Breaking In My Softbox

I recently got a 24"x24" softbox on eBay and I got a chance to test it on Karen during our lunch break photo session.

The hallway of our old lab facility, its white painted cinder block walls and low traffic made it an ideal setting.

I enlisted my co-worker, Karen, and placed her under the lone working fluorescent light. I wasn't worried about the color cast since I already knew that I was going to do some coloring on post to complement her purple sweater (this shot was done on Purple Friday in support of the Ravens who played against the 49ers on Superbowl Sunday).

On the following shots, I placed the softbox a bit off to Karen's right.

By the way, this is also the first time I've done a full body shot in a portrait session. I was definitely out of my comfort zone and a bit nervous directing Karen to pose but in the end it turned out fine. I guess I just need to do it more.

As I mentioned, I was going to do some coloring on post. In this case I used orange which complements Karen's purple sweater. On hindsight, I should've put a CTO gel on the flash. Well, you live and learn.

Anyway, back to the softbox... I like it! It's directional as opposed to a shoot-through umbrella which would have lit up the hall way. Now I have better lighting options depending on the image I want to create. The umbrella if I want it relatively bright... or the softbox if I want to give it a some dark mood.