soft box size ?
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sk66
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Depends on what type of lighting you are going for. If you are wanting to use the softbox as primary "soft" lighting, then it should be approximately the same size as what you are lighting with it (or larger). I.e. if you are lighting a 5ft tall person you need a softbox *at least* 5ft diagonal. However, you can create "soft light" with smaller modifiers as long as you have more/a lot of ambient/spill. I.e. they're used at a low ratio/power.
MidnightUK
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Several useful and relevant videos in this thread
https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/free-studio-training-videos-post-your-links.641696/
The JP Morgan / Slanted lens one is a good video on the consequences of softbox size.
It is listed in the above, but for convienince
View: https://youtu.be/gVy2nwoataM
He also covers umbrellas and octoboxes in the video series.
https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/free-studio-training-videos-post-your-links.641696/
The JP Morgan / Slanted lens one is a good video on the consequences of softbox size.
It is listed in the above, but for convienince
He also covers umbrellas and octoboxes in the video series.
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HarveyM
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Here's a shot using my Lastolite, although it's obviously not a standing shot of Alex and it was my very first session using the Lastolite, so take this into account. It was shot with 2 heads illuminating the Lastolite and 2 heads lighting Alex, both fitted with 60cm x 60cm soft boxes, simply because that's all I had at the time. One of the lights was the key light, the second as fill flash, about 2:1 from memory. This was in my living room so I am constrained by the width (3M) and standard room height. I therefore don't have too much room to mount significantly larger boxes in these circumstances. Large black flags were mounted either side to prevent light bouncing from my primrose yellow walls. Amazon sell reflectors by Phot-R, I use the black panel on these, the size I use is about door sized.
I like the system,, it works well in small locations but needs some experimentation for the best results. There is conflicting advice online about the stop differentials for illumination. Too much from the Lastolite gives rise to excessive rim lighting of the model, it simply needs just enough to white out. The vinyl train really needs additional lighting with 2 low level heads to avoid lots of Photoshop time. I also really like the black bottle top and train, great for low key work.