Too much light

XO-Studios

OK here is the problem.

In my current light setup, it works great for larger dark venuew, but when shooting at home against a relative light seamless paper backdrop, I have too much light.

My lights vary from full open to f/32, but at most shots, I have one down to f/16 and the other below that to about f/32 or a hair above that.

I know I can stop down the lens, but I would like to have some reduced DOF (i.e. backdrop needs little or no focus). Both monoheads shoot into umbrella's (one shoot through, one reflector).

They are both a reasonable distance away from the model (5'-8'), but distance is limited while keeping an appropriate lighting angle.

Out of possible solutions, two stand out, which is more appropriate:

a) neutral gels on the monohead strobes
b) ND filter on the lens.

XO,

Shay Stephens

That is one problem with the notion that bigger is better. Big bright lights are hard to use in small settings.

The filter on the camera is the cheaper approach, however, I do like the flexibility and mindset that comes from filtering the lights themselves.

Filtering the lights also helps the subject being photographed not having to face light that is too bright.

ziggy53

XO,

I have a similar problem. You can build scrims out of black-fiberglass window screen material. It will absorb light, but keep it away from the modelling lights, of course, and watch for a possible color shift. The color shift is not a big deal if you scrim all the lights the same way.

ziggy53

Blurmore

I've run into this same problem getting down to sync speed in outdoor portraits. Bright day + 100 ISO + f2.8-f5.6 = 1/500sec sync speed (before you say HSS I rarely use my TTL flash for portraits) ND filters are my answer, but you will be suprised how much it affects autofocus performance. 2 stop ND on my 85 f1.8 gets makes the focussing hole around f3.5 no biggie. A 4 stop ND puts it around f5.6 getting close to a problem. Ofcourse problem can be solved by using an ST-E2, or possibly with a 580ex with cf set so flash does not fire, but focus aid does. But if you were gonna spend the bones on an ST-e2 you might as well try to Wireless TTL HSS, but if you try this tell me how it works for ya :P

swintonphoto

I echo what others have said. When I bought my monlights I bought the BIG ones. While they are helpful in working with large subject areas, I find myself having them powered way down in my studio. If you can't move the lights further away, then the best solution I could think of is changing your umbrellas or getting softboxes.
If you get some less reflective umbrellas that can tone down the light a bit. Or try softboxes. I prefer the light from a softbox anyway, but they often have the capability of layering diffusers inside the softbox itself to diffuse the light even more. An example:
http://www.white-lightning.com/softboxes_detail.html
This is the softbox I have. It has velcro inside that can have an extra diffusion layer attached. Works great.

evil eggplant

strobosocks
Get some strobosocks, they'll cost you a stop or two, and they're cheap. Just make sure if you use them that you leave the modelling lights turned off.

XO-Studios wrote:

OK here is the problem.

In my current light setup, it works great for larger dark venuew, but when shooting at home against a relative light seamless paper backdrop, I have too much light.

My lights vary from full open to f/32, but at most shots, I have one down to f/16 and the other below that to about f/32 or a hair above that.

I know I can stop down the lens, but I would like to have some reduced DOF (i.e. backdrop needs little or no focus). Both monoheads shoot into umbrella's (one shoot through, one reflector).

They are both a reasonable distance away from the model (5'-8'), but distance is limited while keeping an appropriate lighting angle.

Out of possible solutions, two stand out, which is more appropriate:

a) neutral gels on the monohead strobes
b) ND filter on the lens.

XO,