Plugging Into The Power Grid With Honl And Elinchrom

How many of you out there watch YouTube? I mean for detailed instructions on the use of professional photographic equipment as well as the videos of kittens falling in toilets? If you restrict yourself to the latter you may be missing out on a real training resource.


I thought of this when I was rigging out the studio for a shoot this last Sunday. I wanted to achieve a deliberate lighting effect of a pool of light falling on the models' shoulders. I went searching. Sure enough someone wanted to do the same thing and showed how.

It was simple. If I shot an Elinchrom mono block straight down it would work but it would splash far too much on the floor - and it would have been far too powerful even at the lowest setting. But the simple addition of a honeycomb grid in the reflector narrowed the beam and attenuated the light - and the model looked fabulous.

I use the 18cm general purpose reflectors - Elinchrom make a set of three round grids to fit. They are progressively restrictive ( don't ask me the arc of degrees - I don't know. Big, medium, small...) and leave a nice soft edge to the pool of light. If you are using the 21cm reflectors you can get an analogous set of grids - $ 145 all up.

No spare Elincrom head for the overhead or hair light? Got a speed light? Trigger it with the IR pulse from your main lights and do the same grid thing with a Honl 1/" or 1/4 " speed grid. You velcro this onto your speed light and get the same effect of a restricted pool of light. We can sell you the neatest little mounting feet and clamps you ever saw to attach it to an overhead support.