Controlling and modifying light is a lot of what photography with studio lights and battery powered strobes are about. Especially when it comes to portraits, I like to work with my lighting setups so they add something that is not perfect or flat.

Twisting and turning your lights to make use of the edges is one very effective way of doing that. Breaking up the light with a scrim, gobo or something else is also very rewarding.

This DIY project is all about a cheap prisma from a LED Disco Party Bulb that I found for under 10 EUR/USD.

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As a full-time freelance photographer, many of my assignments are more rewarding if I can squeeze a little bit extra out of them. That often means that I like to travel without too much equipment, or at least make the transporting part as easy as I can.

When I wrote my review of Profoto B10 recently, I got the chance to test if it would fit in my favorite lighting stand bag. And yes, it did. It even fit mounted on a few of the Manfrotto lighting stands I use on most of my assigments. Which can save me some time.

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Profoto B10 is a Profoto B2 reborn in a smaller Profoto B1 jumpsuit, which means there is now an option for photographers between Profoto A1 and the significantly heavier B1.

Läs på svenska istället: Profoto B10 – test och recension

I borrowed two Profoto B10 for a week to test how the new studio flash / battery light / on-location flash works (call it whatever you want, but not a speedlight).

Here is my review. In short (but you will be wiser to read the entire review, plus see all the fine example photos), this is precisely the battery powered light that I was missing in Profoto’s ecosystem. Perhaps the one many had wished A1 had been?

Half as long as Profoto B1, half as ”strong” (250Ws compared to 500Ws), less than half as heavy but with very modern technology and features that can be useful.

Then there are of course some small things I would like to fix, but otherwise it’s made for me.

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Shooting portraits on location is something I do a lot, and think a lot how to do in the most effective way. Of course, I want it to be as good as possible, but I also want to work faster and carry less equipment (those two things are very connected).

For most lighting setups on location I have a standard list of lights and stands that I bring along. Most of the times, I only use about half of all the things I pack.

Since I bought my two Profoto A1, there is now a mini-kit available as a good choice when I do quick assignments. If I know that the portraits are to be taken indoors, two lightweight lighting stands (Manfrotto Nano or similar) plus the lights and umbrella will suffice.

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