In this look, I wanted to break down what photographers often call “harsh lighting” — and actually show how different modifiers and distances change the light quality. We started with a shirtless test using three modifiers: a 70cm octa, a 21cm reflector, and finally a 190cm indirect octa.
For each one, I tested the modifier at multiple distances — from as close as 0.3 meters to as far as 2 meters — to see how falloff, specularity, contrast, and background interaction changed. The 21cm reflector showed textbook hard light behavior: crisp shadows, sharp edges, and high specularity, especially up close. The 70cm octa gave faster falloff when it was close, but at 1–2 meters, the light evened out nicely. And the 190cm softbox brought the most uniform light — even from relatively close.
After comparing all three setups, I refined the placement of the 190cm indirect octa to get final photos of Josh.
