Octagonal or Rectangle Softboxes?

I was in the Alien Bees' office today, trying to decide which lights to purchase for my first studio lighting arrangement. (I am torn between the B800 and B400s) My real question though is which softbox shape do you prefer, an Octagonal or Rectangle shape, and why? My portraits are mostly of couples with a few small families, not too much individual models.

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Originally Posted by NashvilleSteve

I was in the Alien Bees' office today, trying to decide which lights to purchase for my first studio lighting arrangement. (I am torn between the B800 and B400s) My real question though is which softbox shape do you prefer, an Octagonal or Rectangle shape, and why? My portraits are mostly of couples with a few small families, not too much individual models.

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You can get an oct and build a rectangular cover over it. Just cut it out of heavy black nylon and sew a rip chord into it.

Mike

Steve,

I've never been convinced there is anything special about octagonal soft boxes. Pros have used rectangular ones for everything for years with excellent results. Catchlights in your subject's eyes will always be in the shape of your light source, so those will be slightly different with the octagonal (big deal, right?).

A bright, strongly diffused light source will not be influenced that much by the shape of the softbox. IOW, the basic quality of light falling on your subject's will be the same with either shape.

Besides, studio light (most of the time) tries to mimic window light. Do people go out of their way to find octagonal windows to shoot next to? :D

IMO, the first lighting accessories for your studio flashes should be umbrellas. Much cheaper, easier to store and use, plus more versatile than softboxes. Get a couple of translucent white "shoot-through" ones with removable black covers...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NashvilleSteve

I was in the Alien Bees' office today, trying to decide which lights to purchase for my first studio lighting arrangement. (I am torn between the B800 and B400s) My real question though is which softbox shape do you prefer, an Octagonal or Rectangle shape, and why? My portraits are mostly of couples with a few small families, not too much individual models.

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First, I agree that the shape isn't that important for your first setup. You might choose to do something different in the future, but don't worry about it for now. Silver umbrellas are also cheap, and are more efficient than white umbrellas.

Second, if you're going to use a soft box, go with the B800, or 1600 if you can swing it. Softboxes eat power, and a B400 just won't do the trick. I have a 400 & and an 800. I use the 800 as a main, and the 400 as fill or hair.