new thread...new lights..please read

Jaraviss

ok...im not sure if this is the right area of the forum to post this but here goes.

i'm *EXTREMELY* new to the photography scene :eek1 (have had my camera for one week) but am reallly excited to learn.
so today i did something....not sure if i'd call it "stupid"...maybe "impulsive" is a better word.
i purchased a beginners home studio lighting kit..the interFit EX150.
i hope it's a good one to learn on...if i do want to get better equipment in the future, couldn't i just use these 2 small wattage strobes as like accent lights or something?

anyway...none of the stores we visited had the infrared trigger or the pc hotshoe connection (is that what it's called) to trigger the strobes.
so i used my speedlite580EXII....

we had *NO* idea how to hook the lights up (the instruction manual was a really cheap looking typed up piece of paper...but it worked) LOL
anyway....my poor girlfriend had to sit thru me trying to get it working..take pics..etc. for like 3 hours.

i really have a long way to go to learn my camera and was just adjusting the shutter speed, aperture and ISO setting (i think that's what i was doing)...till they looked "good" in the lcd monitor.

then i opened them in the software that came with the camera to edit the RAW image...not sure what i was doing there either..just adjusting the sliders till i felt it looked "better".

i'm not sure how effective i was...but i'm here to post 3 shots (original and after raw editing) for your review.

please remember...1 week with the camera and i think today is the first day i took it off "auto pilot" and first day with the lights.


first image was like an hour after we couldn't get *ANYTHING* to work right...the speedlight was acting as hte main flash and neither strobe had any effect on the pics...i finally turned the speedlight around (facing me...away from the shot) and even put the little lens thingy on it...this seemed to help and after an hour of frustration we got a little more excited..

so first image original



then some editing of the raw file in the canon software



then changed to monochromatic

the camera info on this picture is shown as:
shutter speed: 1/100 sec
Aperture: F25
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 110.0mm

and i really don't know why i chose those settings
i saw in one of the books to put a light directly behind the person onto the white background so that it would be "blown out" is that correct?





second image.



then edited in the canon software..

picture data:
Shutter Speed: 1/125 Sec
Aperture Value: F22
ISO Speed 800
Focal Length: 110.0 mm





now that i look at them...im not sure if i made any real imrpovements with the canon raw editing software.

one thing i did notice on alot of other ones was that at full size (they're pretty big pictures, i guess) they were kinda grainy...is that "noise".
not sure why that happened...but

anyway...i just was so excited to actually get started with lighting...i. felt like i should post!!

please....anyone/everyone....if you have some time...please look at these pics and let me know what i should think about in the future.

poor tina...she was so pissed/tired by the time i said "should we quit?"

LOL

thanks
-G

Jaraviss

any suggestions?
:cry

thanks!
-G

Bodwick

I'd invest in a light meter. The best you can afford. That will let you determine how much light each flash head is producing individually and together.

You can move lights further away or closer to your subject or add say grease-proof paper to your flash heads to reduce their output.

Look up High Key for your blown backgrounds. Add a stop or 2 or 3(of light) for your background on-top of your subjects exposure.

Drop ISO800 to 100 and drop f25 to f5.6 to f11 range. Your 800 speed is producing the grain you mention. and f25 is way over on DoF.


Bod.

Jaraviss

Bodwick wrote:

I'd invest in a light meter. The best you can afford. That will let you determine how much light each flash head is producing individually and together.

You can move lights further away or closer to your subject or add say grease-proof paper to your flash heads to reduce their output.

Look up High Key for your blown backgrounds. Add a stop or 2 or 3(of light) for your background on-top of your subjects exposure.

Drop ISO800 to 100 and drop f25 to f5.6 to f11 range. Your 800 speed is producing the grain you mention. and f25 is way over on DoF.


Bod.

cool, thank you very much!
when we purchased our light kit, we also got a really cheap light meter.
i called him today and we're going to go exchange it for a better one tomorrow...that'll help us with the amount of light, right?
and thank you for the other info on the iso and the f5.6-f11 range..i can't wait to try it out!!

thanks again!-
-G

Bodwick

Use the little dome on your meter. Infront of your subjects face and facing the light source.

I then read off the background so my meter faces the background for that reading.

So it might say f5.6 for face and f11 for background with your 580 on reduced power and your rear light firing more output to meet the extra need of lighting the back of the shot more than the front...

Jaraviss

Bodwick wrote:

Use the little dome on your meter. Infront of your subjects face and facing the light source.

I then read off the background so my meter faces the background for that reading.

So it might say f5.6 for face and f11 for background with your 580 on reduced power and your rear light firing more output to meet the extra need of lighting the back of the shot more than the front...

cool, thanks again!
we had to drive all the way to Berkely (from Davis) today to get a hotshoe pc connector...this will allow us to fire our strobes without our 580 on top of our camera...so that we can now focus on the strobes as our lighting.

our light kit is now only a 2 light setup (which i'm sure many many people can produce wonderful images with)...but we do want to add another light (or get a stand for a reflector of some sort for some fill light).

thanks again for the comments, and if you have time,,,pleae visit the "whipping post" for our new portrait (with strobes only, no 580) to see how we've progressed (in one day).

p.s. the new shot was probably made with similar iso speeds, aperture, etc that made these ones...so ... erm.. hehe :uhoh

-G

Bodwick

Jaraviss wrote:

...that'll help us with the amount of light, right?
-G

Just to be clear as it's 9am and I'm just off to bed after a shift so risk babbling. The meter will tell you exactly how much light is being given off when fired. Either individually or together write down the readings if thats easier to remember. So it will help let you know how much light you have available and what happens when you move the flash or reduce power from it/them.

The amount of light depends how close or far your flash is from the subject. Fire your 580 2 foot away from a face at full power and you will blow the whole picture out with too much light. Turn it to 1/4 power and I'm guessing you'd have a useable pic. And as you move your other heads or backdrop closer or further from your subject you will also increase or decrease the amount of light on your subject or background.

Jaraviss

Bodwick wrote:

Just to be clear as it's 9am and I'm just off to bed after a shift so risk babbling.

no problem, thanks for your comments, they really are helpful....and you can bet we will take them into consideration as we progress.

fyi its 1:33 am here..and since we purchased the cam...then the lights...we're not getting too much sleep as we are playing with our new toys so much!!!

thanks again!
-G

Sam

Jaraviss,

You have definitely jumped in with both feet, and while you have a long way to go you are producing far better photos than I did in my first week.

I am not even close to being very knowledgeable about lighting, but am trying to learn as well.

First I can recommend the book “Light Science & Magic”

Now about your equipment: The package you have is low powered, and very much a budget package, and I would not recommend adding more and more budget equipment. Learn to use the two lights you have, and if you find photography is something you wish to stay with, try and buy the best equipment you can afford.

To quote a very old saying “you get what you pay for”. That said you can learn a lot with what you have.

As Bodwick said set your ISO to 100, and work in the say f5.6 to f11 range. Your aperture will affect your exposure as well as the DOF, where as the shutter will not (while using strobes) unless you have a lot of ambient light.

A light meter, which I don’t have, will really help you set the lighting up for the shot. But try setting your ISO at 100, aperture to f5.6-f11, and try a shutter speed of 160 to 200. Check your results, and adjust only one thing at a time to see what results you get. You might find that using an inanimate object will be less stress on the girlfriend. J

Try setting up your subject, and just play. Find out what happens when you change things, but remember change only one thing at a time. Varying the strobe power will increase or decrease exposure / shadows. Changing the distance of the strobes from your subject will increase or decrease exposure / shadows. Changing the power, or distance of the strobes individually in relation to the subject increase or decrease exposure / shadows. Try changing the angles of the strobe locations as well. Changing the aperture will affect both the DOF and the exposure. The shutter will not really affect the exposure, but I like to keep it up to minimize any slight movement. Leave the ISO at 100.

Oh, and have fun!

Sam

Ps: I live just down the street from you in San Jose, and can recommend the photography store in Palo Alto, Keeble & Shuchat.

Jaraviss

sam...thank you
thank you very much...for the comments.
we figure we'll be making trips to teh BAY AREA for purcahases (or online) because there really isn't that much out here..
there are 3 shops in sacramento, but this weekend, none of them had what we needed, so we drove out to berkely .

i agree, about learning on this then upgrading.
i'm 99% sure that this is going to be a serious hobby of mine (and the girlfriend is also learning, not just posing) so between the two of us, i can justify a better light rig.

if i get a better light rig, i can just keep these lower quality ones for hair snoots and stuff like that i guess (background lights, etc)??

thanks for the info on the palo alto shop, i actually have a project in Menlo Park and they'll be starting construction in a couple months, so i will probably be down there every other week at the most..or once a month at the least.

oh...and we're tradin in a really low quality light meter for a better one today.

thanks again and wish me luck!!!

-G

photocat

It looks like you jumped in the pool but forgot how to learn how to swim...
If I were you, I would try to get a better knowledge of the camera, as you can't work with lighting and the more difficult stuff if you have no clue about aperture and shutterspeed. I am not saying this in a bad or preaching way, I am just trying to make you see that if you know what you are doing with the camera, you will know better how to work with the lights.
To me it seems a bit a waste of time to just experiment without knowing where to start. If you understand the relationship between aperture, shutterspeed and ISO, you will know more how to work with the lights.
Your pics did not come out bad if this was your first go. Keep playing, it is the only way to learn. (Together with the manual for your camera) ;o)))

Jaraviss

photocat wrote:

It looks like you jumped in the pool but forgot how to learn how to swim...

i agree...hehe
we were just excited to unpack everything and try it out.
the place we've been purchasing from has some upcoming seminars on photography.

im not sure what the infividual costs are, but the young man who set us up with all this equipment gave us "tickets" to get into all of the seminars for free.

imaging 101 and imaging 102 will be first...then a couple of lighting courses.

thanks again and...no worries...know i have a lot to learn.


-G