2 Alienbee 800's, stands, umbrellas, backdrops. Am I out of my mind?

[Village Idiot]

I don't understand soft-boxes. Why would anyone pay hundreds for a softbox when you can make a translucent panel for a handful of change?

A translucent panel that doesn't let light excape and has a sturdy mounting ring made for the strobe you're using, not to mention one that has the ability to attach a grid to for a more controlled light?

Build me a 24"x36" translucent panel that does all this and covers evenly for $129 and that doesn't take several hours worth of work to get all the parts working together correctly and order one from you for $129. It has to be easily collapsible and come with a bag to carry it it. And I need the ability to wash the translucent panel incase it gets dirty while working in some of the locations I know I'm going to be using it in.

 

[Bifurcator]

I think light escaping is not a problem to control in the few situations where it's an actual problem.

They aren't used with a mounting ring.

A grid is cake. I don't even understand why you would mention that.

If it's only 24x36 it's already folded up! That's a tiny tiny size. I'm taking more like 6' x 4' where it's actually effective. And I guess build cost of a 6x4 like that is $30 to $50 and folds up nice.

Washable is not a problem.

Boom and arm swivel mounts are easy if you need to hover it.

 

[Bifurcator]

But $129 is pretty good and that kinda blows my reasoning. The ones I see are $300 to $1,000

 

[bigalbest]

But $129 is pretty good and that kinda blows my reasoning. The ones I see are $300 to $1,000

Ya, some of these prices are insane like this. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...or_12_2090_Para_330FB_Reflector_Umbrella.html

 

[William Petruzzo]

Ya, some of these prices are insane like this. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...or_12_2090_Para_330FB_Reflector_Umbrella.html

Ha. That's all image. Valuable, sure. But 8k, really?

 

[keith204]

Yeah there's no way I'm going build a softbox to save a few bucks. I'll be doing some shooting for the executives of the company I work for, from time to time moving forward. Last thing I want is something that falls apart over their head.

 

[keith204]

Alright, I just realized that I have an extra umbrella, extra stand, extra mounts, a Sunpak 383 Super Auto w/ an *optical* trigger. If I threw this into the mix for some background light, or more fill light/hair light w/ snoot, etc, what complications am I facing here?

 

[keith204]

here you go - first shots

http://thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1378599#post1378599

1.

2.

3.

4.

 

[Bifurcator]

Nice! :thumbup:

 

[Big Mike]

Yes, very nice. The light is nice and soft.
One thing to think about, especially on dark backgrounds, is how the subjects stands out from the background. In the first photo, the top of his head is blending into the background. This is where you would want to use a hair light / kicker and light him from behind/above.

 

[keith204]

Yes, very nice. The light is nice and soft.
One thing to think about, especially on dark backgrounds, is how the subjects stands out from the background. In the first photo, the top of his head is blending into the background. This is where you would want to use a hair light / kicker and light him from behind/above.

yep. *off to buy another alienbee* hehe. Not yet...at least. Maybe I'll use my Sunpak 383 for this.

I do see how more alienbees would be much better...especially for the white backdrop!

Also, read this post and give some advice on pricing: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138212

 

[Big Mike]

yep. *off to buy another alienbee* hehe. Not yet...at least. Maybe I'll use my Sunpak 383 for this.

When I only had one studio light, I did use one or two hot-shoe flashes for additional lighting...but I found the slower recycle time to be extremely annoying, especially when shooting kids....I would wait for the right moment then want to fire a lot of shots as quickly as possible...but the hot-shoe unit could only fire once every couple seconds.

 

[William Petruzzo]

When I only had one studio light, I did use one or two hot-shoe flashes for additional lighting...but I found the slower recycle time to be extremely annoying, especially when shooting kids....I would wait for the right moment then want to fire a lot of shots as quickly as possible...but the hot-shoe unit could only fire once every couple seconds.

Yup. That is a huge pain the butt. If you need a hair light, just grab B400. It does the job superbly.