Softening a Snoot

[arigram]

My favorite studio strobe light modification would have been a softbox-snoot, a snoot where its light is slightly softened.
I realize that the softening of the softbox is very much due to its size not the fabric in front and I also understand that covering a snoot could result to something pyromanic, but I dare ask:

- Can I soften the light of a snoot, but holding a piece of white fabric/paper/plastic by hand or with a wire at some distance from the opening?

 

[wildbill]

Sure, but it defeats the purpose of the snoot which is controlling the size and shape of the light source.

 

[juanito]

Hi,
Rosco have paper filters with different amount of difusion. You can buy them in sheets and are not very expensive.

Juan Carlos

 

[arigram]

Sure, but it defeats the purpose of the snoot which is controlling the size and shape of the light source.

Well, if I hold a piece of paper in front of a snoot, a bit bigger than the opening, doesn't the light remain a similar size and a bit softer?

Gracias Juan, but I am not sure if I can find that company around here.

I guess I should just get a piece of paper, a model and burn a couple of polaroids?

 

[donbga]

Hi,
Rosco have paper filters with different amount of difusion. You can buy them in sheets and are not very expensive.

Juan Carlos

Strobist.com is an excellent source of DIY light modifiers.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Ari, have you tried just "feathering" the snoot, i.e. using only the edge of the cone of light it produces to illuminate your subject? It helps reducing the hot spots, and the light is more diffused by nature than it is at the center of the snoot.

 

[Peter De Smidt]

It might help to know what you're trying to accomplish by using the snoot. If you want a mid-sized light source with less light spill you might try a small softbox with a grid.

 

[Steve Smith]

As you know, I'm a complete beginner at using flash but I did once use one of those round collapsable white reflectors in front of a flash to soften it. Something like that may work. I gaffer taped mine to a boom microphone stand.



Steve.

 

[bill schwab]

...if I hold a piece of paper in front of a snoot, a bit bigger than the opening, doesn't the light remain a similar size and a bit softer?

I used to do this all the time. It will remain a similar size, but as Vinny says, it does defeat the purpose somewhat. I've melted a few pieces of diffusion material as well. Best to "loop" or arch the material slightly while taping it on the snoot with gaffer's tape. This will allow some air flow to reduce flameouts. Once targeted, I also used to turn off the modeling light to keep the heat down. Good luck and be careful!

 

[Early Riser]

Someone mentioned using paper diffusers, this would be a serious fire hazard. If you are going to put a diffuser right on a snoot you are best off going with a spun fiber glass diffuser. First being basically an open fiber sheet, air can pass through to keep the heat build up in the snoot to a safer level and second, the spun fiber glass will not burn or melt at temperatures that would alight any paper or plastics. You can build up the layers of fiber glass to get the desired degree of diffusion you want.

Ari, the best solution might be if you were to describe to us what lighting effect you are looking for. Are you looking to merely reduce the amount of scattered might produced by a more typical reflector by using a snoot in it's place? Are you then just trying to reduce the harshness of the snooted light? Are you trying to project a circular light or a project a light shaft across a background? Is this for a main light? eye light? Hair or edge light? Or merely trying to make a very small softbox?

Another means of creating a softer snoot effect is to use a small soft box as the light source, then make a mask by cutting a hole in a large piece of card board or foamcore and then place this mask between the softbox and the subject, sort of like a cookaloris. You can "focus" the light from the card by moving it between the subject and soft box or by altering the size of the opening. Obviously you will need to block the extraneous light that is sure to bounce around between the softbox and the mask. This will provide a soft light but one in which all the light passing through the hole is one directional and can be softly focused, whereas placing a diffuser in front of a snoot produces scattering, multi directional light somewhat canceling the snoot effect and acting more like a small harsh softbox.

 

[arigram]

Thank you all for the great advice and questions to consider.
I've used snoot(s) for photos like these:

so to focus the light in specific areas in close ups, much more than I could with my small 1 meter octagonal softbox. I found out that although I get the shadows, forms and focus I want the actual light quality looks very harsh, reflecting on the skin like the sun on the sea with dozens of small sparkles and harshly defined pores. It doesn't appear in this picture as it has been diffused at the enlarging stage and the digitizing has soften it up even further.

E.R. has a nice idea.
I will try some experiments.

 

[Early Riser]

Ari, nice image.

I think it would give you exactly the effect you are looking for, soft directional light. If I were assigned to produce the image you posted I would use a .5 to 1 meter softbox about 1-2 meters from the subject, a 1.5 x 1.5 meter dark foamcore starting with about a 20cm hole (remember you can always make the hole bigger, or start with a much larger hole and then mask it smaller) about half the distance between the light and the subject. You can then easily visualize the effect and adjust the hole size, softbox size or distances to achieve exactly the effect you want. Also by varying the distance of the light source to the subject you can also control the near and far falloff of the light on the subject so you are far less likely to have any burned out highlights.