What did you do during the pandemic? With most of the industry at a standstill, sports photographer James Quantz founded a new company, Professional lighting mode, and designed a prototype of his “softbox Maxi Brute”. Not only are they super awesome, but any photographer can pick one right now!
Having created my own dimmer, I understand the frustrations, headaches, and overall risks of bringing something to market. Maybe that’s why I’m so impressed with these paperbacks from Pro Light Mods. We’ve all seen great sports images that look like they were taken under the big stadium lights. Without the rent of tons of expensive HMIs (Moleenos, Maxi Brutes, or Dinos) from pawnbrokers, most of us would probably just shoot our subjects against a black and composite background in some of the properties available for effect. But now you can easily achieve this stadium lighting setup in camera without any post-processing.
Pro Light Mods are basically an obscuring baffle that fits over the front of your softbox. Depending on the size of the “Mod” you buy, you can have 4, 5, 6, 9 or 12 projection holes to create a variety of rear lighting patterns. Each Light Mod is designed to perfectly fit the set softbox size while remaining quite popular among different brands of mods. Currently, you can purchase 4×3, 2×3 and 3×3 sizes, but in the near future 1×4 and 1×3 strip box sizes will be available.
So, who exactly are these complements for? After playing with them for the last week, I can see them being used in a variety of situations. Obviously, if you take pictures of athletes, it’s a no-brainer to have a few of these mods tucked away in your softbox. I’m willing to bet that a lot of senior portrait photographers will also offer this lighting setup for their high school and minor league portrait sessions. However, I think photographers who shoot other genres of photography and video may also find these very helpful. Once your model lights are on, these mods will create a super modern background light that will soon be more common on video productions. If you shoot couture or enjoy creating impactful Instagram artwork, there’s bound to be an argument to own at least one of these. My mind is also thinking how wonderful these are to be able to look behind a couple at the first dance at a wedding. There are actually a lot of interesting possibilities.
Currently, you can pick up a Pro Light Mod for around $89 to $109, depending on the layout. If you already own a softbox, then you should use it, but with a Cheap Godox soft boxyou can easily build an entire system from scratch for under $150.
As you can see in the photos above, one of the coolest elements about Pro Light Mods is that you can achieve this stylized look right in-camera without using Photoshop. This means that your creative and talented team can both admire your photos on set as soon as they’re taken. It also means you can capture some still images and then instantly shoot some b-roll movie or video footage with the exact same settings. Add a little mist from your mobile device smokeconsumer or spray a little atmospheric spray in a canand you have a pretty convincing final image.
As a lover of DIYers and creative photographers who take their little projects and showcase them to the public, I really love what James has done with this product and applaud him for sharing this with the larger photography industry. After I received my Mods order, James contacted me to share the next few accessories he had planned, and all I could say was “wow!” If you want to support James and this new grassroots business and hope to help bring the next level of growth to the market, visit the Pro Light Mod website and pick up a Mod or two. If this is even half as interesting to me, I’m sure you’ll love these!
