Approximating Fresnel Lighting With Monolights

Looking for suggestions on how one might go about this. Modifiers I have to work with include an Octabank, a white Beauty Dish, a 7" silver reflector, and an 11" silver reflector.

I don't expect to replicate the effect precisely. Just looking for a way to get as close as possible with what I have.

Thanks tons for any thoughts or advice.

Well, your standard fresnel light fixture is hot (generally tungsten), specular (not diffused), and focusable (not broad). Because it is a fairly specific effect light, you normally do not modify it further (except maybe to soften it if that's all you have to work with and you want a softer effect).

So, toss the Octabank (at least for this project, heh heh), use your flash straight with one of the silver reflectors, and rig a wide snoot (dark barrel extending from the flash head about 4-8 inches) out of black cine foil or heavy paper or bendable cardboard. You can also buy grids for the fronts of your relectors.

What you're trying to do is create a mild spot effect, not pin but wider yet contained so there is little side spill.

Hope that helps...

Steve, that helps a lot. Thanks! What I'll probably end up doing is using the 11" with foil snoot and a gridspot. Which begs the question, "How tight?" PCB offers 10-40 degree models, of which I'm thinking I'll be able to choose two...

Btw, to give you a rough idea as to the light quality I'd be looking for...

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...ng_example.jpg

The lighting therein seems very straight forward, but it has a very distinctive and identifiable character. Is there another lighting method you'd suggest to get something similar? And, though this is the lighting forum, what focal length would you recommend for something like this?

Yep, that looks like fairly standard theatrical/hollywood lighting. The fresnel effect should give you that. But keep in mind the main reason to use that light/effect would be so there's no side spill. If you plan on cropping as tight as the shot you posted, and your bg isn't right behind your subject, you could probably get away with simply using the flash with the beauty dish positioned mid-high in front, and get the same effect with a lot less work...

As for lens, you'd want to use a portrait lens, or what I like to call more accurately a headshot lens, say something in the vicinity of 50-100mm.

May be too much work, but have you ever considered making a fresnel modifier out of a lens? At 29.95, it might be worth a shot Edmund Scientific has them.

Thanks for the responses. Didn't see 'em til just now.

Steve - interesting... someone just recommended a beauty dish with grid. If portability and speed become major issues (which they probably will, as the likely scenario will be five minutes or less to shoot without an assistant), I was thinking about a speedlite with a gridspot attached through an umbrella. Don't know how that would look...

jet - cool idea. Wonder if that'd really work...