Before and After the Westcott Eyelighter

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When I initially gave a first look at the NEW Westcott Eyelighter a couple of weeks ago (here), one thing I failed to do was to show a before and after comparison

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So I took some time away from my vacation last week and setup a beauty shoot with a few models to really give you an idea of what the Eyelighter really does beyond providing interesting catchlights in the eyes. In the two shots above you can see the affect of the Eyelighter not only in the eyes of my subjects but also under the chin.

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What a difference an Eyelighter makes. The shot above is the same model under the same Westcott Skylux and XXL RapidBox 48″ octa softbox, but without the Eyelighter.

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The shot above is a production shot showing the Eyelighter setup just in front of the subject with the Skylux LED light above subject.

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The results are AWESOME and pretty much night and day.

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Again here’s another look without the Eyelighter using the exact same main light, subject and camera settings.

But what about the background?

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The background was lit using two lights shining through the Westcott Scrim Jim. This gave me the High Key look that I wanted by providing a nice big soft light source directly behind the subject that wrapped around the subject with beautiful rim lighting.

 

The Bottom Line

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I’ve always been a fan of this clamshell beauty look and the Westcott Eyelighter makes it much much easier to do now with one light. Adding another light or two behind with the Scrim Jim makes this accessory useful for in studio work as well as on location work. All of the images above were shot with my Nikon D600 and 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII lens.



Review: The Rapid Box Strip by Westcott

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Here I was completely happy with my Westcott Terry White Travel Portrait Lighting Kit and then I went to Photoshop World Vegas. I brought my 26″ Rapid Box Octa with me and had a great shoot at Red Rock Canyon before the show even opened. However, once I got to the Photoshop World trade show floor and over to the Westcott booth, I noticed a “different” Rapid Box. I had no idea that they had a Rapid Box Strip! I use strip bank softboxes all the time in studio for rim lighting. When I saw the Rapid Box Strip it was pretty much an immediate “must have” situation for me. Now with a couple of speedlights and a couple of Rapid Boxes I could really have some fun on location.

It’s as easy to set up and just as compact as the Rapid Box Octa

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When I took it out of the box and looked at the carrying case it looked identical to the Rapid Box Octa. It was also just as easy to set up. Basically pop it open, put it on the supplied tilting bracket, put the 1-stop diffusion cover over the front, slide on your speedlight and you’re ready to shoot.

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While I haven’t had a chance to take it on location yet, I did a quick impromptu shoot with Scott Diussa from Nikon who was visiting my studio. He was also impressed by the ease and quick set up. Disclaimer: Scott is not a professional model. He is a professional on the other side of the camera and a great musician 🙂 He humored me as a friend.

The Bottom Line

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If you’re looking for good quality, easy to set up and use softboxes for travel, I can’t recommend the Rapid Box line enough (no, I don’t get paid a dime by Westcott to review or recommend their products). They’re my primary light modifiers when I’m on the road! I love the “octa” shape and “strip” shape in studio and now I have them on the road too.

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You can get the Rapid Box 26″ Octa here

You can get the Rapid Box Strip 10″x 24″ here

You can get my Westcott Terry White Portrait Travel Kit here.

 

I made it onto the Westcott Rapid Box Box!

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F.J. Westcott liked the images from my recent shoot at Red Rock Canyon so much that they inquired about using them on the Westcott Rapid Box 26″ Octa packaging. I was thrilled to work it out with them and once again honored to have my work in print with brands that I admire. PocketWizard was also happy with the results and mentioned them in their “Making Waves” blog post here.

See my Westcott Travel Portrait Lighting Kit here.

See more of my photography here.

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