The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

OK, enough with the equipment, lets see some lighting!

irakly

New member
here is a lil' example of a simple fact that it is not how many lights and what kind of bells and whistles, but how and where you place them :)

two flash setup. regular reflector with a 20-degree grid and a 90x90cm softbox with no internal baffle.
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Yummy light.
basic combo is great. A directional source for modeling and some fill to control contrast.
love it
-bob
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Well, there is some, either ambient or just light bouncing around that fills in the shadows a bit, isn't there? I would have expected deeper shadows from a gridded reflector with out some fill.
-bob
 
Last edited:

irakly

New member
of course there is some ambiance, as it would be impossible to light a room this large with just two 600J flashes. using a grid for a fill light, however, is not a good idea. the best fill light is either diffused, or very soft.
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
I fixed my sentence. No, I did not mean gridded fill LOL.
It looks to me is that roughly two sops from main to shadowed portion of the face?
 

irakly

New member
oh, that's what you mean? shadow depth depends less upon a light modifier than on a distance from a light source to a lit surface.
 

pfigen

Member
Okay - here's some lighting - of lighting...First is the final shot and the two other images show the lighting setup.
 
G

GRINSmery

Guest
OK enough with the equipment lets see some lighting

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try to buy that book.

I went to the Smith-Victor website and was kind of overwhelmed with all of the choices. What is some basic equipment I should start out with?


Ben
 

jlm

Workshop Member
cord mayhem, eh?

almost my favorite palindrome: "mayhem, eh, yam?" the sweet potato said to the yam
 

Jeremy

New member


I've never been able to use strobes for very long as they cause me ridiculous headaches. But my friend Jason came over and helped me put together a fluorescent cold light and we snapped a few shots. This was my favorite of the bunch.

Nikon D80 w/ 50mm f/1.4D (purchased from Marc Williams here!) and one 18x22 softbox.
 

lowep

Member
wow! a thread that I can learn from about something apart from shopping and science fiction. :thumbup:
 

fotografz

Well-known member
wow! a thread that I can learn from about something apart from shopping and science fiction. :thumbup:
Thanks for reviving this thread! It really is a fun learning resource. Not all of us rely on Mother Nature for light ... especially in winter :ROTFL:

I wish it would become a sticky so as to not get lost in the shuffle ... and that people who post images attach them to their post, so they don't get lost when they remove the shots from a sourced site or gallery :mad:

To continue ...

Like Ben, who started this thread, I also photograph weddings. They often present some very challenging lighting issues. While I am primarily a candid photojournalist type wedding shooter and use a Leica M and 35mm DSLR for most of that type work, it is often necessary to do more posed or directed shots. Rather than kiss them off as not being my "style", I decided to make more use of "studio" lighting techniques rather than the more ubiquitous on-camera speed-light. The real challenge is being able to do it quickly, and being highly flexible and mobile.

To solve this I use one battery strobe light on a light-stick with either a shoot-through umbrella, or a beauty dish for key directional light, and a diffused speed-light on-camera for fill ... usually set to TTL. The images below demonstrate a couple of different challenges ...

The subjects with couch wanted to move around the place where they held the reception, which was dimly lit ... requiring mobility and some decent level of lighting power. The shot of the Bride reclining was done to overpower the ambient completely because it was florescent, and there was all kinds of activity behind the couch. I used a higher shutter speed to further kill off the ambient. The key light was camera right almost parallel to her, up high and feathered across her full length, and the on-camera fill took care of the directional shadows.

The one of the same couple under the chandelier was basically lit the same way ...except the key light was further away, and a little more angled ... plus I dragged the shutter to hold some background ambient.

The Summer Bride shots show two different challenges. The one in front of the fireplace was in a claustrophobic room ... so we bounced the strobe off the left wall and used the speed-light rotated more camera right to feather the fill, and maintain the directional feel of the key.

The outdoor shot represents every wedding shooter's nightmare, short time frame, harsh sunlight (we often cannot pick the time of day), and no large areas of shade to be found anywhere ... the best we could find in the time allowed was dappled ambient light that turns the subject into a Dalmatian or Leopard :( This was solved by overpowering the ambient with 400 w/s and a beauty dish, plus full power from the speed-light. In reality, 800 or 1000 w/s would have been better.

It may be studio type lighting ... but it sure isn't a studio time frame where you can fuss with the lighting ... maybe 5 or 10 minutes per location/set-up. Ya gotta think really fast.

-Marc
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
I've also been using an 'off camera key and on camera fill' setup a lot, for a couple of years now, it's nice lighting and very easy to use at a wedding. My key is a dual speedlight setup shooting into a brolly. I use Wireless TTL so I also have the advantage of being able to shoot with literally zero setup/trial shots and a large choice of ratios selectable from the camera. TTL isn't for everyone though of course, some swear by manual, I swear by TTL, the best of course, as always, is the one which works for you!
 

fotografz

Well-known member
I've also been using an 'off camera key and on camera fill' setup a lot, for a couple of years now, it's nice lighting and very easy to use at a wedding. My key is a dual speed-light setup shooting into a brolly. I use Wireless TTL so I also have the advantage of being able to shoot with literally zero setup/trial shots and a large choice of ratios selectable from the camera. TTL isn't for everyone though of course, some swear by manual, I swear by TTL, the best of course, as always, is the one which works for you!
Actually, that's why I opted for the Quadra set-up ... I can adjust the lights from the camera ... up to 400 w/s for outdoor balance on bright days ... and the heads are left on the stands because they're so small (smaller than a speed-light), so set-up tear down is very fast. Just plug them into the box and shoot. I already know the setting to achieve f/5.6 and f/8 for groups. The other key thing for abandoning dual TTL speed-lights (I once used Canon and then Sony) is the lack of modifiers and reflectors. I wouldn't be without a big Beauty dish and large grid ever again. The straw that broke the camel's back was a session where the battery driven speed-lights shut down to protect themselves ... again. With the strobes, I can shoot at the same output of a speed-light as fast as the camera buffer will allow. Not really all that needed for weddings, but really helps when shooting portraits, kids and pets.

So, part of this is because weddings suck anymore ... to much work (I'm getting to old for this anyway), to much cheap competition, to much selling and squeezing every thin dime out of clients, and even when you up your game only a few give a darn. I'm moving to more portrait work, studio with the Profotos, environmental and location using MFD. So, the Quadra helps there ... I even got a second box and another head so I can pop off 800w/s when needed ... and control the ratio via groups right from the camera. The two Quadras fit in a small shoulder bag.

It's a whole other world, especially when they come to the studio. Spend a leisurely day sketching out ideas, set up for those ideas, and they come to me ... shoot to the computer, pick the shots with the client, take the print order while they are all enthralled, and you are done.


But, as you say Ben, to each is or her own.

Marc
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Luckily the canon units don't have the auto shutdown of the sb-900 which has my mentor and friend tearing his hair out (he's a PJ). I'm using 35mm cameras so I need far less aperture and hence less light, my dual speedlights in a brolly are more than enough which is useful.
 
Top