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A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to use the Elinchrom Litemotiv 120 for a fashion photoshoot. The theme was pastel-coloured summer clothing.

It was a great party (with cake of course!) because the model Fabienne was celebrating her birthday; but to me as well because this was my first official photoshoot with the Elinchrom Litemotiv.

This photoshoot’s team consisted of:
Model: Fabienne Jongen @ Innocence Model Agency
MUAH: Halima Oumansour
Styling: Lotte Deb and Gusto Moda
Photography: Wendy Appelman Photography

The Elinchrom Litemotiv 120

The Elinchrom Litemotiv gives off a beautiful soft light that’s very suitable for full body photos. Full body photos are photos where the face and entire body of your subject is visible. However, the Elinchrom Litemotiv is also great for portrait photos and it is possible to soften or harden the lighting by removing or placing the diffusers inside. This can be done easily by the handy Velcro used for the fabric fastening. For these photos I removed the outer diffuser to slightly harden the light.

This softbox has another advantage: the inner diffuser is twice as thick in the middle, which allows you to have a constant light distribution. There is no hotspot such as can be measured when using the Deep Octa. Because of this, the Litemotiv cannot really be compared to this softbox. If you want to light the subject in whole you will have to place the Deep Octa further backwards which changes the shadowing compared to, for example, if you would use the Litemotiv. The Litemotiv can be placed closer to the model which softens the shadowing much more. Because of its size it is able to surround the model with light, essentially ‘hugging’ the model with a soft light bundle. With the Octa you will experience more contrast on for example the model’s legs.

A bundle of light

To describe its shape, ‘a bundle of light’ is the right phrase. The softbox is almost round due to the 16 bones, showing up as a nice circle in the catchlights in the model’s eyes. As photographers, this is something we like more than the square shape of a regular softbox. This can also be achieved with a beautydish, but the difference with the Litemotiv is that this bundle is larger and can be controlled.

Because the Litemotiv only lights in a defined circle and doesn’t outside of that circle, the model won’t be lit at all if she would step out of the light bundle. This compares a bit to the light you get if you are standing in a dark forest on a cloudy day and light comes in into an open spot between the trees.

Lighting setup

Together with the Litemotiv I have used some accent lighting for the model’s hair and her shoulders and back. On the right is a picture of this setup without the using the Litemotiv. In this picture you can see well how these accent lightings affect the model’s body. This lighting was put a stop lower than my main light source: the Litemotiv.

The modifiers for my accent lightings are the Elinchrom Deep Octa 100 and the Elinchrom Portalite 40×40.

If you have any questions regarding the Elinchrom Litemotiv please add a comment below or send me your question by email.

Portrait photo

You can find an example of a portrait photo in the same styling below. In this portrait you can really see how the light surrounds Fabienne and lights her very softly even though the front diffuser has already been removed. You can also see the catchlights in her eyes very well.