Pixiq

When you start to introduce lighting attachments, lights can become almost a paintbrush, allowing you to let your creativity run wild. There are many ways to manipulate the light to enhance your portraits, and the accessories that some of the manufacturers have designed are truly amazing.

Most accessories are available in a number of internal finishes, and the finish determines the shape and spread of the light as well as its softness or specularity. There are three main finishes.

A polished finish creates a very harsh, mirror-like reflectancy. It is superb for bouncing light off ceilings and for maximizing the spread of light, but it creates hard shadows and a high contrast if it is directed at the subject.

Textured silver is a stippled surface that is used to diffuse the light slightly. It ensures a smooth distribution of light and is used mainly with large reflector dishes to throw out lots of light.

A neutral metallic finish softens the light more than the other two finishes.

Reflector Dishes

My favorite light-modifying accessory is the parabolic (soft-light) reflector, which is designed for portraiture and beauty photography. Its double-diffusion cap covers the main flash tube and then diffuses the light through a large reflector dish to give a broad, but very soft, lighting effect. I use it mainly with individual portraits, but I can use it for up to three people.

My second most-used lighting accessory is a key-light reflector dish. It spreads the light over a broad area, and because it has a stippled silver interior, it distributes the light evenly with no hot spots.

The size of the reflector dish itself controls the spillage of the light; the wider the dish, the greater the spillage. The depth of the dish also has an effect on the spillage. Think about the effect you require before you buy.

Other Types of Accessory

Other accessories modify the light in very specific ways. A honeycomb grid, which can be attached to the front of a reflector dish, lets you concentrate the pool of light into an effective spotlight. You can alter the spread of the light by switching to a honeycomb of a different size; this is ideal when you are trying to light particular parts of the body and control the spillage of light.

Clip-on barn doors can be added to any reflector dish to control the spillage of the light. They allow you to manipulate the light swiftly while you are shooting. Barn doors can be used individually, in pairs or in groups of four. 

You can add color to the background or to the subject by using heat-resistant colored gels. Gels can be clipped on to any of the reflector dishes, but I use them mainly on the key-light reflectors, with or without a honeycomb grid.

A snoot attachment, which is a tunnel-like cone, can be used as a simple spotlight or as an additional hair light. Because it does not diffuse the light, it creates a brighter—and hence sharper—highlight.

Spotlight attachments are a great way to change a simple background into something more interesting. Cut-out shapes, known as gobos, can be projected through the glass lens in the spotlight; the pattern can be something as simple as foliage or as intricate as a stained-glass church window. The projection can also be focused by means of a movable glass element.

A ring flash is not an accessory but a flash unit in its own right. The product is quite unique, as you shoot through the middle of the ring flash. It is fantastic when you are working close to a background, as it produces virtually no shadow around the subject.

Tip: Decide what effects you want to create before you start the session; even make a list to remind yourself of what you want to achieve. A little pre-planning will enable you to work faster and more efficiently and ensure that you get the variety of shots you want.