3 light set up

[jamiebonline]

Hi all,

I have posted here a few times now and always appreciate the great feedback. Always helped me

So here is my situation. Firstly I am working on a real budget. I have a yongnuo speedlite with softbox, a cheap strobe light and I need a third light.

Actually last weekend I did an indoor shoot using the speedlight as the key light and the strobe as a kind of kicker. I think it worked OK but the lack of a second light, a fill light of some sort, is an issue. It would give me more flexibility.

My idea is to buy another yongnuo speedlite and mount it on the hotshoe of the camera. Now it means I don't have a diffuser for the light (unless I buy a little cheap 'on camera' one) and it is stuck in one position, but it could give me what I need (?)

My question is very basic, and this applies to all flashes with remote triggers I guess, can I put the new speedlite on top of the remote trigger on my camera hotshoe and when I take a shot, both flashes will fire in synch? The one on the camera and the remote one? This is quite easy to set up, no?

Alternatively, if I find it is too limited and get another softbox, lightstand to have the flash remotely, I only need one remote trigger, yes? So 3 triggers in total and I assume the set up is not too complicated...

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions

J

 

[JustJazzie]

I'm personally not a huge fan of the third light being on top the camera. You will get more light, but it will rob you of some "dimension" since it will still produce that "flat" lighting that comes with on camera flash. On a budget, I highly recommend you consider a reflector with a stand. You will get nice diffused light that's bounced off your key light. They run about $30, and the come in handy for other outdoor shots as well.

 

[Designer]

I think there are four ways to fire a flash.

In the hotshoe.
With a cable (depends on the distance).
Radio remote.
Slave function.

If your various flashes will function as "slaves", then you can use either the built-in flash or one in the hotshoe to fire the remote flashes.

If you have a cable that is long enough to reach a remote, you can fire with a cable.

If you wish to use RF, place the first radio remote in the hotshoe (or connect with a cable), fire one with a second radio unit, and set the other flashes to fire in slave mode.

 

[Braineack]

How are you triggering the two flashes currently?

 

[amolitor]

Light from the camera itself is almost never what you want. You could get a bracket to lift it up or move it to the side.

You should definitely get some sort of unified systems for setting off your lights, though. Cables, radios, optical slaves, whatever. You want a sensible and coherent system for setting off all your lights at once, regardless of how they are placed.

Beware of optical slaves and the E-TTL pre-flash setting them off prematurely. I use cables, mostly, but I'm a weirdo. Radio slaves seem to be the modern standard.

 

[kundalini]

Slightly confused with your terminology on the "speedlite with softbox, a cheap strobe light". Is this an AC powered monolight and how are you triggering it currently.

As Designer mentioned, with the optical slave option of your lights, you can trigger all with the built-in flash. Line-of-sight triggering does not necessarily mean straight line placement of the lights. All they need is to recognize the pulse.

 

[jamiebonline]

Slightly confused with your terminology on the "speedlite with softbox, a cheap strobe light". Is this an AC powered monolight and how are you triggering it currently.
]


Yes, it is an AC powered monolight and it is triggering without a cable when it detects a flash has been fired. So far so good with this. It is maybe crude but it is behind the subject and functions mainly to blow out the background. i have a white wall but space issues and shadow issues.

So if I use the built-in flash, what happens to the yongnuo remote triggers I already have? I find this confusing It seems you are telling me, I don't need to buy another remote trigger transceiver at all. That in slave mode on the camera I can control two remote speedlites....

 

[Designer]

So if I use the built-in flash, what happens to the yongnuo remote triggers I already have? I find this confusing It seems you are telling me, I don't need to buy another remote trigger transceiver at all. That in slave mode on the camera I can control two remote speedlites....

As usual, there are several things to consider.

Using the built-in flash to partially illuminate the subject gives completely different light than if all light was coming from some place other than directly in line with the lens. This is why most photographers simply don't use the built-in flash, and the pro cameras don't even include it.

The radio remote triggers that you have will need to be triggered somehow, and most often there is one attached to the camera to fire the others. Depending on what all equipment you have and how you want to fire the flashes, you can choose to not use the built-in flash at all, and fire one speedlight with the RF triggers, and slave the others. Just turn off any TTL function so there will not be any pre-flashes.

If you have enough radios, just put one on each flash separately.

Furthermore, only the higher end "pro-sumer" grade of cameras have a built-in flash with TTL capability, so they can be used as a TTL "commander". Your monolight cannot be used in TTL due to the pre-flashes.

You'll want to keep everything in manual with so many different types of flash. Manual works with radios, cables, and optically, but then there is the extra light coming from the built-in flash.

Try decreasing the power level of the BI flash until it does not affect the photograph very much but will still fire the slaves.

 

[jamiebonline]

"Depending on what all equipment you have and how you want to fire the flashes, you can choose to not use the built-in flash at all, and fire one speedlight with the RF triggers, and slave the others. Just turn off any TTL function so there will not be any pre-flashes."


yes, this is what I am thinking should work. I don't want to use the BI flash... I fire one speedlight with the triggers and the other speedlight, that I need to buy, can be triggered in slave mode. I suppose slave mode is an easy function to operate.