One of the most popular questions I am asked is: what are those lights in the background of your portraits? Aside from the one time that I used a Profoto Monolight unsuccessfully, every other occurrence I can recall featured a vintage light designed by Mole-Richardson.
All of which you can buy used on eBay for between $71 and $175. Of course shipping is a bit high and will cost you another $30-$50 per light.
When I place one of them in the frame, my typical exposure is 1/200 at f11 ISO 100. For the most part this allows for the light to have an impact on the final illumination of the subject without blowing the exposure of the fixtures face. You should be aware though that once the lights are turned on, they draw between eight and 17 amps, which means that if you have your flashes on the same circuit, you may blow a fuse. However, in the wintertime, these hot lights will keep your models nice and toasty.
The two smaller lights (above and below bottom ) are a Mole-Richardson 407 1000 Watt Baby Fresnel. The light is typically 1000watts, but the blue one I have was unfortunately turned into a lamp buy some well-meaning idiot and now only has a 300 watt bulb. This is sort of a problem from time to time because I would like to use it as a kicker but it’s not very bright.
1/2 #Portrait and #behindthescenes of actor @taso_mikroulis. Shot with #Profoto lights, #Elinchrom #octabox, and a Photek Softlighter. #GravityBackdrops #portraitmood #portraitphotography #canonusa #pursuitofportraits #photostudio #johngressmedia #actorportrait #studiophotography #strobist #kdpeoplegallery #portraitfestival #chicagoactor #chicagophotographer #studioportrait #fstoppers #endlessfaces #johngressmedia #setlife #flashphotography #portraiture #famousbtsmagazine #profotoglobal #iso1200 #studioportraits #profotousa A post shared by John Gress (@johngressmedia) on
The light that looks like a scoop with an egg crate on its face (above) is a Mole-Richardson Baby-Zip 2000 Watt
The largest light is a Mole-Richardson 2000 Watt Fresnel (above). The 2k light is extremely bright and I have used it as a kicker, even when its not in the shot, to illuminate the models hair, their shoulders and to warm up the color temp of the scenes (below). These fixtures are often available for between $200-250, but if you wait long enough, you will be able to buy one for below $175 plus shipping. One thing you should be aware of though, is that this light requires a junior stand, which in common or photog parlence, has a large female receiver rather than a small mail probe. Isn’t that always the case…
2/2 #Behindthescenes and final image from my photoshoot with @raejohnson__ ! Lit with #Profoto lights a @mola_softlights Setti, there is an #Elinchrom Octa overhead providing fill, a gold reflector for more fill a Profoto strip light over the backdrop and #molerichardson 2K over one shoulder ….. phew. More importantly, ?? and?by the irreplaceable @nicolerogersbeauty and ? by the sensational @sastylestudio. #iso1200 #makeportraits #portraitmood #portraitphotography #setlife #portrait_vision #johngressmedia #portraitvision #profotoglobal #blackmodels #pursuitofportraits #photostudio #beautydish #studiophotography #strobist #portrait_mf #kdpeoplegallery #johngressmedia #portraitfestival #portraits_vision #chicagophotographer #portraitfeed #chicagomodels #endlessfaces #chicagomodel #blackmodel #profotousa A post shared by John Gress (@johngressmedia) on
Mole Richardson makes larger lights, however unless I’m missing something, you can’t plug any of them into the wall in the United States and so it’s not really functional to use them as an illuminated prop. Moreover, the company’s 5K light is 14″ in diameter, compared to 9 7/8″ for the 2K. In metric, that’s like 3m verses 2m. 😉
In addition, to the lights, Mole made light stands too! The baby stands (above) are normally the standard Mole red, sell for around $150 used, are extremely solid and made of steel or brass. The junior counterparts (below), while rare, can be had for around $200.
