Flashes and Lighting and Nervous, OH MY!

crystallized

Hello all! I've been relying on natural light for the longest time but now I feel it's time to step on up and do some more studio sessions. I have a relatively small area and would love recommendations for lighting and flashes for a beginner. I would LOVE if there was a way to utilize a flash as both, and any tricks up your sleeves that may help I will love you forever!

I don't have a huge budget and I am a beginner...so something that I can start with and in the future move on from there. Share the love!

Thank you!

run_kmc

Everything I could say about this has already been said better by someone else. I would recommend you check out strobist. Start with the "Lighting 101" and "102" guides.

Once you're in deep enough, I would look at the book "Minimalist Lighting" by Kirk Tuck, and maybe Joe McNally's books as well.

ziggy53

What camera(s) do you own?

crystallized

run: Thanks for those links and suggestions! I'll definitely pour over them =]

ziggy: That might help, huh? haha I have a Canon 40D, and I stick to Manual.

Art Scott

I'll add a ;link to the LumiQuest site.....they are a light modifier manufacturer but also have great educational offerings.
I really like their modifiers also.

ziggy53

crystallized wrote: »

... ziggy: That might help, huh? haha I have a Canon 40D, and I stick to Manual.

For a Canon 40D I suggest that you have several options available. The Canon 580EX II and 430EX II are very nice options for on-camera use, and I believe that they both allow manual control also. Sigma has an EF 530 DG Super flash that has similar features to the Canon 580EX but with power and pricing more like the 430EX. (In other words the Sigma flash has a very complete feature set and relatively low cost.)

The Canon 580EX and the Sigma 530 Super flash both allow you to use them as a wireless master controller for a compatible wireless slave flash. All of the above flashes are also capable of wireless slave operation.

There is also a Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2 which may be used as the master but it's not a flash. It will control all of the above flashes.

So you can use any of the above master/transmitters to wirelessly control a remote flash and it works pretty well indoors and gives you a degree of flash automation including flash exposure automation and ratio automation too.

On a budget you can mount a simple radio transmitter on the hot shoe of the 40D and then use a remote radio slave to trigger simple manual or "auto" flashes. Any of the above flashes should work fine in manual mode, giving you the option of on-camera use with automation and off-camera use with the radio master/slave configuration. The radio system works much better than the optical wireless system of the flashes above for outdoor use.

All of the above remote flashes could be used with a simple umbrella bracket, umbrella and light stand to give studio type lighting. None of the flashes has a modeling light so positioning is more difficult than with true studio flash systems, but doable.

crystallized

Thank you, both!

I like the idea of being able to use my flash on and off camera. I found a kit, do you think this will suffice? http://www.mpex.com/page.htm?PG=STROBIST1XKITS I was looking at the first and second one...the only difference I see is that the second comes with a radio slave so it's wireless...which, in the end is probably the route I will take...

Quality wise, I know it's cheaper than comparable sets, but is it a good value? If I can expect a year+ than I think it's worth it for now. Thoughts?

ziggy53

The MPex kits are OK, but I suggest that you could do better.

I prefer a minimum 10' light stand. While the 7.5' light stand from MPex is fine for many household applications (especially if you are limited by an 8' ceiling), the 10' stands will work better in other venues and allow larger groups with more appropriate light angles. 12' is even better. The larger stands also have a larger base that is generally a benefit even if you don't need the height.

I also prefer to have at least 1 - 60" umbrella that is convertible to allow reflective as well as shoot through. While 60" seems huge, that is the measure across the curvature of the splines and roughly corresponds to the size of a 45" square modifier like a softbox. A 60" umbrella is still very compact when collapsed but the difference in light is significant.

I suggest that 2 - flashes are generally required for a minimal portrait situation, possibly augmented by a reflector.

A useful single flash technique is here, thanks to Scott:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=92550

crystallized

Thank you so much! So helpful. I will definitely keep that in mind as I continue searching.

Thank you everyone

jeffreaux2

I thought I was going overboard using 13 foot lightstands for on location work, but have been surprisded at the number of times I have had them fully extended. You cant make a short stand taller, but even a tall stand can get realatively compact. If you want to use it for seated infants....on the floor, you may have to improvise....or get a background light stand....and an umbrella small enough to clear the floor.

I shoot a 50D canon, and have a pair of 580EX flashes. I most often fire them off camera using the STE2 transmitter Ziggy mentioned. I use ETTL flash though...almost exclusively. Before purchasing a kit with transmitters, Id get a flash and decide if you want to shoot ETTL or manual flash...as that will be what decides the types of transmitters that are available. Only a few are capable of trasmitting ETTL data.

More often than not, I use a single off camera flash shot through either a 45 inch or 60 inch white umbrella.


Like this...








These were all done using ETTL flash mixed with ambient light. Super easy to pull off, but you have to stick with a line of gear that is ETTL compatable.

Art Scott

jeffreaux2 wrote: »

I thought I was going overboard using 13 foot lightstands for on location work, but have been surprisded at the number of times I have had them fully extended. You cant make a short stand taller, but even a tall stand can get realatively compact. If you want to use it for seated infants....on the floor, you may have to improvise....or get a background light stand....and an umbrella small enough to clear the floor.

I shoot a 50D canon, and have a pair of 580EX flashes. I most often fire them off camera using the STE2 transmitter Ziggy mentioned. I use ETTL flash though...almost exclusively. Before purchasing a kit with transmitters, Id get a flash and decide if you want to shoot ETTL or manual flash...as that will be what decides the types of transmitters that are available. Only a few are capable of trasmitting ETTL data.

More often than not, I use a single off camera flash shot through either a 45 inch or 60 inch white umbrella.




These were all done using ETTL flash mixed with ambient light. Super easy to pull off, but you have to stick with a line of gear that is ETTL compatable.

For the above mentioned photos how close are you to your subjects in respect to the flash source?
Actually this is the distance the stand is from the subject as you already said the stand was fully extended at 13 feet.

thanx for the clairification

jeffreaux2

Art Scott wrote: »

For the above mentioned photos how close are you to your subjects in respect to the flash source?
Actually this is the distance the stand is from the subject as you already said the stand was fully extended at 13 feet.

thanx for the clairification

No Art...not fully extended in these shots.

I usually try to keep the bottom of the umbrella edge no lower than the tip of the nose....if that helps. Distance to subject from stand here would be only a few feet....or just outside the composition.

Of these examples, the guy with the truck used the farthest distance. Maybe 6 feet.

The comment on fully extending a 13 foot stand was in general. There have been many times where due to the configuration of the location I have had to utilize all its length. In fact, I remember one shot in particular on a narrow starwell where my subject's mother held the fully extended 13 foot stand as high as she could to clear a railing. It worked, but an umbrella on a monopod bungeed to the railing would have worked also.

Fully extended stand here... my feet are at about same height as her shoulders. Stand is at camera left...fully extended...from the same slab she is standing on....just out of view at camera left. The ledge I am standing on cannot accomodate the stand.



here...plus mom lifting stand... the stairwell isnt wide enough to accomodate the stand.