Lastolite Hilite Background

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Rosebud44

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Karen
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Hi everybody

I am new :-)

I will be treating myself soon to a Lastolite Hilite Background and was just wondering if anybody else uses them and what they thought of it?

Also I currently have no lights at all and am a little lost actually as to which lights would be best to back light this and also what light I should use to light my subject. I take photos of babies/children and family shoots and am looking to get that lovely white background affect.

Thanks very much
X
 
Hello Karen, and welcome :)

Yeah its a good piece of kit. You'll need a minimum of two lights (either speedlight or mains powered) to light it sufficiently. Don't over power it or you'll get flare. And then a third light for your subject. Three heads is the minimum really.

I suspect this thread will get moved to the lighting forum shortly.

Chris
 
I really don't do as much high key stuff as I'd originally anticipated, but I do own one of the hilites FiTP was selling not too long ago.

I went for the big one (7'x8' I think it was), and while I rarely use it for the common purpose of being a blown out high key background, it does make an absolutely fantastic HUGE HUGE softbox. In fact, given that the version FiTP was selling has a translucent background, rather than the opaque one of the Lastolites, it gives me a double layer of diffusion and makes it even more suited to this task.

So, while not answering your question of how to light it as a background (which is generally going to be 2 or 4 lights in the slits on the side, then 1-3 for your subject - experiment to your own tastes really), that is another great use for the Hilites; a big soft looking fake window light (to me, that feature alone made it worth the purchase, if you have room to set it up as such). :)
 
Thank you for this I have actually posted in lighting so will take this one off once I work out how to :-)

x
 
Thank you very much for your feedback, I am going to have to have a good look at all the different lights and go for one. Never used any lights before si at a bit of a lost to which are the best or watch types I need to use but I will have a little look online now and see whats about.

Thanks again
x
 
They seem VERY expensive for what appears to be a frame and 3 pieces of white material........

Am I missing something here?
 
The construction is ingenious though Darren. It all folds down thanks to a twisted steel frame that folds into loops yet goes back out to a rigid frame. It has to have enough strength to support itself once up.

It's black on the back so you can use it as a black background too and it makes a great fake window light as already mentioned. If you set up some background stands either side with some white netting you can make a window any time of year.

It's so good EG made a wooden frame covered in a similar material for his studio because of the space limitation.

I've used it as a white background, as a BIG softbox and as a background to shoot silhouettes.

Having said that I have also crammed it into the back of a 4x4 swearing when I could not get the blasted thing to collapse! :)
 
AliB said:
The construction is ingenious though Darren. It all folds down thanks to a twisted steel frame that folds into loops yet goes back out to a rigid frame. It has to have enough strength to support itself once up.

It's black on the back so you can use it as a black background too and it makes a great fake window light as already mentioned. If you set up some background stands either side with some white netting you can make a window any time of year.

It's so good EG made a wooden frame covered in a similar material for his studio because of the space limitation.

I've used it as a white background, as a BIG softbox and as a background to shoot silhouettes.

Having said that I have also crammed it into the back of a 4x4 swearing when I could not get the blasted thing to collapse! :)
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I have nearly been killed trying to collapse one of FITP softboxes !!! That thing is more than 10 times as big, I would end up with far more than just concussion.

I can see that what your saying but I would ONLY want it for its white backgroundness everything else including easy collapsability would be wasted on me.

So I can get eh same using a wooden frame and a similar material, if so what is the material ???
 
Some sort of white ripstop stuff that EG got his hands on :)

need to ask Gary where he got it Darren.
 
I can find plenty of white ripstop but only three and a half feet wide! Not sure how visible a seam would be !!

I can get coloured ripstop much wider!

Any ideas?
 
cowasaki said:
Right i've found some that is 2m wide but it seems a bit thin !

http://www.fabrics-n-stuff.co.uk/pr...ucts_id=876&osCsid=m0prd58t50cla59i31ink2tpm0

Might be able to double it up....

Thinking it might be worth getting some to try and then using UPVC white plastic drain pipes and 4 corner pieces. I could make a frame for £20
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If you're going to try and build a HiLite, get a good look at the real thing and copy that. The choice of materials and design is very important - you're actually building a big softbox rather than making a background, not just firing some lights through a length of ripstop - it's far too thin and half the light bounces back. That needs to be collected and scrambled and forced out of the front as evenly as possible - that's one of the main problems with the FITP version. Given that a decent softbox can cost a few hundred quid, the Lastolite HiLites are not that expensive.

The big advantage of the HiLite is that they take up very little space in use and fold up small (once you get the knack). If you have space to work and aren't bothered about storage/transport, then you'll get just as good results using a white paper background. That's what I use now.
 
Thank you very much for your feedback on this, I think as I shoot from my home and other peoples homes then it is nice to have something that I can set up, use and fold down when I am done, even though I have heard a lot of people saying to get the thing down is hard work!!!

I think it is a lot of money but worth it if you do not have a studio and not much space. Will look into lights now :-)

K X
 
Personally for home visits, I'd get the smaller version (which I have). The larger one won't fit in every front room.

Up to this year I have managed with three lights - two on the subject & one in the Hilite. This produces an uneven - but OK result (it can be sorted in photoshop but takes time).

I'm now using four lights (two in the background), it makes a big difference.

When choosing lights, buy the best you can afford - saves doing what I did & upgrading after two years. With kids, look at the recycle speed - I lost many a perfect photo because the kid pulled a great expression and my lights weren't ready.

Off to see if you've started a thread I haven't commented on yet :D
 
Rudesing said:
Personally for home visits, I'd get the smaller version (which I have). The larger one won't fit in every front room.

Up to this year I have managed with three lights - two on the subject & one in the Hilite. This produces an uneven - but OK result (it can be sorted in photoshop but takes time).

I'm now using four lights (two in the background), it makes a big difference.

When choosing lights, buy the best you can afford - saves doing what I did & upgrading after two years. With kids, look at the recycle speed - I lost many a perfect photo because the kid pulled a great expression and my lights weren't ready.

Off to see if you've started a thread I haven't commented on yet :D
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That's such an important point Ruth, about recycle times.

I did a session over the weekend and missed a few shots just when the five year old in question started getting animated. My recycle time is under one second but it still wasn't fast enough every time!

How folks get on with some hot-shoe guns that are maybe three seconds on full power, and even more when the batteries get tired. Well, it's very frustrating and makes you look like a total amateur (been there!) :D
 
HoppyUK said:
That's such an important point Ruth, about recycle times.

I did a session over the weekend and missed a few shots just when the five year old in question started getting animated. My recycle time is under one second but it still wasn't fast enough every time!

How folks get on with some hot-shoe guns that are maybe three seconds on full power, and even more when the batteries get tired. Well, it's very frustrating and makes you look like a total amateur (been there!) :D
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I keep the power low :D
 
HoppyUK said:
How folks get on with some hot-shoe guns that are maybe three seconds on full power, and even more when the batteries get tired. Well, it's very frustrating and makes you look like a total amateur (been there!) :D
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Unless you don't shoot your speedlights on full power, and double up on each side. Then there's no waiting at all for flashes to recycle. :)
 
Kaouthia said:
Unless you don't shoot your speedlights on full power, and double up on each side. Then there's no waiting at all for flashes to recycle. :)
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I was using two 580EX on 1/4 power for the white background, and one Elinchrom D-Lite 2 on about 1/3rd power for the front. I only missed a few, towards the end when the batts were low I guess, after about 100 exposures.

The Speedlites fired, but not at what they should be. I was shooting at about two frames a second for a brief period. It doesn't happen often, but when it does... :bang:

I'm always surprised at how quickly expressions can sometimes change, even if subtly, but it makes a difference when you review the shoot.
 
HoppyUK said:
I'm always surprised at how quickly expressions can sometimes change, even if subtly, but it makes a difference when you review the shoot.
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You're not alone in that feeling. :)
 
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