A few weeks ago I was singing the praises of direct, hard light. Softlight is for the milksop who doesn't have the stomach to throw a hard shadow across someone's face in the name of art—or so that post might have you believe. Well now I'm crawling back, sheepishly confessing that I sometimes sneak around with soft light sources when nobody's looking. All the reasons I offered for renouncing soft light can, in different circumstances, be huge advantages. I admit it.

For instance: shooting portraits of strangers who are not models, without professional makeup, in an unfamiliar space, and with very little time. It's a common meat & potatoes assignment for commercial photographers—a simple location portrait. It's also a recipe for disaster if you spend too much time fiddling with lights and stands when you should be trying to make a connection with the person in front of you. There is so much advice on the internet about lighting technique—where to place that hair light, how to set a key/fill ratio, rembrandt lighting, butterfly lighting, etc. that we sometimes forget that a portrait is photograph of a person. The lighting setup is not the subject, light is a supporting character.

As a photographer you often find yourself put into unknown situations and have to improvise. Time might be tight or the space may be working against you. You can save yourself a lot of stress if you have a light setup you can fall back on that you know will work every time and in almost any situation—a fail-safe lighting solution. It should provide light that's flattering, and forgiving enough that you can set it up and not worry about it, light that you can move around in without causing problems. What you really want is a big window, but big windows never seem to be there when you need them. My first choice is the next best thing: the Elinchrom 74" Octabank with a simple adapter that accepts a standard Profoto head. It's a magical combination that almost feels like cheating. You can do anything in front of it, and while it doesn't guarantee a good photograph, you will never blame the light for failure. It's relatively easy to setup, portable, works equally well as a key light or a fill, produces beautiful catchlights, and while a little expensive, it offers light quality that you won't get from any other modifier. Really, I'm not being paid to say this (not that I'm above that, Elinchrom). The thing is a dream. The size can be problematic in really small spaces, but its size is also what makes it so useful. It wraps around the subject making very effective photos possible with a single light, freeing you to concentrate on the things that are really important for a portrait: gesture, pose, expression, personality. While I prefer the challenge and the results of crisper light, I'm often very thankful that the octabank is there for the situations where an extra challenge is not really welcome.