Lighting help!!

[MrsLittle]

I have Sb 700 that I plan to use as a fill light after I purchase my B800 for main light. I was wondering, if I plan to be working with newborns and children, do I need background lights? Or is that only for white backdrops?
I will be using mostly colored backdrops and not really white and I am hoping that a two light set-up will be enough.

 

[MrsLittle]

ALso, why should I avoid mixing ambient light with window light? I have a nice huge window in my living room, but it's not enough light so I wanted to put a light on the opposite side for fill.

 

[gsgary]

I have Sb 700 that I plan to use as a fill light after I purchase my B800 for main light. I was wondering, if I plan to be working with newborns and children, do I need background lights? Or is that only for white backdrops?
I will be using mostly colored backdrops and not really white and I am hoping that a two light set-up will be enough.

No you don't need a background light, if you let a little light spill onto it the color will fade away to the side and can look very nice even with white you get nice tones of grey

 

[gsgary]

ALso, why should I avoid mixing ambient light with window light? I have a nice huge window in my living room, but it's not enough light so I wanted to put a light on the opposite side for fill.

You can but you will not be able to freeze movement

 

[Big Mike]

Without a separate background light, it may be hard to control the look of your background. One thing to be aware of, is the inverse square law, as it pertains to diffuse reflection (which is what you'll have from a backdrop). The ISL states that something that is farther away from the source of the light, will reflect an amount of light that is inversely square to the distance. For example, if your subject is 2 feet from the light, and the background is 4 feet from the light, the background will reflect 1/4 the amount of light that the subject would. If the background is 10 feet away, it would reflect 25 times less light than the subject.

So you can't just hang a backdrop of a certain color, and expect it to photograph just how it looks to you...you need to consider distances as well.

ALso, why should I avoid mixing ambient light with window light? I have a nice huge window in my living room, but it's not enough light so I wanted to put a light on the opposite side for fill.

Color temperature. Light coming in from a window will have a certain color cast to it (it's color temp or white balance). That's OK, because you can set/change the white balance setting on the camera to match the light, and thus get accurately colored photos. But if you turn on an interior light/lamp etc. it will very likely have a different color temperature than the window light. So now, if you're WB is set for the window light, the house light will cause a color cast. If you set for the interior light, the window light will cause a cast. And if you set it somewhere in the middle, they may both cause an inaccurate color cast.
It's just not a good idea to used mixed lighting, unless you are going to convert to B&W all the time.

 

[MrsLittle]

Thanks for the info. I never heard that term before Mike, but thanks so much for bringing it to my attention. Maybe I will pick up some cheapo flashes for the backdrop.

 

[Big Mike]

If you are going to use flashes on the backdrop, you'll probably want to use flashes on the subject as well (don't mix light sources, if you can help it).

 

[MrsLittle]

I have a D7000 and now I'm wondering how will I trigger the speedlight and strobe at the same time. Does the built in commander mode work for that or do I need another piece of equipment? Like connecting the AS-15 to the hot shoe for the B800, but then how would I trigger the speedlight. I'm a little confused and I don't really have the funds for PW's.

 

[gsgary]

I have a D7000 and now I'm wondering how will I trigger the speedlight and strobe at the same time. Does the built in commander mode work for that or do I need another piece of equipment? Like connecting the AS-15 to the hot shoe for the B800, but then how would I trigger the speedlight. I'm a little confused and I don't really have the funds for PW's.

Stick one of these under each flash if you are shooting inside
DPanswers: Optical Flash Triggers

 

[KmH]

I have a D7000 and now I'm wondering how will I trigger the speedlight and strobe at the same time. Does the built in commander mode work for that or do I need another piece of equipment? Like connecting the AS-15 to the hot shoe for the B800, but then how would I trigger the speedlight. I'm a little confused and I don't really have the funds for PW's.

Commander mode can trigger the SB-700 off the camera.

The flash of light from the SB-700 can then fire the B800 and any other hot shoe flash units you have that have an optical slave mode like these flash units have;

Yongnuo Flash Speedlite Yn-460ii for Nikon Canon Pentax

Yongnuo YN-560 Speedlight Flash for Canon and Nikon

You just need to be aware that you cannot use a commander mode that would require the SB-700 to fire any pre-flashes, because the B800 would fir prematurely from the pre-flashes. The YN-460/560 have a mode setting that lets them ignore the pre-flashes.