Elinchrom D-Lite 4 IT Studio 2 Go kit with 60d what to do?

[smurf4t]

I recently bought Elinchrom D-Lite 4 IT Studio 2 Go kit , very nice kit! I've played around with intensely but I'm a bit stuck on a project and not the worlds most knowledgable on photography yet. I want to take some images of my children set against a white back ground using my lights and my 60d canon with a 24-105mm canon L series lens. What light settings would you suggest , taking into consideration these little kiddy winks are between 2-5 years of age and don't sit still much and probably won't pose for me! Any advice on light and camera settings would be appreciated. Also the kids tend to move really fast!

 

[Village Idiot]

I've moved the blog –> zackarias.com/blog » White Seamless Tutorial :: Part 1 :: Gear & Space

 

[tirediron]

Duct-tape and coat-hangers will take care of the posing issues.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Posing: surely they'll cooperate better than some of the models we shoot. If not, have your hair and make-up artist whoop their *ss

 

[Big Mike]

On that blog that Keith posted, you should see that the key to shooting a truly white backdrop, is to light the backdrop separately. You'll likely want two lights on the backdrop, which should leave you with two lights for your subjects.

And if you haven't figured it out yet, you need to have the camera in manual (M) mode when shooting with studio strobes. If you don't have a flash meter, you'll likely have to use a bit of trial and error to get your camera and strobe settings just right.

 

[Village Idiot]

On that blog that Keith posted, you should see that the key to shooting a truly white backdrop, is to light the backdrop separately. You'll likely want two lights on the backdrop, which should leave you with two lights for your subjects.

And if you haven't figured it out yet, you need to have the camera in manual (M) mode when shooting with studio strobes. If you don't have a flash meter, you'll likely have to use a bit of trial and error to get your camera and strobe settings just right.

Way to go with the helpful links Kieth!

 

[smurf4t]

Duct-tape and coat-hangers will take care of the posing issues.

Tried that! They chew through it!!😳

 

[smurf4t]

On that blog that Keith posted, you should see that the key to shooting a truly white backdrop, is to light the backdrop separately. You'll likely want two lights on the backdrop, which should leave you with two lights for your subjects.

And if you haven't figured it out yet, you need to have the camera in manual (M) mode when shooting with studio strobes. If you don't have a flash meter, you'll likely have to use a bit of trial and error to get your camera and strobe settings just right.

Thanks guys. I only have 3 lights. However I have a canon speedlite. Should I put that on the camera or use that on the floor as my second back ground light. Or should I put both big lights on the background and one on the model and the speedlite on the camera?

 

[smurf4t]

I've moved the blog –> zackarias.com/blog » White Seamless Tutorial :: Part 1 :: Gear & Space

Awesome!!! Like the space bit!

 

[Village Idiot]

I've moved the blog –> zackarias.com/blog » White Seamless Tutorial :: Part 1 :: Gear & Space

Awesome!!! Like the space bit!

There's three parts to that article. As far as the speed light, I'd use that on the subject. Depending on how far away the background lights have to be to the background, they may have to be turned up more than the main lights and if you're creating contrast with lighting, you don't want your two main lights being the same strength and distance. Plus, if you're just using one of the two main lights as a kicker or hairlight, etc... it will be bare and unmodified, which increase it's efficiency vs. a light with a modifier over it.

 

[smurf4t]

There's three parts to that article. As far as the speed light, I'd use that on the subject. Depending on how far away the background lights have to be to the background, they may have to be turned up more than the main lights and if you're creating contrast with lighting, you don't want your two main lights being the same strength and distance. Plus, if you're just using one of the two main lights as a kicker or hairlight, etc... it will be bare and unmodified, which increase it's efficiency vs. a light with a modifier over it.

Ok... I'm a bit slow on the up take still. So I want to make sure I get this right. My 2 same strength lights on the back ground , speedlite on the camera ? (speedlite pointing straight on or up?)(should I put a diffuser on the speedlite - if so will white do or should I change the colour?) the 3rd light should that be up or just to one side Of the model? also should I have all of them on flash or just on as light? And how much light ? Full strength ?

Kids tend not to sit still so hence I'm thinking as much light as possible ? Also on my 60d I was thinking of setting it on AV or should I keep it on P?

Thank you do much, sorry for all the questions just do keen to do it right in limited time frames.

 

[Village Idiot]

Speeedlights on camera would work as fill and you shouldn't need a diffuser.

Usually you want a modifier to soften the light when shooting kids for your main. Power depends on distances and camera settings.

You want full manual. Having the camera automatically expose with off camera non TTL controlled lights will cause the cameras settings to expose for ambient which could vary every shot causing the exposure from the lights to be off. You really need to go read up on the basics of using flashes in photography. Essentially, you're getting two exposures. You're getting ambient and you're getting the exposure from the flash. In most studio shots the photographer over powers the ambient by camera settings or by turning the lights down so that the ambient light doesn't affect the exposure from the flashes. ISO, aperture, and shutter speed will change the exposure of the ambient. The flash exposure is controlled by ISO, aperture, and the flash power. Short of going over your camera's x sync and totally cutting the flash exposure out, shutter speed has nothing to do with changing the exposure of flash. This can benefit when mixing ambient and flash, like when shooting outside. You could darken the typical exposure from the sun(ambient) and expose currently with a flash to get more contrast and a more dramatic photo.

Another big thing is that the distance of the light to the subject matters for the exposure of the subject. I think a bit of the inverse square law is described in Zach's blog. If not on the pages I linked, it's stated elsewhere. It states that an object that is twice the distance from a point source of light will receive a quarter of the illumination. This has to deal with fall off and effectively illuminating subjects with one light.

Those are basics of flash photography that every photo using a flash is based off of. If you can't manually set your camera and mage adjustments to it's settings and the settings of the lighting, then you're going to wind up super frustrated.