Strobist lighting thread 2010 - DPChallenge Forums

02/08/2010 11:30:29 PM · #101

i think i need to buy myself and alien bee. i think i need to buy the cheap ones, which are still awesome compared to what i have now. does anyone else out there have the B400?

Tez

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

02/08/2010 11:40:01 PM · #102

i wouldn't use a B400 for group shots or when I'm competing with the sun. have a look for a used B800. I got mine for $225 each.

02/08/2010 11:45:18 PM · #103

I've used my AB400 for small groups, but only when filling in a shady spot, not when shooting into the sun. I think an 800 or 1600 would be a better choice. That said-the 400 is really nice to have!

ace flyman

Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 II

02/08/2010 11:49:32 PM · #104

I hope you don't mind me following on long.. Your under exposing the background by a stop or so, are you guys using a light meter for the speed lights?

edit; my real question .......Lol.

Message edited by author 2010-02-09 00:18:45.

Starbanana

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

02/09/2010 05:19:33 AM · #105

Hellooo. I would like to tag along too. I will be the quiet one in the back of the room taking notes & making comments mostly!

This is something I want to learn more about & start trying out myself. My penny jar photo equipment fund is getting full so I am going shopping soon & will start to join in & offer shots up.

If thats ok with you guys, count me in! :D

e10icus

Olympus E-500 EVOLT

Olympus 14-42mm f.3.5-5.6 ED Zuiko Digital Zoom

02/09/2010 06:09:15 AM · #106

Put me in, coach.

I'm in the process, right now, of figuring what I need to get started. Monolites are a little out of my budget right now, so I've already been poking around on the strobist blogspot for ideas.

All I have is an old Focal fixed power flash from the '80s, so I'm thinking to just get the thing off-camera and operational, I'm looking at a Yongnuo PT-04 set of 1 transmitter/2receiver remote trigger setup.

Yeah, I'll bite.

Put me on the list if you would be so kind.

Sounds like fun.

02/09/2010 06:59:44 AM · #107

Originally posted by ace flyman:

I hope you don't mind me following on long.. Your under exposing the background by a stop or so, are you guys using a light meter for the speed lights?

edit; my real question .......Lol.

In this case I did not use a light meter. My 580 ex (positioned high over his back approx 3 ft) was set to full power and my 430 (positioned in front approx 6ft away) was set to 1/2 power. I purposely did not use any mods, because I wanted some strong light on his face to resemble harsh daylight. Also the harshness is from the contrast I added in post. The original has much softer light on his face.

hopper

Canon EOS-80D

Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM

02/09/2010 10:37:36 AM · #108

I think flyman might be asking how you know the background is 1.5 stops underexposed? If that's your question, the answer is just point your camera at the background in full manual mode, put the aperture at say f/8 ... and then roll up or down the shutter speed until you see the little line in the viewfinder start to go left, until it's about 1-ish stops below proper exposure ... now your shutter speed is set. From this point, adjusting your aperture will control dof and how much light gets in from your flashes (also, you can dial up and down your flashes manually). So your shutter speed controls the ambient light (background), and your aperture controls the flash light (ie ... light falling on your subject).

at least, I think that's how it works :)

Originally posted by LVicari:

Originally posted by ace flyman:
I hope you don't mind me following on long.. Your under exposing the background by a stop or so, are you guys using a light meter for the speed lights?

edit; my real question .......Lol.

In this case I did not use a light meter. My 580 ex (positioned high over his back approx 3 ft) was set to full power and my 430 (positioned in front approx 6ft away) was set to 1/2 power. I purposely did not use any mods, because I wanted some strong light on his face to resemble harsh daylight. Also the harshness is from the contrast I added in post. The original has much softer light on his face.

ace flyman

02/09/2010 11:40:57 AM · #109

Originally posted by LVicari:

Message edited by author 2010-02-09 11:42:28.

02/09/2010 03:52:25 PM · #110

Originally posted by ace flyman:

Very cool, ....I understand stops of light. I was wondering if it was trial & error setting the flash or if you are using a light meter to the get light effect you were after. I only tried this type of outside lighting once with a 420ex which has no manual controls. I used an umbrella to soften the light on the subject, Senior portrait. I under exposed the background using my camera to meter the light, then just guessed on how far to put the flash to the subject. I guess there is no magic formula, it's more about the light effect your after.....

Originally posted by LVicari:

Originally posted by ace flyman:
I hope you don't mind me following on long.. Your under exposing the background by a stop or so, are you guys using a light meter for the speed lights?

edit; my real question .......Lol.

In this case I did not use a light meter. My 580 ex (positioned high over his back approx 3 ft) was set to full power and my 430 (positioned in front approx 6ft away) was set to 1/2 power. I purposely did not use any mods, because I wanted some strong light on his face to resemble harsh daylight. Also the harshness is from the contrast I added in post. The original has much softer light on his face.

I actually work the other way. I point my camera to the sky and set my sync speed first. 1/250 for example, then I dial in the aperture until I get it underexposed just the way I like. As for the speedlites, My lightmeter only works sometimes *( I am waiting for my new one to arrive) so for now its trial and error to get the lighting effect I like.

I am getting used to knowing how much to dial up the lights with a certain f stop.

02/09/2010 05:17:46 PM · #111

I guess this could fit in this category. 1 hour exposure then I fired my speedlight to light the sled. 1 flash in front, 1 flash in the back , and 1 flash from the side.
My first attempt at star trails.

LadyK

02/09/2010 07:15:36 PM · #112

ok thanks mpeters and Tez, i know its pretty cheap to upgrade to the 800 so ill probably just buck it up and get myself one.

thanks!

ooo and i get to shoot a wedding this summer so these bad boys will definitely come in handy

02/10/2010 02:02:09 AM · #113

Welcome Ace, Starbanana, and e10icus! Bring examples or your knowledge to the thread anytime!

Thanks to everyone for continuing to post. Good stuff! I am going to update the first post of this thread with outside links, dpc links, or links to specific posts within this 2010 Strobist thread for a quick reference. I recently added the jump to Nusbaum's very informative light modifier test images. Feel free to suggest additions to the first page. I'm hopeful that over time we can build a nice selection of links within this thread's first page.

02/10/2010 07:45:33 AM · #114

spiritualspatula asked where the sun was in this shot. It was directly behind me. THere were trees off to the right casting a shadow over the lake, so I positioned him in the shade.

Message edited by author 2010-02-10 07:45:51.

02/10/2010 08:09:53 AM · #115

Thanks for the quick reply. I was thrown a little because of the shadows on the snow and wondered how that happened. Did you try any shooting towards the sun, using it as a rim light? I ask because I was trying that just last night.

02/10/2010 12:33:08 PM · #116

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:

I haven't put forth a full effort with that. Are the speedlites powerful enough to pull that off?

02/10/2010 09:18:24 PM · #117

Originally posted by LVicari:

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:
Thanks for the quick reply. I was thrown a little because of the shadows on the snow and wondered how that happened. Did you try any shooting towards the sun, using it as a rim light? I ask because I was trying that just last night.

I haven't put forth a full effort with that. Are the speedlites powerful enough to pull that off?

Sorta. I can't provide a perfect answer yet, but I'll put up some of my screwing around shots tomorrow. I'm using two SB900's with FP sync @ around 1/1500 or so. My batteries were sorta low and it was cold outside so I didn't get as much shooting time as I would've liked, so some more experimenting is needed. If I weren't losing so much with the FP sync it would be way more than enough light, though I wouldn't be exposing the sky like I wanted to.

02/12/2010 05:57:17 AM · #118

Originally posted by LVicari:

So here are some examples. These aren't exactly what I'd consider final products because I was photographing myself so focus isn't perfect on some and there are some other issues like background, but they're primarily for proof of concept. They were taken on two different days, and it's apparent that a cloudless sky is very beneficial for the effect, otherwise the sun just gets too diffuse and it's not as clean. Those light wispy clouds frustrated things somewhat.
I had to keep the second light close to the camera and corded so that I could use FP mode. Off camera flash was triggered using CLS+ manual flash power output and SB900 mounted to tripod leg via SC-28. I mention that I mounted the diffuser to the flash in one of the photos, and what I did is mount it upside down so the tabs don't contact the flash- this way it won't decrease its zoom all the way automatically. On the last two, I was hoping to find more snow and then do a warm lighting contrasted with the cooler WB to make a contrast in feeling, but the snow wasn't really there, and I wanted to try it anyway.

ETA: basic editing on all but one.

ETA:

mpeters asked how far I was from the strobes:
For the first three, the upper right 900 was about 6-8 feet away from my face and I was probably 10 feet from the lower one on the tripod. In the second ones the distances were changing around a lot because of shifting perspectives and seeing how different things worked, so I'm not too sure.

Message edited by author 2010-02-18 02:52:15.

02/13/2010 01:06:16 PM · #119

I've added a lighting diagram to 'Burnt Offering'. This stuff is addicting!

Olympus 14-42mm f.3.5-5.6 ED Zuiko Digital Zoom

02/17/2010 09:47:24 PM · #120

Anyone sitting on some stuff they'd like to share?? :)

e10icus

Olympus E-500 EVOLT

02/17/2010 11:23:27 PM · #121

Noob question...

On your diagram, I see - "430 1/16 w/ 1/4 CTO."
Guessing here - 430 1/16 is your strobe unit at 1/16th power? (pretty sure about this one)

But the "w/ 1/4 CTO has me totally lost.

Enlighten please...

8-)

02/18/2010 12:06:34 AM · #122

CTO stands for Color Temperature Orange. I believe the normal reason for using a CTO gel is to balance your flash with tungsten lighting(warm in tone). I was using it to give the 430 flash a warm tone--to simulate a flaming BBQ. I should have used a 1/2 or full CTO(or possibly a red gel). Here is a post from the strobist website about using gels to balance colors. Worth a read... Using gels to correct light

You are right about the 1/16; it was the flash's power setting.

hopper

Canon EOS-80D

Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM

02/22/2010 08:00:44 PM · #123

I got my softlighter today (46") ... and this is how I hooked it up, but I have a couple problems:

1 - the shaft of the umbrella is smaller than normal and I can't tighten the screw enough to make it firm ... it's being held there by friction.

2 - my cheapo light stand is a bit wobbly with all that weight up there.

I also order a 3rd party battery pack for my 580ex ... I was getting tired of missing shots of children while my flash recycled. I haven't received that thing, yet, so I can't comment on it.

Originally posted by Nusbaum:

Originally posted by hopper:

Originally posted by Nusbaum:
The bigger challenge was working out an umbrella mount that would keep the umbrella shaft close to the flash head. I can send you a photo of what I came up with if you're interested. I'm not pushing the soft lighter, but am glad to help if you are interested.

David, let me see ... i think you forgot about me :)

also ... do you think the 60" softlighter would be a better option even though i'm using the 580exII, or would i need a strobe with more power?

No I didn't forget. I got bogged down in some programming for a non-profit here in town and have hardly lifted my head. I'll go out to the sudio/garage today and get a shot of my adapter for for the softlighter and similar modifiers.

The diffusion sock on my softlighter won't fit around the 7" reflectors on my alien bees, so I'm only used it with a 580 or 530 ex. It doesn't use a bit more light than a regular umbrella, but I like shooting a little more open than most so power hasn't been an issue. I've never had to crank the 580ex up to 1.