What gives the prettiest light on faces

Unsure whether to get into strobes or using quartz lighting which I have more experience with, I'm wondering which way to go to get the absolute prettiest light on faces for head and shoulder portraits.

Actually unless it's really verbotten, I'd like to avoid flash and strobes, I think a steady light source makes it easier for the people to be relaxed and not respond to the flash going off.

I guess it's more about the diffusion than the light source although both have to be taken into account.

So far I've noticed that a lot of photographers use some form of Octabox for the key light, I am wondering if there are some that are highly preferred and what size.

I'm looking for the sweetest light I can find, lets not bring cost in as a factor at this time although of course there probably are limits although I have not thought of them. For the one light source if it really is good then I'll probably find a way to get it.

In my experience the key light is every bit as important as the quality of the lens I am using and should be given as much consideration. So to choose cheap over quality really isn't valid unless it simply cannot be done and portability/setup is also a physical consideration, just to be able to function in peoples homes, usually within a fairly small space, but it's amazing what you can make happen; I shot an independent movie a few years back where many of the homes we shot in were less than 700 square feet total, put a camera crew, actor or two, lights rigged all over the place, director, script clerk etc. and you darn near need oxygen but it's possible-but I don't want to go there LOL. I'd like to keep this simple an clean.

My past experience is to go large, but I come from the motion picture industry where we had lots of large silks, muslins etc to work with and available, my favorite on women was unbleached muslin stretched on a minimum of 6'x6' frame and had at least a 10,000watt quarts fresnel behind it, not that the fresnel was needed, it's just what was available.

Other than that I'd often use some of the Rosco media between a 2,000 watt open faced Mighty Mole and a 6' to 12' square tafeta nylon stretched on a frame and very close to the talent if possible, like 3-4' away sometimes, working a very gentle wrap.

Well I've got to condense here, needing to be able to take it with me in my car, set it up myself and still find the way to get sweet gentle light. Many of the people I'm shooting are seniors, many middle aged and very normal people, non-model/actors, people with all the signs of age and while not trying to hide or pretend it's not there, to show them in their "best light".

I'm also looking for physical filters, very gentle in effect to use on the lenses, yes I know about photoshop and other portrait programs but I'm used to creating the look in the camera and would like to try it this way if such things are available and work with digital-a combination I know nothing about at this point.

So for lighting I'm most concerned at this point with the key, probably using a fold out soft reflector for the fill or side liner and will concern myself later with what I want to do about a kicker or backlight, wanting them at times but in a way that looks non-studio and non-noticeable but still working as a separation light, lots of things can be done to achieve that so I'm not so worried in that area beyond it's being portable and controlable.

Octobox? Size? Brand? something that will hold maybe a 1,000w Tota Light or stack two of them in a bracket? will that work well? Please something easily portable and quick to set up.

Chimera style light box? Others?

Diffusion on a frame or just drapped from a grip stand/arm with light behind it?

Umbrellas?

Shoot through umbrellas?

Well it just depends on what you think is pretty. Some like that noir type lighting which is usually fair harsh with a soft fill.

I prefer a softer light. I usually use one main light with a large softbox in close with a reflector for fill, background light and a hair light (in hte studio) when appropriate. I usually skim the softbox in front of the subject (feather) and it gives me exactly the quality of light I desire. Then I dail the power to achive the f/stop I want. Hers a couple of examples.

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Nice work airfrogusmc

Giant window or softbox. Boo-yah!

airfrogusmc wrote in post #6094280

Absolutely amazing pose and lighting!

To the OP, the light source doesn't really matter: light is light. What matters is what you do with the light, how you diffuse it, and so on. There is no single "prettiest" method, and you rather need to learn to adapt to the different situations that may present themselves. As far as the lights themselves, though, I think you'll find that strobes will give you _a lot_ more flexibility and power. In my experience, the flashes of light never really bother people. Burning hot lights, on the other hand...

Well you want something that you can the control volume/amount of light after you achieve the desired quality. Allot of it becomes personal preference and style but you can get a similar effect if you use similar diffusion with just about any source. I have 4 WL 1200 and a couple travel lite 750s. For single portraits and portraits of couples I usually use one main light and a large softbox in very close (quality) and a reflector for fill.

That is wonderful on that woman, thank you and yes I understand that it's what you do with the light but it's nice to start in the direction you want to go, still stuff is very different than motion lighting equipment even though light is light and you control it the way you want.

To be more specific, I have found Chimera's in the past, even the large ones to be to harsh, to not wrap the light very well, even with the middle diffuser and I generally added a large sheet of 1000H tracing paper or some natural silk fabric about a foot in front, which has in a way eliminated the value of using a box but we'd put a 4x8 black flag between the source and the background to eliminate spill.

Feathering the light I am very familiar with, but have done it in the past by feathering the light source behind the diffuser to get the effect, but will try this as well.

I'd just like some place to start, I figured if there was a fairly well respected key box or octagonal box, or some umbrellas known to throw beautiful light to control the shape of the highlights and it was known to give a gentle key light that would be better than buying something just guessing, trying it, setting it aside, buying another etc.