Scenic Backdrop

bigalbest · Jan 27, 2009

Katier said:
Had another hunt

Renaissance Center Detroit on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Strobist: On Assignment: David X. Tejada, Kicking Butt with Small Flashes

Ah yes, a very nice picture of a train. First, it looks like there was a bit of processing involved here and second this was taken in the early evening when a strobes power can be stretched to the limit. My photos were taken against bright sunlight and processed very little. Again I'm not sure you understand the power involved. His picture was shot at f4 (ISO 800), mine were taken at f18-f22 (always ISO100). Try experimenting with a strobe in bright daylight and you'll see what I mean. To get any effect you will need to have the speedlight bare and fairly close to the subject, whereas with high power flashes modifiers like softboxes can be used at more reasonable distances.

andrew99 · Jan 27, 2009

Yep, that photo looks like it may have some HDR treatment, or maybe it's a composite...definitely not straight out of the camera. Anyway, I did a very quick test last night .. 1 Vivitar 285HV at full power (bare bulb). I could shoot at around f9 - f11, and this is with the flash at close range to the subject (at ISO 200). Bigalbest is shooting at f20 from a further distance, and with an umbrella, and ISO 100. When I get a chance I'll try all 3 of my Vivitars on full power and see how much I can stop down (that should give me an extra 1.5 stops).

JerryPH · Jan 27, 2009

Overpowering the sun with a powerful monolight is very cool, and if your style demands it, there is little you can do but use the "big guns". However, using the big apertures is not always the best solution. We want to also take advantage of a lens' sweet spot, and depending on the lens, that is usually somewhere between F/8 to F/13.

One day, I may need it, but I have yet to hit that need where I need anything more than F/8 or more than the power that multiple speedlights can offer me. When that happens, though, I am really going to hate being tethered to a 110v wall socket somewhere, so I am going to be looking for a single portable 110v solution.

For the time being, since I do not shoot out in the bright sun and all my lighting needs are easily met with multiple battery powered strobes, thats what I am going to stick with for a little while more. I was thinking of going to two moderately powered monolights (something around 400-800 W/s each), but that just may change to one single 1000-1500 W/s light source.

Lots to think about.

Katier · Jan 27, 2009

don't get me wrong, if flashes were good enough for everything no-one would buy a studio type light.

The point I was making was that flashes are capable of doing some very good work well beyond what people probably imagine.

I agree there looks to be some post processing although I don't think it's HDR'd. The forground is well lit because of the flash guns rather than a HDR effect.

bigalbest · Jan 27, 2009

JerryPH said:
Overpowering the sun with a powerful monolight is very cool, and if your style demands it, there is little you can do but use the "big guns". However, using the big apertures is not always the best solution. We want to also take advantage of a lens' sweet spot, and depending on the lens, that is usually somewhere between F/8 to F/13.

One day, I may need it, but I have yet to hit that need where I need anything more than F/8 or more than the power that multiple speedlights can offer me. When that happens, though, I am really going to hate being tethered to a 110v wall socket somewhere, so I am going to be looking for a single portable 110v solution.

For the time being, since I do not shoot out in the bright sun and all my lighting needs are easily met with multiple battery powered strobes, thats what I am going to stick with for a little while more. I was thinking of going to two moderately powered monolights (something around 400-800 W/s each), but that just may change to one single 1000-1500 W/s light source.

Lots to think about.

It all depends what you're doing, and I'll agree that I don't always need gobs of power. When I can get away with using a speedlight then that's probably what I'll use. Think about this though: a customer calls and wants you to do a shoot at 1pm on a bright summer day in an open shadeless location. What do you do? If you're me you select the proper tool for the job and take some fantastic pictures in difficult conditions. We as photographers can't always have ideal conditions and need to adapt quickly to different lighting situations. You can always turn a powerful light down, but an underpowered light can never go up.