Ring Flash tutorial?

Mnemosyne

Are there any good tutorials on using a ring flash, such as the Alien Bee ring? Searching on google yields more tutorials about making a DIY ring flash, and the few I find showing how to use it, are more about a specific setup, and not a general beginner tutorial and how to use them.

ziggy53

The following link leads to a video which includes a number of different lighting setups, including some uses for ring flash. Scroll down the page until you see the video titled, "Digital Photography One on One: Episode 11 from Mark Wallace.":

http://www.studiolighting.net/digital-photography-one-on-one-e011-lighting-setups/

Note that there are scantily clad women in the video, so the video may not be safe for all audiences (although I do not find any of it objectionable.)

Remember that a ring flash may be used as either a key light or a fill light, depending on the desired effect.

You can Google for "butterfly lighting" and some of the time substitute a ring flash for the butterfly lighting setup, using the same poses. Likewise a "beauty dish" is often used similarly so search for that as well.

The only problem with ring flash is that it can be easy to do the same thing over and over, creating a rather boring sequence. I would suggest using the ring flash as a "spice" rather than a "staple" in your lighting setups

catspaw

Ziggy, you stun me still as the font of all photographic knowledge, or at least where to find it online!

JohnBiggs

catspaw wrote:

Ziggy, you stun me still as the font of all photographic knowledge, or at least where to find it online!

Up next.... Ziggy vs. Google.