nikon flash's 4 studio lighting...

[RONDAL]

manfrotto 5001B lightstand
wescott 43" collapsable umbrella w/ black cover


why the lightstand? It's under $100, it's light, and it folds down to like 40" and extends to 7'. it replaced the sweet gitzo lightstand everyone used to have but they discontinued.
why the umbrella? it can be both a shoot through and reflective umbrella, its 43" of soft creamy light, and it folds down very small.

All of which can then fit easily into a backpack or a over the shoulder stlye tripod bag.

 

[Garbz]

I skimmed over but it doesn't look like it's been linked yet:

Strobist Talks all about outdoor and indoor studio type shots using small speedlights. Now the thing is we can talk all sorts of extremes all day. If your idea of a studio type shot is outside against the sunset lighting up a model using a large umbrella for extremely smooth light, then no the speedlight won't do. But for much else, modern cameras don't really need to nuke their subjects. If you're not fighting against the sun then upping the ISO reduces the power required and then yes 2 SB-600s would be more than enough to light a model in a wide variety of circumstances.

 

[RONDAL]

i dont know how many of you have set a sb600 on manual and full 1/1 power. it will nuke just about anything. two of them, you've got hiroshima. i have yet to find a scenario where i need more than 1/4 power even.

 

[JerryPH]

B&H and Adorama all have good stands. For studio work you don't need 13-foot stands, so even a 6 or 8 foot stand is good.

Also, visit MPEX.com and look up their "strobist kits" they have setups for all different budgets.

If you are going to get a SB-600, be aware that it doesn't have an external sync port for off camera use, you need a "hot shoe adapter". That is for if you are going to use a wireless or wire trigger. If your Nikon supports being a CLS commander, you can control the SB-600 through it, but your range is very low... like around 20-30 feet.

It sounds like a lot, but I found out fast that it is very limiting, though it does offer me wireless iTTL (and that, while nice, is also limiting).

 

[JerryPH]

Strobist Talks all about outdoor and indoor studio type shots using small speedlights.

That has been linked so many times here, that I would think a search would give you at least like 50-100 hits... lol

Now the thing is we can talk all sorts of extremes all day. If your idea of a studio type shot is outside against the sunset lighting up a model using a large umbrella for extremely smooth light, then no the speedlight won't do.

Not to contradict my good friend Garbz, but sunset shots are where speedlights shine. As long as we are not talking bright daylight conditions, I can overpower the sun pretty easily and not use full power on my flash. Please let me demonstrate:

Nothing special, just a pretty bright day (not noon, it was around 4:30 in the afternoon and there was a good partial cloud doing some nice diffusion), but F/8 at 1/80th and off camera flash for lighting the subjects shows that they kinda "stand out" brighter than the ambient. This was done with a single SB-800 at 1/2 power.

Current conditions will dictate if that speedlight will do it or not, but if the sun was even 2 stops higher, I could not get this shot with a speedlight and would need 2 speedlights or a studio head to get the same shot. If shooting under the "Sunny 16" rule of conditions... speedlights are sorely pressed to do a good job.

For those that are not sure what I mean, the sunny 16 rule is just an old rule from the film days meaning that, on a bright cloudless day, if you set up your camera to F/16 and 1/125th shutter speed, these settings would net you a proper exposure.

But for much else, modern cameras don't really need to nuke their subjects. If you're not fighting against the sun then upping the ISO reduces the power required and then yes 2 SB-600s would be more than enough to light a model in a wide variety of circumstances.

For sure! I would have to say that this scenario could easily cover 80, maybe 90% of all possibilities. This is why I advocate speedlights for the most part. Sure they do not do it all... I did a wedding where my settings were F/16 for deep DOF and I needed to set shutter speed to 1/2500th to cut down ambient. I then overpowered the ambient using a single studio head at 1/2 power and the results were fantastic!

From an e-session that I did a couple days ago taken by my mentor (used with permission):

The setup was a single flash at 1/2 power shooting through an umbrella at camera left (very close to camera, about 4 feet away) and a bare speedlight set to rim-light from behind the subjects at 1/16th. Obviously at sunset.

 

[STMel03]

what do I need to mount the flashes to the stands?...I usually shop at adorama.. so links are always helpful!!

Thank you to all that have replied... I am just going to buy another SB-600 and play with that for awhile... I'm sure now that it will suit my need quite well!

 

[ANDS!]

You will need for one speedlight:

A lightstand. I recommend Impact lightstand. It's cheap, and you can weigh id down with a bag of rocks if you need to.

An umbrella adapter. Again, just go with Impact. Same thing. Cheap.

Will cost about 50 bucks for all of it. Thats all you need. As you are controlling the lights wirelessly, no need for a hot-shoe or sync cord or other nonsense.

 

[Garbz]

Not to contradict my good friend Garbz, but sunset shots are where speedlights shine.

Actually you did well to prove my point, I wasn't doing a good job at saying what I wanted, which is speedlights will work nearly everywhere providing you don't do things that suck power like use giant reflectors / softboxes from opposite sides of a park while shooting into the midday sun

 

[JerryPH]

what do I need to mount the flashes to the stands?...I usually shop at adorama.. so links are always helpful!!

I have something for you.. The 60-second strobist video, it doesn't get any easier... LOL

 

[JerryPH]

Not to contradict my good friend Garbz, but sunset shots are where speedlights shine.

Actually you did well to prove my point, I wasn't doing a good job at saying what I wanted, which is speedlights will work nearly everywhere providing you don't do things that suck power like use giant reflectors / softboxes from opposite sides of a park while shooting into the midday sun

We're on the same train of thought, then, for sure! Softboxes and umbrellas do have their place, though. The bottom shot was taken using umbrellas and a full stop of CTO gells on all flashes, so there is some "breathing room" for sure. I use double SB-600s in a 28 or 50 inch softbox (made for speedlights) with great success. Flickr set of these 2 softboxes.

Don't expect a single speedlight to illuminate a huge room evenly, though, that is not going to happen!