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Tuesday, February 7, 2012  Control The Light  Tools and
techniques for creative lighting  This Article Features Photo
Zoom When most photographers think about grids, they envision
the classic seven-inch circular honeycomb grid. These grids fit
on studio strobe heads and often come in sizes of 10, 20, 30 and
40 degrees. Grids do a terrific job of controlling the angle of
light coming from your flash. If you use a 10-degree grid, it's
like using a laser beam—the light is very narrow and focused.
For almost every shoot, I use gridded lights. If I want to put a
"kiss of light" on a background element, I'll use a 10- or
20-degree gridded flash for the job. My goal is to light the
shot, not illuminate it. Don't blast light everywhere; pick
areas to which you want to direct the viewer and add light
there.  Speedlights also can use grids. A number of companies
produce grids, including Honl Photo, Lastolite and Rogue
(ExpoImaging). These grids attach to the fl