Playing with new ebay flash triggers - my car

jasonstone

Hi all,

End of last week I received my ebay flash triggers and thought I'd do a couple of test photos - so last night I nicked down to the garage and moved my car diagonal and then setup 1 flash in the car and one on my tripod.

Now don't worry nothing brilliant I know - not a sports car either :wink

But it was a first test and fun too - possibilities are opening up now - really have to start thinking about how to setup the lighting the best way whereas before was more oh well hope there's enough light around!

One hard thing is now to start thinking about manual flash power... one of my flashes is a pretty simple sunpak pz4000af which can do full or 1/16 and that's it - not particularly useful...

anyway a couple of pics - just for the hell of it

1.


2.


3.


Cheers, Jason

Skippy

jasonstone wrote:

Hi all,

End of last week I received my ebay flash triggers and thought I'd do a couple of test photos - so last night I nicked down to the garage and moved my car diagonal and then setup 1 flash in the car and one on my tripod.

Now don't worry nothing brilliant I know - not a sports car either

But it was a first test and fun too - possibilities are opening up now - really have to start thinking about how to setup the lighting the best way whereas before was more oh well hope there's enough light around!

One hard thing is now to start thinking about manual flash power... one of my flashes is a pretty simple sunpak pz4000af which can do full or 1/16 and that's it - not particularly useful...

anyway a couple of pics - just for the hell of it

Cheers, Jason

Hi Jason, I like the lighting in the first shot.
I can see you could have a heap of fun with those flash triggers.

Where abouts in the car did you put the flash?
Taking the shot outside would stop the reflection throwing back on the the garage wall........ yep I can see how you could have a great time with your new toys.

Looking good Jason, looking real good .... Skippy
.

ian408

Sweet! Don't forget, you can further control the output with something as simple as a tissue. A bounce card and rubberband too

ilbcnu

If you don't mind sharing which ebay ones did you purchase. I have been wandering them and have hesitated to purchase. You really have opened so many new lighting possibilities!!

jasonstone

ian408 wrote:

Sweet! Don't forget, you can further control the output with something as simple as a tissue. A bounce card and rubberband too

Absolutely! I tried out bare flash on front of car or my Lightsphere cloud - couldn't use the umbrella as I have to pick up my lightstand from UK next week.

So soon I'll be able to have a lightstand, flash with umbrella and another flash maybe with Lightsphere all remote and then I know what will happen next

I'll want a 3rd flash

Have to get a diffuser for the sunpak flash as bare light is too harsh for what i want to use it for

Cheers, Jase

jasonstone

ilbcnu wrote:

If you don't mind sharing which ebay ones did you purchase. I have been wandering them and have hesitated to purchase. You really have opened so many new lighting possibilities!!

Hi there, I ummmed and ahhhed and in the end I didn't feel i needed the flash stand to warrant spending more on the cactus V2s triggers from gadget infinity so went with those from Phottix which are marked PT-04M which from what i understand are the same as cactus V2 triggers

Either way I paid 33USD inc. shipping for 1 transmitter and 2 receivers

Cheap gadget to play around with if you ask me!!

Here's a link: http://cgi.ebay.ch/Phottix-PT-04-4-Channel-Flash-Trigger-with-2-Receivers_W0QQitemZ170276912228QQihZ007QQcategoryZ64354QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

Cheers, Jason

jasonstone

Skippy wrote:

Hi Jason, I like the lighting in the first shot.
I can see you could have a heap of fun with those flash triggers.

Where abouts in the car did you put the flash?
Taking the shot outside would stop the reflection throwing back on the the garage wall........ yep I can see how you could have a great time with your new toys.

Looking good Jason, looking real good .... Skippy
.

Thanks One was on the front seat of the car and in 4th shot the 2nd flash was in the backseat - lighting up my 2 kids' seats - wow what a feature eh

It was Sunday night and i had like 30mins to try something out - so garage it was - but yeah i totally agree the light/shadows on the roof and back walls isn't very nice

Cheers, Jason

ian408

And once you discover gels, you'll want a set of those too

It never ends

jasonstone

ian408 wrote:

And once you discover gels, you'll want a set of those too

It never ends

I've ahem ordered 1 of those sample packs to start with

now if you don't mind i'm off to close Pandora's box if i can

ilbcnu

Well, I too now have bought flash triggers to play with...thanks for your info.
I think I'am going to have to quit reading posts for awhile while my budget re-adjusts from recent lens and now flash trigger purchases...I already have some sticky filters thanks to another post (which I do love) so hopefully I will have enough to experiment with for awhile.

jasonstone

ilbcnu wrote:

Well, I too now have bought flash triggers to play with...thanks for your info.
I think I'am going to have to quit reading posts for awhile while my budget re-adjusts from recent lens and now flash trigger purchases...I already have some sticky filters thanks to another post (which I do love) so hopefully I will have enough to experiment with for awhile.

no problems! i recommend spending some serious internet reading time on www.strobist.com - it is an awesome resource and has given me lots of ideas on how to use light properly and to improve my photos.

Until now I was - big flash on top of camera and POP! or maybe bounce it off roof - but finesse it wasn't

I'm really loving the fact that now I know I have a chance to control my light rather than just click and hope

Cheers, Jase
p.s. I'm avoiding lens purchases for now - not sure what direction to go in - but maybe I'll spring for a 50mm f1.8 as it's a cheap lens and fast glass and sharp - but anything else - i have to seriously think first before spending more than 300 on a lens now - which is good because before i'd just see it, like it and buy it - even if it wasn't really the right lens for what i wanted

speedracer04

Hi,

I have been into car photography for a good while now, but just picked up a flash (now i want more )

but anyway i found these to links that have helped to give me ideas of how to use them so i thought it may also be helpful for you

link 1

link 2

ian408

Nice find Speed!

Art Scott

Jase.....
great shots for what you ahd to work with....REALLYthumb ....as forthe sunpak PZ4000......your local theater supply store should have ROSCO brand gels in various stops of a neutral grey color.......this diffusion mat'l is made to stop down light without changing color temp....so using a sheet of 1 or 2 stop mat'l you can make your SunPak be at what ever level of out put you want.......make friends in the theater and concert lighting areas and you may find them giving you SWAG (free stuff), like cut ends of their colored gels and it will normally be 2 or 3 inches wide and 18 to 24 inches long.....so it will fit in gel holder of you flash with a bit of trimming.

jasonstone

speedracer04 wrote:

Hi,

I have been into car photography for a good while now, but just picked up a flash (now i want more )

but anyway i found these to links that have helped to give me ideas of how to use them so i thought it may also be helpful for you

link 1

link 2

For some awesome car photos check out: http://www.kenbrownart.com/images/automotive/index.html

Keep in mind he has access to one of the best car collections in the world and has an almost perfect studio environment in that "museum" too - luck guy

Here is his flickr page: http://flickr.com/photos/7211625@N06/ where he does have photos of his lighting setup and discusses some of the shots too - which helps

Cheers, Jase

jasonstone

Art Scott wrote:

Jase.....
great shots for what you ahd to work with....REALLYthumb ....as forthe sunpak PZ4000......your local theater supply store should have ROSCO brand gels in various stops of a neutral grey color.......this diffusion mat'l is made to stop down light without changing color temp....so using a sheet of 1 or 2 stop mat'l you can make your SunPak be at what ever level of out put you want.......make friends in the theater and concert lighting areas and you may find them giving you SWAG (free stuff), like cut ends of their colored gels and it will normally be 2 or 3 inches wide and 18 to 24 inches long.....so it will fit in gel holder of you flash with a bit of trimming.

Thanks for the tip Art - i've got a gel sample pack coming - will look in it for something like that

Cheers, Jase