Hi All,


so I've been playing a bit with my pair of Elinchrom D-Lites, and am starting to like the results, but I've got two questions that I hope somebody here (no names ;-) can help out with:


Even with a single strobe at minimal power, I find myself using ISO 100 and apertures from f/8 to f/13. Is it normal to use NDs with strobes to get a wide-open portrait for thin DoF? Or is it exaggerated that for maximum effect I'm always trying to get the softbox as close as possible to the subject, should I just move it away in order to reduce the light, and be able to shoot at large apertures (small f-numbers)?


The softbox is making nice portraits, but my handling of the beauty dish doesn't quite meet my expectations; how should I position it for a "fail-safe" portrait, and which deflector should I use? This is the 44cm Elinchrom white beauty dish, and I've got a complete set of 4 different Elinchrom deflectors that I can mount.


Thanks, Colin