flash and shutter speed override ?

[tirediron]

I have watched quite a few constant light vs strobe videos and or websites that talked about it. constant lightning kind of seems like the way to go from what I have seen. looks like allot of photographers are going back to constant lighting these days and most of them say they are allot easier to work with. allot of them seemed to think it also gave you a more natural look over strobes or speed lights and when looking at the photos they had up for comparison I actually think I liked the way most of the constant lighting photos looked.

you can definitely do more with strobes or speed lights though but if your just looking at getting nice standard shots constant is looking pretty good. of course I have no clue what I am doing and so far its seems like a huge pain using these things, well at least if you want a all black background when you really have a white background to work with.

Rubbish! Light is light. The light coming from a 1200 w/s strobe is NO different (other than colour temperature) that from a 60 watt incandescent bulb. The reason that people see a difference and that they decry the use of strobed light is because strobes (even small speedlights) are many orders of magnitude more powerful than almost any constant light source, and therefore when not controlled properly, specular highlights are much more apparent.

Strobed light does indeed have a slightly steeper initial learning curve, but once you get over that hump, you have vastly more flexibility. As for consistancy, it's not a problem. Setting up the same light, the same distance from the subject at the same output will yeild the same results. I could offer you images shot in many locations which all have a consistant look and feel.

I strongly recommned working more on learning about the use of strobed light. It may seem challenging at first, but one of the things I do regularily is teach lighting workshops, where I take people who know virtually nothing about flash and teach them how to produce nice, off-camera portraits in less than four hours. It will take a little practice, but stick with it, it's worth it!

 

[dannylightning]

Well I am not sure my mom would appreciate if I came over and rearranged her stuff

 

[tirediron]

Well I am not sure my mom would appreciate if I came over and rearranged her stuff

Don't ask, just do! Always easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission!

 

[dannylightning]

there is a big heavy table with her pet birds in their cages on it.

Ill play with this speed light for a while and see how it goes, its seems fine for general shooting, Ill read about hat stuff in the morning and hopefully that will help me figure it out a little better.

I mean I got the background pretty black but it looks like some people can get it as black as black can be yet have a nicely exposed subject. that is basically what I am wanting to achieve here

 

[dannylightning]

Ok I read up on that inverse square law, I kind of already knew that. basically the way i take it is keep the lights and the subject away from the background as much as you can if you do not want a illuminated background. that is why I had the flash roughly in the center of the room and as far away from ever wall as I could get.

maybe I was expecting too much wen trying to get a completely black background when indoors with all white walls and ceiling.

 

[wfooshee]

Flash close to subject is more important than flash being far from wall. Maximize the difference to minimize the background light. And distance to a wall behind the flash is mostly irrelevant. The wall doesn't because a reflector, because no light from the flash is going that way, except for being reflected off of your subject.

Raising the flash and aiming down might help, but not to the point of putting the eyes in shadow.

 

[dannylightning]

I was thinking that having the flash higher might help but all I have is a couple of old tripods that don't go very high. I need to get some stands and a descent backdrop one of these days, I would imagine with a black backdrop it would be much easier.

 

[Scatterbrained]

I was thinking that having the flash higher might help but all I have is a couple of old tripods that don't go very high. I need to get some stands and a descent backdrop one of these days, I would imagine with a black backdrop it would be much easier.

The solution here is to have your subject sit down.

 

[dannylightning]

I

The solution here is to have your subject sit down.

well, that just might work. I would like to be able to get full body shots too but for now I think playing with the light source and stuff like that is what I need to work on. Ill have to try that.

 

[Scatterbrained]

You're not going to get full body shots in such a small space with such a small light. To get the spread for a full body shot the light needs to be too far away to get the effect you're aiming for.

 

[dannylightning]

If it got a umbrella or soft box for the speed lights I was thinking it might work. I ordered a second speedlight since there only 50 bucks and I think Ill get some inexpensive umbrellas to play with.

I would also like to get a constant light set to play around with for photography and/or video, eventually Ill probably move up to some studio strobes if I get good with the speed lights.

At this point its all about trying different things and seeing what I like best but I probably wont be buying any thing else for a while so Ill have some time to play with the speed lights and get the hang of those before I get anything else. I want to get good with one thin before I move on to the next.

I think next weekend Ill have someone come over for a photo shoot and see what I can do with the speed lights, I have a green screen backdrop that I can hang up in the basement which should be good enough for now..

 

[tirediron]

well, that just might work. I would like to be able to get full body shots too but for now I think playing with the light source and stuff like that is what I need to work on. Ill have to try that.

Full body shots are highly over-rated! Unless you're doing fashion work or something else where the legs are important, leave 'em out. They're the most un-interesting part of the body.

 

[tirediron]

... I have a green screen backdrop that I can hang up in the basement which should be good enough for now..

Just go to any large fabric store, chances are you can get 2-3 yards of dark grey/black fabric out of the remanents bin for a couple of dollars.

 

[dannylightning]

I should that or someone recommended getting blankets to use which seems like a descent Idea too. seems like cloth would wrinkle more than a blanket and if you can still see the background than less wrinkles would probably be a good thing. as of so far I have not been able to get to the point where you cant see the background.

how ever in the basement here is more open space and no white walls for the light to bounce off of

 

[dannylightning]

well I am still having a hard time with this, I went out and got a black back drop, just a black bed sheet and hung it up in my basement, got my second speed light and no one wanted to model for me so i got my mom again and practiced on my punching dummy before I got her to model for me.

even at 1/200 f/16 and 100 ISO I could still see the black backdrop and the wrinkles in it and all of that, all I had to do was make a few small adjustments in light room and the background was pitch black.

I had the lights on 1/32 power, any less and the subject was not lit well. the subject was probably about 4 or 5 feet away from the backdrop and the speed lights were about 2 feet away from her, they were placed beside her and slightly in front of her. this Is a link to the thread I made showing the photos of my mom after I processed them in lightroom.. first real attempt at a photo shoot. C&C please. | Photography Forum

but I guess its just something I need to play around with..