlites inside of an Apollo, which makes for very fast recycle times
• Apollos are affordable (as far as most softboxes are concerned), about $130

Comparing the Orb to the Original Apollo 28″

As you can see below, the Orb has eight sides and the Apollo Medium (aka: original 28″ Apollo) has four. From the side, it casually appears that the Apollo Medium is deeper, but that’s because it has a 5″/13cm lip around the diffuser panel. The Apollo Orb has a shallow edge and actually has more depth behind the diffuser panel.

Front view of Apollo Orb (left) and Apollo Medium (right)

Side view of Apollo Orb (left) and Apollo Medium (right)

The bigger difference is how they modify the light. Check out the pix below. As you can see, the Apollo Orb has a broader throw than the Apollo Medium–due to it’s larger size. What surprised me was the brighter appearance of the light from the Orb. I’ll chalk this up to the broader, flatter back in the Orb which (I’m thinking) throws more light straight forward.

Apollo Orb

Original Apollo 28" (now the Apollo Medium)

One Softbox, Three Speedlites, 20 Minutes

By Syl Arena On October 7, 2010 · 13 Comments

To create dramatic light with Speedlites, you need to think about two things: where you put your flash(es) and how you control the ambient light. If you move your Speedlite to the side, then you’ll be creating shadows for the camera. Think of shadows as being the way you reveal shape and depth [...]

To create dramatic light with Speedlites, you need to think about two things: where you put your flash(es) and how you control the ambient light. If you move your Speedlite to the side, then you’ll be creating shadows for the camera. Think of shadows as being the way you reveal shape and depth in a two-dimensional photo. If you use a fast shutter speed, then you’ll dim the ambient light — which increases the effect / drama of the light created by your Speedlites. Compare the shot above to the shot below and you’ll see what I mean.

This past weekend, I held my Speedliter’s Intensive in the studio of the Seattle Photography Associates. SPA is the hub of a community of photographers, models, and other creatives. The gang at SPA arranged for two great models each day — which saved the attendees from being called out to model. So, as a gesture of thanks to the models, after each half-day demo session ended, I spent about 20 minutes working one-on-one with the model rather than one-plus-thirty-five-on-one with the model.

Consider ZOOM To Be A Speedlite Modifier

By Syl Arena On April 18, 2010 · 7 Comments

When in Auto mode, the ZOOM function on your Speedlite was intended to make flash photography simple for people who don’t know what they are doing. When paired with a compatible lens, your Speedlite will reposition the flashtube so that the its angle of coverage is matched to what the lens sees. The [...]

When in Auto mode, the ZOOM function on your Speedlite was intended to make flash photography simple for people who don’t know what they are doing. When paired with a compatible lens, your Speedlite will reposition the flashtube so that the its angle of coverage is matched to what the lens sees. The range, on a full-sensor camera is 24mm to 105mm. Then, if you pull out the flip-down Wide-Angle Diffusion Panel on a 580EX/EXII, the angle of coverage expands to 14mm (with a 3-stop loss of light, see the end for details).

The idea is that if you are shooting a 50mm lens, then there is no point in lighting the area covered by a 28mm lens. For on-the-fly photojournalism, Auto Zoom is a good feature—even if you know what you are doing. From my perspective as a creative Speedliter, the ZOOM button is a built-in modifier that I can use to change the look of the flash to fit to my vision.

Brightness Concentrates

The effect of the Speedlite zooming to a longer focal length, it is it concentrates the light. So, at the center of the frame, the Speedlite is brighter when zoomed to 105mm that it is when zoomed out to 24mm. You can see this effect in the frames below. They are all shot with the Speedlite’s power in Manual at 1/1.

As you can see, the is a distinct difference in the light on Tony’s face between the top frame (zoom = 24mm) and the last frame (zoom = 105mm). I think the first is slightly underexposed and the last is definitly overexposed. To my eye, the optimal exposure happened when the head was zoomed to 50mm. Again, for these demo pix, the only thing that is changing from frame to frame is the zoom setting. In a real shoot, I would have first found the vignette that I wanted and then dialed the power up or down.