More Adventures with the Best Little Light Shaper

I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with photogs who want/need to work super simple, fast, carry very little and still have a good result with flash work. Being at the TPS show recently in Birmingham, I had the pleasure of conducting a couple of photo walks with fellow shooters, and creating a couple of scenarios that are of the aforementioned “super simple” type.

I’ve really come to revere my little Ezybox Speed-Lite Two Plus soft box…..let’s just call it the Speed-lite 2, okay? It’s self-serving to say, as I had a hand in designing it with Lastolite, but it is the best damn little light shaper I have ever used. Witness Amber Tutton, below, in the deep dark woods. (Okay, it’s a nature trail near the Birmingham NEC and next to the Hilton Convention Center Hotel.)

Add the hand-held Speed-lite 2, and this happens.

Nuff said. One quickie Speedlight in a box that stuffs into your camera bag. Done. Nikon Z6, 35mm lens, f/1.8, ISO400, hi-speed sync at 1/640th of a second.

Next day, it was raining, go figure. Went to a tunnel connecting the properties out there at the convention complex. Had a thought. Much as I have raved about the evils of straight flash over the years, we were in a tunnel, and well, it seemed perhaps an easy way to go. So, one raw flash in the background, green gelled. On the ground with the little plastic floor stand that comes with the SB-5000. The other light is an SB-5000 on camera. Hard, edgy look. Let it blow out a bit. Fun, and done.

Now, for the above flash look, if I’d had styling control, I probably would have asked Amber to wear a torn t-shirt and ripped jeans and slung an electric guitar over her shoulder…or something besides a lovely baby blue jacket. But, as always, she inhabits the scene, and makes the light work.

More tk….