Lighting 101: Bare-Tube-Style Lighting

One of the limits of using a small, shoe-mount strobe is that all of the pieces are integrated into the flash. Power, capacitors, flash tube and reflector - all wrapped up in a package the size of a small Subway sandwich.

(Mmm-hmm-hmmmmm, saaand-wich...)

Larger flashes tend to have a more "component" type of layout, with separate power packs, flash heads, tubes and reflectors. While this generally adds more weight and size, the fact that the reflectors are usually removable gives the big-flash guys the ability to shoot "bare-tube."

Bare-tube (or maybe you have heard the more old-school term, "bare-bulb,") means nothing more than having your flash tube sitting out there in open space pushing its light out into (nearly) a 360-degree sphere of coverage. I say nearly because there has to be some wire carrying power and triggering the flash. And that blocks some of the light in one direction.

But, for all practical purposes, it acts like a strobe-on-a-rope.

Why is this cool? There are a couple of reasons.

First, you can light a room with one head, effectively spewing light in all directions. Two bare-tube heads, high and at 45-degree angles, will light one very crisp-looking group shot. (Just drop one of the heads down a stop or so to get a nice ratio.)

Second, and one of the reasons the light looks the way it does, is a bare-tube head generates its own fill in a typical room environment. Since the light goes in all directions, it bounces off of walls, ceilings, etc., to fill its own shadows.

Third, you can stick a small bare-tube flash up close (or in a small enclosure) and it is going to light the entire area, regardless of the angle the subject is to the light. Think sticking a small bare-tube behind a computer to light the wall and the user. Or in a refridgerator to light someone looking in. Or in an open book. Or just about anywhere. You get the idea.

But since most of us do not have the ability to yank the tube out of a Canon EZ strobe, the guys from Sto-Fen invented the Omni Bounce. And, fortunately for you poverty-stricken photojournalism students, someone also invented small, cheap tupperware-style containers. More on that in a minute.

The Omni Bounce, which comes in a variety of sizes for different flash heads (and one "universal," one-size-supposedly-fits-all size) is a small, translucent piece of white plastic that pops onto your flash for a quick and easy bare-tube effect.

The bad news: It eats light. That's just physics. Sorry. It also costs about $20.

But the good news is that it is very small and light to carry around.

And if you a bit of a DIY-type, keep an eye out for a piece of tupperware container that will do the same thing for your strobe. You can either find a bottom that will scrunch onto your flash, or cut an "X" in the lid about the same size as the cross section of your flash head and just slide the closed container on. Just be mindful (as in test) to make sure the tupperware is not giving you an unwanted color cast.

But under no circumstances do you need to drop a hundred dollars for a piece of fancy tupperware, no matter what magical properties may or may not have been ascribed to it. For that kind of money, you can get a small light stand, a, umbrella swivel, and umbrella and a PC cord.

I'm just sayin'.

There are many neat things you can do with a 360-degree bare-bulb flash, no matter how you get the effect. We'll hit some in the On Assignment section soon, and will link to them from this page.

But for now, on to Hard Light.


Next: Hard Light