and they offer different lighting characteristic than soft-boxes. If you could
imagine combining a soft-box with a spot light, you would end up with some-
thing close to a parabolic. The light is harder than the light produced by a soft
light source, but it’s also more controllable.
I often use this type of lighting when I am diffusing an image. Many times,
when photographers diffuse an image, they do nothing differently in their light-
ing and wonder why their images look “mushy.” By increasing the contrast of
the image, more of the fine details are preserved when the shot is later diffused.
I also use parabolics for corrective lighting, something I learned by studying
the lighting styles of a photographer by the name of Marty Richert. He used
parabolic lighting, combined with barn doors and gobos, to block portions of
the main light from hitting areas he didn’t want the eye of the viewer to notice.
Parabolic lighting offers great control and
a crisp look.