Light patterns

[Evertking]

I am trying to get directional light, Rembrandt, broad or short.. this is all outside using OCF but I can never get it. I thought maybe my light source was too big but I see others use the same and get what I'm after. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Derrel]

Without a photo as an example, it's exceptionally difficult to know what,exactly, it is that you are not doing correctly; there could be any number of things you're doing poorly. A photo example,. or two, or three, and the desired lighting pattern you were trying to achieve, and some technical data (light modifier type, distance,exposure information (ISO/f/stop/shutter speed),

You want directional light, which is a GOOD thing! I have seen a small number of your recent outdoor, strobe-lighted shots lighted with the AD600, a powerful portable flash + a gelled speedlight, and I have also seen you shooting at wide f/stops, like f/3.2...my GUESS, and this is only a guess based on a lot of years shooting photos, is that your lack of directional light might stem from the use of too wide of an f/stop and too slow of a shutter speed for the ambient light levels (f/3.2 and 1/125 second is a generous exposure).

Because of the wide f/stops you've been using, with the 135/2 Canon L lens, I think that maybe you're getting TOO MUCH ambient light into the shots, and the strobe is possibly even being over-exposed. The overall, net result is a lack of directionality; my guess/gut feeling is that in order to get the desired directionality, you need to close down the aperture, to a smaller f/stop, more like f/6.3, at the ISO and speeds you have been using; THAT will, immediately, sublimate or even eliminate the effect of ambient daylight, and will, immediately, turn your portraits into what is known as flash-as-main-light shots. Additionally, you might try upping the shutter speed if possible, which will darken the background areas that are not lighted by the flash.

Again...just going by what I have seen you posting this week, your outdoor portraits shot with the Canon 6D and the superlative Canon EF 135/2-L lens, and the AD600 + gelled speedlight, this is my speculation as to why you're getting less directionality than you want from your flash lighting; I think you're getting a LOT of fill light from the ambient lighting, and that's making the electronic flash look "flat" and directionless.

 

[mrca]

Derrel is right, if you are using an under powered speed light, about 80 watt seconds, in full day light with a gel that eats some power, If you are shooting near wide open on a fast lens, and are restricted to a fairly slow flash sync speed of 1/200 your flash is being washed out. A solution I regularly use to shoot 1/30 sec at 2.8 or 3.2 and to knock down ambient, use a vari ND filter to knock down th entire scene then light the areas you want lit. Unfortunately, 80 watt seconds isn' t nearly enough. If you gang 4 of those $500 lights you have 320 watts seconds for $2, 000. But you are sorely underpowered I will have a 640 ws Einstein pegged. I would add an overlapping fill also. If you have a sekonic meter, it will tell you what percentage contribution to the shot i s strobe.