Mola is excited to release a new dedicated speeding for the Elinchrom 400w Quadra lighting system. No longer do you need to use an Elinchrom speeding and the Elinchrom RQ-to-EL adapter. This new speedring will ensure the quadra’s flashtube will sit deep into any of the Mola range, making sure you get the most out of your Mola + Quadra combo.
and the new speeding with the elinchrom quadra mounted on a mola (compression mounting system)
We have tested the Elinchrom Quadra A head and the 22″ Mola Demi and it does hold well. (the demi is the only mola which will require the light head to support its own weight, the rest have their own integrated handles)
That said, it wouldn’t take a lot to bend the Quadra head as Elinchrom have made it out of plastic. If you are keen to use the Quadra head + demi outdoors in windy conditions, we suggest you also pickup the Mola Lumi bracket so the weight is taken off the Quadra head itself.
This not and issue with any of the other mola reflectors.
stock of this new speeding should be rolling into B&H etc around the end of October.
We spot a 33″ Mola Euro used by New York fashion and advertising photographer, David Tessieri as he creates some gorgeous images with supermodel Irina Shayk. This ‘Baila, Luili Baila’ Spring / Summer 2011 collection was shot for Luli Fama Swimwear, on location at the Viceroy Miami Hotel, Miami.
New Zealand photographer, Fiona Quinn, is back to bring us the quinn-tesential look in her recent beauty editorial shoots. The first utterly gorgeous shoot is care of an editorial Fiona shot for M2 Woman’s Magazine, titled ‘A Brighter Shade of Pale’. This was shot with the 28″ Mola Setti…
+ you can read Fiona’s thoughts on her blog post here from this shoot.
the second shoot was titled “Model Muse – Casey Lee” and was shot with the 22″ Mola Demi…
+ you can read Fiona’s thoughts on her blog post here from this second shoot.
WORKSHOP: Fiona will be running a photographic workshop next month at the end of October in Auckland, New Zealand. A few more details are available here on her blog.
Another way of softening the output of your Mola beauty dish is to use a diffusion sock. Unknown to a lot of people is that Mola actually makes 4 different types of diffusion socks for their entire range of Mola’s; (22″ – 43.5″)
When you purchase a new Mola, it ships with the standard nylon diffusion sock as seen below (installed on a Mola 28″ silver Setti)
Mesh diffuser; mesh diffuser on B&H
The mesh diffuser is how it sounds, an interwoven mesh of material. This results in a very subtle diffusion of the light, around 1/3 stop loss of light and is great for just a hint of softening.
mesh diffuser shown below…
standard nylon vs the mesh…
LW diffuser; LW diffuser on B&H
Similar to the ‘standard nylon diffuser’, the light weight diffuser is a breathable polyester fabric which allows more air to pass through the fabric. It is not as dense and diffuses a little less than the ‘standard nylon’ diffuser. (about 1/3 stop difference) This will help reduce the ‘ballooning’ effect when the lights fan / heat will fill the soft light and balloon the diffuser outward with some flash heads.
LW-diffuser vented (HMI); LW diffuser-vented on B&H
Like the light weight diffuser above, except this diffuser has an additional 3/4″ vent at the top. This vent makes it ideal for tungsten and HMI continuous lighting which generate heat.
Both of these LW diffusers will allow you to continue to shoot with lights that generate heat, or lights that are prone to overheat quickly and have thermal cutoffs.
TIP: some shooters will double-diffuse Mola’s by installing 2 diffusion socks for an even softer, subtle fill light. Recently featured Mola user; Fiona Quinn uses this from time to time.
—— Maintaining your diffusers;
The standard nylon diffuser that ships with each reflector does over time become dirty given studio or location situations. Some strobe fans drive endless amounts of air through your reflector pushing airborne dirt and dust into the diffuser.
Over time the dirt from fans or just months or years of location can take their toll on how clean your diffuser is.
Simply hand wash your nylon diffuser in a mild detergent and air dry, for tougher stains a fabric stain remover or a detergent with bleach will work well.
For taking out the wrinkles once it’s dry, just a quick spray using a spray bottle with clean water or a studio steamer will make the diffuser flat and wrinkle free.
We’ve mentioned a few times on this blog about Mola users using a stacked configuration for their Mola dishes. We’ve had a few people ask what this configuration looks like and how they can setup their dish also like this.
When we refer to ‘stacked diffusers’ we are referencing the installation of both the PAD and OPAL discs in a stacked, or collated configuration.
Here is an image of a stacked setup on a white Mola 22″ Demi…
When you buy a new Mola, all of the range (excluding the 33.5″ Beamm) ships with the PAD central diffuser – aka the Perforated Aluminium Disc. This disc looks like a swiss-cheesed metal disc.
Mola also makes an optional OPAL glass diffuser(frosted glass disc) which further softens output through the centre of the dish. This gives the user flexibility for the output they are looking to create.
If we stack the two diffusers, the PAD and OPAL you create an even softer centre-core of light which is favoured by shooters who either have no glass dome over their light head, or like to use the dish unsocked. Also when using HMI or continuous tungsten lighting, it further removes the brighter central hotspot.
click the link below to view the instructions for setting up this configuration… (more…)
We head back into the Southern Hemisphere again to catchup on some work by Sydney fashion and wedding photographer Jonathan Dear. Catching the last remaining autumn colours before they fade into winter, he organises a personal shoot with his model / muse, Nicole.
“I love the softness I can pull out of the Demi. It makes one amazing modifier for moving around a lot on location due to its size and weight. I find it is super efficient which allows me to shoot with lighter less powerful equipment which my assistants love!”
Here he is using a white Mola 22″ demi with stacked OPAL + PAD central diffusers with a white diffusion sock to compliment his ambient background. The demi and strobe-head was mounted on a boomstick for his assistant to walk around with.
and in this next shot, Jonathan turns the lights off and uses the white socked face of the demi as a small reflector to bounce natural light back into the model’s face.
Fiona Quinn is back to bring us some stunning images from what she calls “…one of the most favourite shoot I have done”. Working with animals is never easy, especially with noisy equipment like smoke machines but “Othello was so chilled out we got away with it”. In this ethereal shoot, Fiona uses a socked 22″ Mola Demi as a gorgeous subtle fill light.
“I wanted the shoot to evoke the crisp chilly mornings of Spring when there is mist and magic in the air and a colour palette of light neutral tones with accents of metallics and peach.” If that was the brief a photographer was given, then Fiona nailed it and beyond!
Read up on Fiona’s personal thoughts and process behind this surreal shoot on her blogpost here.
and thanks Fiona for a behind-the-scenes pullback from the shoot…
Fiona Quinn and Team
(Model: Anmari, Makeup: Amber Haldane, Hair: Miguel lledo, Styling: Courtney Sanders, Retouching: Monica Chamorro) www.fionaquinn.co.nz
We spot a mola 22″ demi used by super NY photographer Brad Trent as he lights up Terry Lundgren, CEO of Macy’s. What we love to see here is Brad’s ingenuity in finding and setting up Mr Lundgren in an unsual backdrop, a pleasant escape from the typical commercial stand-in-amongst-your-business shots that a lot of execs have.
Here we see Brad use a big fill light to illuminate the scene and a gridded mola demi to provide the key light on the subject. In this way he puts the shadows where he wants them (i.e. on the subjects face) and has even soft illumination for his background and rest of the subject. Keeping the lights at a similar angle and distance helps eliminate competing shadows.
You can read about his thought processes from this shoot on his own blog post here and visit www.bradtrent.com.
Today we spot a Mola 43″ Mantti and Mola 28″ Setti being used by the fabulous John van der Schilden for Elle Canada Magazine. In this July 2011 issue we see Tanzanian born model, Herieth Paul, grace the cover at only 17 years old. John takes to the rooftop with the big Mantti and smaller setti to create these gorgeous images. Location lighting and Mola equipment was provided by S1 Studios in Toronto.
and assistant Paolo Croistante making sure the Mantti didnt go anywhere…
and the new speeding with the elinchrom quadra mounted on a mola (compression mounting system)
