Confused about custom white balance

[Quovadis]

WHITE Balance is now perfect.
Now please give me your input as to how you guys would see direct reflections or not with your modeling lights?

This is where experience comes in. Remember that light moves like water, and angle of incidence = angle of reflection, so: when you position your light, first know in your mind what you want to illuminate, then imagine that the bulb is the open end of a garden hose, and visualize a spray of water coming out of the hose and hitting the purse and bouncing off at an angle equal to that where it hit. If that bounce doesn't hit the camera lens (allowing for beam spread) then you won't have a reflection. Remember also to bring your lights in nice and close; 2-3' is where I'd be, at most.

FWIW, that bag shot is pretty damn good. The only issue I see is that the face of the bag is about 2/3 - 1 stop under-exposed with respect to your background, so either reduce your background lights by 2/3 - 1 stop and open your aperture, or increase your foreground lights.

And before you ask, to figure out what 2/3 or 1 stop is, just increase or decrease exposure slowly and do test shots. Should take all of about 1 minute to figure out.

WOW, you certainly explain things in an easy to understand way. You have no idea how much this is appreciated, it makes all the difference in the world. I had backed my strobes to about 5 ~6 feet away. I thought it was only with cfl's you had to be really close? As for that first shot being quite good it's because I got lucky, actually I followed your advice from the other day.
I will now make corrections. By the way that bag was shot at s/60 only, at F11 ISO 100 @55mm

 

[Quovadis]

yeah, but until i get that experience, i need to see reflections in real time. My question again is? Do expensive strobes have strong modeling lights where you are able to see reflections in real time? Or are all modeling lights fairly weak, and just used to demonstrate where the light falls on the subject?
Are you able to focus on a subject using expensive strobes and modeling lights? Is there enough light? does the modeling light have enough light for you to focus on the subject using the view finder?

 

[table1349]

Well mine have 250 watt modeling lights in each head that are dime-able.

 

[Quovadis]

Well mine have 250 watt modeling lights in each head that are dime-able.

so you can see everything in real time. Just what I thought. do your modeling lights get hot? What brand are your strobes?
Guess I bought crappy strobes, with even crappier modeling lights.

 

[tirediron]

Well mine have 250 watt modeling lights in each head that are dime-able.

That's a good point, many strobes dim the modelling light proportionally with the strength of the strobe, so it's possible that if you turn your strobes up to full power you may get brighter modelling lights (just remember to turn them down before shooting), but that's not always the case. Again, with a little experience, you will "see" the scene without having a single light on. I only rarely use the modelling lights in my strobes, in fact, IIRC only 2-3 of my heads even have the modelling bulbs installed at the moment.

 

[table1349]

Mine are an older version that I picked up used from a photographer that retired. This would be the modern equivalent. Norman D12R Pack, 4- IL2500 Head/Reflector Kit 812971 B&H Photo

 

[astroNikon]

his are Neewer 300w strobes. Graphon's modeling lights are probably brighter than his strobes. I think my Speedlights are 2x than his strobes.

Mine are an older version that I picked up used from a photographer that retired. This would be the modern equivalent. Norman D12R Pack, 4- IL2500 Head/Reflector Kit 812971 B&H Photo

ouch. Those are a tad expensive. Know anyone else retiring with your strobes?

 

[Quovadis]

Well mine have 250 watt modeling lights in each head that are dime-able.

That's a good point, many strobes dim the modelling light proportionally with the strength of the strobe, so it's possible that if you turn your strobes up to full power you may get brighter modelling lights (just remember to turn them down before shooting), but that's not always the case. Again, with a little experience, you will "see" the scene without having a single light on. I only rarely use the modelling lights in my strobes, in fact, IIRC only 2-3 of my heads even have the modelling bulbs installed at the moment.

I understand what you say, but I have not reached the stage of being able to see invisible reflections yet, neither am I skilled enough to interpret their pathways. So i have no choice but to see them to avoid the angles.
I bet you are going to say that you wear a blindfold next...

 

[Quovadis]

Mine are an older version that I picked up used from a photographer that retired. This would be the modern equivalent. Norman D12R Pack, 4- IL2500 Head/Reflector Kit 812971 B&H Photo

Hey...if you die soon, I can buy them off you!! How is your health nowadays? LOL!!

 

[tirediron]

I understand what you say, but I have not reached the stage of being able to see invisible reflections yet, neither am I skilled enough to interpret their pathways. So i have no choice but to see them to avoid the angles.

I bet you are going to say that you wear a blindfold next...

How did you guess? Feel the light grasshopper, feel the light!



Take a day, I mean a full day, and do nothing but practice. Spend ALL day at it. Set up the lights, shoot the scene, review it on the computer (NOT just the camera's rear LCD), note the issues, adjust as you think appropriate, re-shoot... wash, rinse repeat. By the time you've shot 5-600 frames, you'll start to get the hang of. By supper time, it should start to make sense. You have to understand, that there are no short cuts in this (for some things).

 

[tirediron]

Mine are an older version that I picked up used from a photographer that retired. This would be the modern equivalent. Norman D12R Pack, 4- IL2500 Head/Reflector Kit 812971 B&H Photo

Hey...if you die soon, I can buy them off you!! How is your health nowadays? LOL!!

Haven't you read his posts? He's so sour he's pickled. He'll be around forever.

 

[Quovadis]

Guys, all jokes aside...my cfl mounts are too large to set near the strobes, is there anyway of retrofitting a strobe with a strong modeling light?
I can't be in two places at once to hold a flashlight

 

[tirediron]

his are Neewer 300w strobes. Graphon's modeling lights are probably brighter than his strobes. I think my Speedlights are 2x than his strobes.

Mine are an older version that I picked up used from a photographer that retired. This would be the modern equivalent. Norman D12R Pack, 4- IL2500 Head/Reflector Kit 812971 B&H Photo

ouch. Those are a tad expensive. Know anyone else retiring with your strobes?

300w/s is MORE than enough light for a job like this and plenty bright.

 

[tirediron]

Guys, all jokes aside...my cfl mounts are too large to set near the strobes, is there anyway of retrofitting a strobe with a strong modeling light?
I can't be in two places at once to hold a flashlight

Not safely, no. Probably not even unsafely. What you can do is get a very strong LED flashlight, they're cheap & cheerful and use that to simulate the modeling light.

 

[table1349]

Mine are an older version that I picked up used from a photographer that retired. This would be the modern equivalent. Norman D12R Pack, 4- IL2500 Head/Reflector Kit 812971 B&H Photo

Hey...if you die soon, I can buy them off you!! How is your health nowadays? LOL!!

Sorry but my Dr. is pissed because I am in such good health. All my numbers, my lab work is good. Sorry, you will have to look somewhere else.