Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Lamisa has showed her affection towards a lotta objects so far.... and none of them get her attention for long.... and its always interesting to documents her short love affair with those objects..... the most recent being a water-bottle.... just a few days back, she was in love with her first water-glass.... and now the water-glass seems to be an old item....
I was also looking to compare the Lastolite Ezybox 24" Hotshoe softbox with the Shashinki 24".... the former being the more expensive of the two.... a lot more expensive to be exact.... $190 vs. approx $60.... I somehow ended up with both of these in my hands.... so, had some time to compare the two.... the very first thing that comes up here is the weight and construction.... the Shashinki seems to be a much better build with metal speed-ring and flash holder.... it also has a ball-head under the flash-holder that would make it a better softbox to be used with simple lightstands..... but the ball-head also puts the question whether it would last..... its certainly not a Manfrotto ball-head... the Ezybox, on the other hand, is dependent on plastic mostly.... that plastic construction puts the question in mind, why the product is so expensive and would the plasticky stuff really last.... but its certainly lighter.... that makes the Ezybox more suitable for hand-held boom operation.... my wife was surely complaining less with the Ezybox at the end of that Manfrotto monopod.... but as it doesn't have the ball-head, its suitability becomes more limited to boom, and not simple lightstands.... the Ezybox also has double diffusion inside the softbox.... probably it helps to reduce highlights in the middle of the softbox.... but I don't expect it to be as good as the Westcott Appollo, which is an indirect light-source.... I'm also hoping to get one of those.... for the moment, I would like to make use of both the softboxes, as they have some different purpose.... the Appollo, on the other hand, is likely to add a completely different dimension.... lets see.....
anyway, lets get back to the shoot.... I used the Manfrotto monopod as boom arm and put the Ezybox right overhead.... and I've also tested with the monopod fully extended... it can hold the Ezybox, even though the assistant would feel some pressure... its still practical to fully extend the softbox into the frame...... seems like a great combination..... I also used a silver reflector on the floor to bounce a bit of light from below; softening the shadows.... not fully, but at least somewhat.... didn't wanna use the over-and-under combination, as the backdrop was pretty close to her back..... didn't want any light falling on that black backdrop.... perhaps I could put a backlight to separate her from the black backdrop.... but for the moment, didn't go into that overdrive.... may be some other time....
more to come later.....
