Lighting help needed

[pixelboy]

Hello to everyone. First post here and delighted to be able to join in the forum chat

I have a reasonable grasp of photography and feel pretty comfortable both in outdoor scenarios and in the studio. Where I fall down is with Speedlites both on and off camera in smallish rooms. No matter how hard I try to get interesting light and shadows on a subject, I end up just flooding them with light and getting boring flat looks.

Using studio strobes I've got good results and know how to use an elinchrom deep octa and position it to get what I want, which is good contrast between highlights and shadows and interesting light on the subject's face. I'm pretty new to speedlites but I'd like to use them more as I've been asked to take pictures in peoples' homes a lot recently.

I'm guessing I need to get out some black material to kill the spill but this isn't always easy to do when shooting a child in a small light-coloured room. Maybe I'm missing something really obvious and maybe this is a bit of a daft question to start off my forum postings with but I'd appreciate some guidance if possible. As I say I'm pretty new to speedlites and all help would be most welcome.

Thanks

 

[Derrel]

I would try using an enclosed umbrella, like the UK-made Lastolite Umbrella Box. It keeps the spill much more manageable than with other types of umbrellas. There is in fact, almost no "spill" or "bounce-back" or "scatter" from the Lastolite Umbrella Box.

 

[tirediron]

The Lastolite Ezy-box works very well too; the 30" size is perfect for Speedlight use, and it's got deep edges which work well, and is available with a grid.

 

[pixelboy]

Speedy replies! Thank you. I appreciate your advice.

I had wondered if speedlites were maybe not going to do what I wanted and I had considered going for something like one of the Quantum - style bare bulb flashes which I thought might be better to use with modifiers but thought it might be that I'm really just not aware of the speedlite products to use.

Your suggestions are helpful and I will check out these products.

 

[pixelboy]

Hi again. Had a good look at the products suggested and the Ezy-box seems to fit the bill. I'm wondering what the most useful size would be for me. I'm considering the 21inch because it would give me a focused look although the 30inch might be a bit more versatile and with the grid might work to give me what I'm after. Any experience of these boxes?

 

[tirediron]

SB-800 driving a 30" Ezy-box, no grid.

 

[cynicaster]

In addition to choice of modifier, you probably also want to learn about how the strobe-to-subject distance affects the character of highlight/shadow transitions. This type of nuanced control helps a lot if you’re consistently disappointed by “flat lighting”.

Another thing I’d recommend is getting creative with “go between” barriers to help keep light away from areas you don’t want it. I’ve used all kinds of things for this, from bi-fold doors to blankets to poster board to hunks of unused drywall. It’s definitely some additional up-front effort when you’re setting up a shoot, but it pays off in the results.

 

[pixelboy]

Thank you tirediron. The 30" looks good.

Thanks also, Matt. As I say I'm pretty reasonable with studio lighting and modifiers. I take your point re gobos but I'm finding in small light walled rooms I still struggle to use them effective. I really need to get to grips with my speedliting better. I do find these to be much more challenging. I suspect the ezybox might be very useful to me.