Built a frame for diffusion panel

shooterman wrote in post #4171799
"The Best of Dean Collins on Lighting", the 4 DVD set. Very expensive but very worth it. I've only gotten around to watching only the 1st hour of DVD 4, but so much is in that one hour. It blew my mind to see him produce main, fill, background, and hairlight all from one single Metz flash. Even my wife was impressed!

If B&H sells the clips I'll add that to my cart too. I'm getting one of those heavy duty Impact light stands that you recommended in another thread for the Bee.

Yes, that's the set of DVD's I have. Many consider the 4th DVD to be the first one you should watch. That is the one called Collins on Basics and he takes you through a shoot using only a portable fash, diffusion panel, negative fill panel, etc.
Some of the best stuff is on his DVD's. If you ever get a chance to see the Collins at Brooks Institute DVD it's also quite amazing.

The 4 DVD set is worth every penny- also excellent are Tony Corbell's DVDs (You can see and hear a young Corbell as Dean's assistant in these DVDs.

IMO the Collins at Brooks is even better and I recently found out was the only Dean Collins lecture ever recorded- very dissapointing.

OK then, that settles it, I'm adding Brooks Institute DVD to my ever growing wish list.

I have the Collins At Brooks Institute DVD but haven't got around to watching it yet. I am looking forward to it because I got the pleasure of seeing Dean Collins lecture on lighting in 1983. It was an amazing event. He used rear projection screens with 2 1/4" transparencies. (It was the first time I had seen 2 1/4" transparencies projected!)

He allowed us to look at his projection system during a break. It's been so long ago that I don't remember how many projectors he had back there but he was using state of the art systems.

The whole presentation was phenomenal!

Michael

HI Michael,

The Brooks Institute DVD has a rear projection system that appears to be somewhat interactive the way Dean uses it. Since you own it, I would say watch it asap. It's very cool.

Depending on how/where you want to use it, maybe you can find a way to hinge it, or make it easier to break down and set up. I'm brain-dead from 10 hours at work today, but maybe someone who isn't can give you some ideas on how you can do it.

Can't wait to see the final product/results-- that is looking good!

Just an update. Got a B800 this week. Here are a couple of quick shots of the diffusion panel with the B800. The first shot is of the modeling light only shining through the panel. The second is the Bee on 1/4 power. Woo Hoo, a wall of light. Can't wait to use it later tonight with my model, errr, I mean wife.
Oh, and those Photoflex clips come in handy to attach the material to the frame.

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

Looks good Randy. Now you just need some gobos or a set of barn doors and you can have greater control over the spill out the sides. Another thing you can do to control and soften the light further is to turn the light around and bounce into a silver umbrella first. The umbrella will control the back and some side spill and will also give you more even light when it returns to the diffusion material.

You do have to be creative when you need to really isolate, and that's when conclosed lightboxes such as softboxes and octaboxes really prove to be invaluable. But.. when you don't have to worry so much about absolute isolation or you're working on a white background and a small contribution from the main light won't make a difference, the large ,soft light from a diffusion panel can't be beat.

One more thing to do when you want to either diffuse further or keep your strobes at higher level, is to add a second layer of diffusion material. You'll lose some additional light and create even greater diffusion for some very very soft lighting.

TMR Design wrote in post #4242008
Looks good Randy. Now you just need some gobos or a set of barn doors and you can have greater control over the spill out the sides. Another thing you can do to control and soften the light further is to turn the light around and bounce into a silver umbrella first. The umbrella will control the back and some side spill and will also give you more even light when it returns to the diffusion material.

You do have to be creative when you need to really isolate, and that's when conclosed lightboxes such as softboxes and octaboxes really prove to be invaluable. But.. when you don't have to worry so much about absolute isolation or you're working on a white background and a small contribution from the main light won't make a difference, the large ,soft light from a diffusion panel can't be beat.

One more thing to do when you want to either diffuse further or keep your strobes at higher level, is to add a second layer of diffusion material. You'll lose some additional light and create even greater diffusion for some very very soft lighting.

Thanks for the info Robert. I have enough material to make another white panel and enought to make a black panel.

shooterman wrote in post #4242031
Thanks for the info Robert. I have enough material to make another white panel and enought to make a black panel.

Ahh, I forgot you got black ripstop as well. Do yourself a favor and make 2 side panels that are deep enough to position as gobos on the sides and to actually draw together to form a triangle with the light inside it. That will at least contain quite a bit of light and you can ever take that one step further and have silver reflective material on the inside of the black panels. It creates a more efficient enclosure and it you use your Photoflex clips to join it in the back you can point the light backwards and have a super efficient wedge to fire the light into before it returns to the front of the panel.

These things are all utilizing the same concepts as softboxes, oxtaboxes, Softlighter's, etc. Most boxes have 2 levels of diffusion before the light makes it out the front diffusion panel.

I think you'll love the panel once you get a feel for it and it is soooo nice for full length shots and shots that you would need a very large softbox or octabox to light correctly.

If I'm doing 2/3 or full body shots I use the floor to ceiling diffusion panel and then a Photoflex large oval (41" x 74") reflector, either white or soft gold. I love that combination and the evenness of both main and fill.

TMR Design wrote in post #4242059
Ahh, I forgot you got black ripstop as well. Do yourself a favor and make 2 side panels that are deep enough to position as gobos on the sides and to actually draw together to form a triangle with the light inside it. That will at least contain quite a bit of light and you can ever take that one step further and have silver reflective material on the inside of the black panels. It creates a more efficient enclosure and it you use your Photoflex clips to join it in the back you can point the light backwards and have a super efficient wedge to fire the light into before it returns to the front of the panel.

These things are all utilizing the same concepts as softboxes, oxtaboxes, Softlighter's, etc. Most boxes have 2 levels of diffusion before the light makes it out the front diffusion panel.

I think you'll love the panel once you get a feel for it and it is soooo nice for full length shots and shots that you would need a very large softbox or octabox to light correctly.

If I'm doing 2/3 or full body shots I use the floor to ceiling diffusion panel and then a Photoflex large oval (41" x 74") reflector, either white or soft gold. I love that combination and the evenness of both main and fill.

I hope so, cause last night I wasn't really getting the feel for it. I felt like I was completely starting over from scratch, LOL. I guess it's like anything, just got to practice with it.

what did u use for the diffusion fabric???
where can i get them????

btw...i've just built one exactly like urs this past weekend...LOL

andylok wrote in post #4261676
btw...i've just built one exactly like urs this past weekend...LOL

Cool andylok! I got the fabric at a local fabric store. Here is their online site. I think they have stores all over the U.S. if that is where you are located.
http://www.joann.com/j​oann/
The fabric is either nylon ripstop or sport ribstop. The stuff at Joann's is the sport ripstop. It sells for $6.99 a yard and is 48" wide.