models

[Big Mike]

why strobes not steady light?

This should probably be asked in a new thread...well actually, it's been asked plenty of times before...on this site and all over the photo-internet.
The short answer: strobes/flash is better.

 

[silver163]

- They are much weaker
- The quality of light is much poorer
- WB is not consistent from blub to blub, often even when they say they are the same K.
- Not portable

Kinda hard to get the extension cord to go that 1500 feet into the woods to that field or out on that bridge to get a shot... or in that back alley at 2:00AM.

and you don't need electricity to power monolights?

everything i have which is one single lamp (with a specialized bulb) and an umbrella from alien bees which i built myself cannot make something that flashes plus its hard to know the outcome.

 

[silver163]

This should probably be asked in a new thread...well actually, it's been asked plenty of times before...on this site and all over the photo-internet.
The short answer: strobes/flash is better.

how so? you cannot see how it is going to be prior plus it gives out a huge burst of light making for very stark or very strong light.

 

[Village Idiot]

As can photographers too, but the point is all in how and where you find these people. I swear, I have *NO* issues finding models thanks to a couple of local photography forums and mostly from the Montreal Strobist group.

Example, this Saturday, I am again going to an event where there will be about 20-25 photographers, 30+ models and since we opened the door to the idea, about 10-15 make-up artists.

The goal? Have fun and TFP/TFS. Most are amateurs, some are professionals but ALL are there for the pleasure of the exchange and the experience.

I read a lot about what happens at MM and often you seem to have more bad results than good. Too many "no shows" for my taste and a little too much arrogance from both sides.

Maybe I am fortunate in my area, but finding someone to stand in front of my camera is a complete non-issue. I think it all comes down to a little organizing and having a LOT of fun.

I have connections too, but it can be hit or miss. Some Strobist meetups we've had pretty much every single model that said they were going to show, show. Some meetups we had one out of fourteen that were supposed to show end up coming. That one sucked because we had a minor league baseball team let us use their stadium for several hours.

We even started planning a month in advance and contacting people then.

 

[Village Idiot]

how so? you cannot see how it is going to be prior plus it gives out a huge burst of light making for very stark or very strong light.

First off, where are you located? I'll even look to see if there's a local strobist group around you. If not, I'll start one.

We have one for the DC/Baltimore/NoVa region that has over 350 members and we always welcome new comers.

Second point. Learn what you're doing and practice on a friend before you go hunting on MM. I usually pick out the people with the crappiest profile pictures to contact because I know I can do better than that.

Anyways, there's so much to lighting that your question could take paragraphs to answer, so I'll let Mr. Hobby do it himself.

Strobist: Lighting 101

Just remember this, that post is from March 2006. Strobist has blown up. There's a photo mag in the UK that did a story on Strobist recently. The equipment in the tutorials used to be some of the only stuff to use. With the popularity, more companies have created triggering devices and cheaper ways of doing things. You can get stuff for a lot cheaper now.

You'll see in the tutorial that there are ways of modifying light to get any look you want from it.

when you're done, check out the Flickr Strobist Discussion Group and the photo pool just to see some of the things you're capable of when using strobes.

 

[silver163]

unfortunately i cannot afford a strobe, im a student and im broke as possible.

 

[silver163]

to me strobes are just big bright flashes that you would see on the camera. in past results flash produced harsh lighting for me strobes seem to do the same.

 

[Village Idiot]

unfortunately i cannot afford a strobe, im a student and im broke as possible.

You can find Vivitar 283's on Ebay for about $35.

to me strobes are just big bright flashes that you would see on the camera. in past results flash produced harsh lighting for me strobes seem to do the same.

Did you put anything in front of the strobe to diffuse the light?

Seriously, read the strobist link. Stop trying to say that (by the way strobe = flash, flash = strobe) that strobes don't work. They do. You don't know what you're doing yet so that's probably why you're getting results like that.

This was shot with a White Lightning monolight with an octabox:


This was shot with one Canon speed light on a stand with an umbrella:


What's harsh about this lighting?

 

[silver163]

how exactly do i power them if they apparently dont need electricity? i doubt my camera's batteries will be able to handle them.

also is there instructions on how i can build my own?

 

[JerryPH]

how do you manage to take photos in a club? i tried that but flash is too hot and creates really poor quality photos and the lighting sucks.

You misunderstood... I meant "our club" as in our Stobist group, our photography club... not a bar or something.

However, that said, taking a picture in low light scenarios takes cameras that are clean at high ISO and having fast glass (both, which I am so happy to say, that I have). I've seen many a nice club shot with a strobe, but the power of the strobe was so low, that it was maybe a stop or 2 above ambient and used as filler more than as the main light.

Concerning harshness... direct on camera flash is very limiting. Getting the flash off camera is the first step any photographer should do when learning about lighting.

Even a snooted bare speedlight can be easily made to be "not harsh":

 

[Village Idiot]

how exactly do i power them if they apparently dont need electricity? i doubt my camera's batteries will be able to handle them.

also is there instructions on how i can build my own?

Because they use AA batteries.

Read the damn link:
Strobist: Lighting 101

 

[silver163]

i got a pentax k100d, it is not very fast at least to my knowledge. it really gets noisy at high iso

 

[Sw1tchFX]

im a student.

There you go, you just solved your model problem!

Seriously, just stroll up to the hottest girl in the school, get to know her a little bit (this really isn't hard as long as you're not clingy) and then ask if it'd be cool if she'd model for your portfoli. Tell her what you want to do, what you want to become (which you would do anyway when you get to know her), tell her that she's gorgeous and that you think she'd be a perfect representation of what you want your portfolio to be. If you do a good enough job, she'll be asking you to take pictures for her, free of charge just so she could have some awesome shots of her for myspace.

 

[silver163]

There you go, you just solved your model problem!

Seriously, just stroll up to the hottest girl in the school, get to know her a little bit (this really isn't hard as long as you're not clingy) and then ask if it'd be cool if she'd model for your portfoli. Tell her what you want to do, what you want to become (which you would do anyway when you get to know her), tell her that she's gorgeous and that you think she'd be a perfect representation of what you want your portfolio to be. If you do a good enough job, she'll be asking you to take pictures for her, free of charge just so she could have some awesome shots of her for myspace.

yeah here are two issues:

1. I am rather ugly according to about 100% of girls. So they refuse to speak with me. Even my notetaker refuses to talk to me.
2. Girls here are also very shallow and very stupid.

 

[Village Idiot]

yeah here are two issues:

1. I am rather ugly according to about 100% of girls. So they refuse to speak with me. Even my notetaker refuses to talk to me.
2. Girls here are also very shallow and very stupid.

1. You're not asking them out on a date.
2. Perfect. They'll want to have pictures on themselves.

Seriously though:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html
www.lighting-essentials.com - Read the model behaviour part too.
www.zarias.com

Very good reads. If you would have read the first one, all your questions would have been answered.