Ok, change of plans

[Emerana]

I was talking to the person who I am going to shoot headshots for today and another friend offered up her home stuido. WOW!! You have a studio? But she insists I am still better then her.

They have 1 light on a stand with a soft box. I am bringing my reflector and they have a stand for it. And they have backdrops. I was thinking I would still set up as if the light with soft box is the window. Is there anyother way to set it up? I have never even thought of using a studio and it is scaring me cause I know it can go bad very quickly.

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

[Village Idiot]

I'm assuming it's triggered optically? If you could get a pc to hotshoe cable for your 430, you could use the softbox for the main light, the reflector for some fill and the 430 with a snoot on it above and behind the person for a nice hair/rim light.

It would get you something similar to this:


The hair light on the side accentuates and imitates sun catching it. My snoot was a little short though.

[Emerana]

I have no idea what you just said...ok...I dont think there is anyway I can pull off a studio shot...but they surely have windows and I can go back to my element of natural light

[Village Idiot]

Quote: Originally Posted by Village Idiot

I'm assuming it's triggered optically? If you could get a pc to hotshoe cable for your 430, you could use the softbox for the main light, the reflector for some fill and the 430 with a snoot on it above and behind the person for a nice hair/rim light.


The hair light on the side accentuates and imitates sun catching it. My snoot was a little short though.

Quote: Originally Posted by Emerana

I have no idea what you just said...ok...I dont think there is anyway I can pull off a studio shot...but they surely have windows and I can go back to my element of natural light

The strobe that they have has to be triggered and it doesn't fit on you hotshoe like a typical Canon speed light. Most have optical triggers which fire the flash when another flash is fired, be it the on camera flash or another flash in the studio.

You can also use your 430EX off camera with a cable. It has a PC sync connecter at one end that attached to your camera and a hotshoe on the other end for the flash to sit in. You can also buy a cheap optical slave that would let it fire like the main light by just using your on camera flash (don't worry, it'll get over powered)

A snoot is a device that focuses the light....like a tunnel you put on the end of your 430EX so the light comes out in one small area and not a large burst. You can make one out of a serial box. I prefer captain crunch.

You would place the snooted light above the subject and behind to catch her hair and pretty much nothing else. This is called a hair light.

You really don't even need the hairlight, just the main light with the soft box and a reflector, the hairlight just adds another bit of dimension to the photo.

All you have to do is get stuff setup and play with the power ratios of the lights. Intimidating at first, but you really can't mess anything up and you may be surprised with your results.

If you do this, keep in mind to use manual mode. You'll want to shoot at either 1/200 or 1/250 depending on the max sync speed of the camera and lights, keep your ISO at 100, and control the exposure by just adjusting your aperture.