What Chuck Does

Westcott Apollo 28” Recessed Softbox

The pictures of the Macbook were taken with this softbox:

At 28” the diagonal (hypotenuse if you remember Geometry) is almost 40” which is almost the size of the 42” Westcott umbrellas that we Strobists carry.

Which is why, when placed side-by-side, the 28” Apollo looks bigger than the 42” umbrella, particularly because the black border flares out past the perimeter as shown below:
 

The softbox has an incredible design because it actually folds down (and up) with the skeleton of an umbrella. It’s basically an umbrella underneath the paneling that you see on the outside. Here’s a shot of the guts of the 28” Apollo:

So basically you stick your umbrella stand through the bottom of the Apollo Softbox, and then mount your flash on top of your umbrella adapter. Then just slide the center umbrella “stick” through the same umbrella hole that you usually use. It’s set up exactly as you would an umbrella! In the picture above I have the flash mounted facing the back of the softbox but you can also invert the flash and have it pointed directly at the front cover of the softbox.

Here’s one more picture of the softbox with the flash firing inside as set up above:
 

Truthfully I have yet to use it on people. Thus far I’ve only used the Westcott Apollo 28” Softbox to light still life and products. I will return with future reviews of its benefits for lighting people.