OCF practice.

[ronlane]

Ordered a Flashpoint Budget Studio Moonlight 2 light kit on Monday and should get it tomorrow evening.

So I have been studying about guide numbers and how to use them and it got me to testing with my speed light (SunPak PZ42X) and a shoot thru umbrella.

Here is the set up. One speed light at about 4 - 5 feet (my subject kept moving in her chair). The light was set at 70mm at either 1/8 or 1/16th power. The camera was my Canon 7D mk II with a 50mm f/1.8 STM.

It was a casual schedule, so I don't need comments on the pose or the camera angles.

Post processing all in LR with skin softening, eyes brightening and I tried to even out the bright spot on them. I did bring the exposure up a half a stop on all three of them.

My question is around this exposure and if the shadows look like what you would expect as far as being soft enough?


1) ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/50



2) ISO 800, f/8.0, 1/125



3) ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/50

 

[ronlane]

Thought it might help to have the SOOC images to compare to.

 

[Derrel]

Yeah, the shadows look as would be expected. The first shot, at f/5.6 and 1/50 second at ISO 400 gave a really GOOD exposure of the computer monitor! These all look pleasant, well-exposed, good exposure setting for the ambient light sources as well.

The second frame, shot at 800 ISO and 1/125 second at f/8 has the hottest hot spot on the forehead, but it too looks like a decent exposure.

I think all three of these look as I would expect from a shoot-through umbrella and a speedlight. One thing you'll probably start noticing is that at fairly close umbrella-to-subject distances, a speedlight set to 70mm zoom position may tend toward a bit of a hot-spot, with a bit of sheen on the high points of the face and forehead and tip of the nose. This sheen is caused by the light, set to a telephoto zoom setting of 70mm or 85mm, being BLASTED through mostly the central area of the shoot-through fabric. The fabric itself "lights up", right in the central area of the umbrella, and the outer periphery of the umbrella will have a lot lower brightness. That bright, central zone of the umbrella will create a bright, diffuse highlight on a human's skin; that bright, diffuse highlight area gives shape and dimension and depth cues.

If you turn the umbrella around, and use it as a reflecting umbrella, there tends to be less of the hot-spot effect, in large degree because the light source is moved farther away by turning the umbrella around on the light stand, and at a longer distance, the rate/degree of fall-off is LESS than when the umbrella is used in shoot-through situations, and the center is close, and the periphery is farther away from the face.

You'll probably find that the monolight's round flash tube will "fill the bowl" a bit more so than a speedlight will at 70mm zoom, and you'll have a lot more flash power even with the 120 Watt-second type budget monolights...and you might get more spill within the room. It's going to be great fun having new OCF flash units, Ron!

Different umbrellas have different "signatures", and different flash units can work differently.

A good exercise is to set the ISO low, set the flash power low, then take some photos of the umbrellas and the flash units at something like 1/8 power and ISO 50 or 100 and f/22 to f/32, to be able to SEE the way the flash itself illuminates the umbrella fabric itself...

 

[ronlane]

Thanks Derrel. I have found that I much more like using a black umbrella and bouncing the light when I am forced to do that (I do have a 24x24 soft box now).

I can't wait to get the moonlights and mine are 300 w/s lights, so the power is better.

 

[tirediron]

A good exercise is to set the ISO low, set the flash power low, then take some photos of the umbrellas and the flash units at something like 1/8 power and ISO 50 or 100 and f/22 to f/32, to be able to SEE the way the flash itself illuminates the umbrella fabric itself...

This!!!!! "Indexing" your modifiers is really important to getting good lighting. If you look at the shafts of my umbrellas, brolly-boxes, etc, they're all marked to show where they need to be located to get full beam spread with a given light/reflector combination. The difference moving your umbrella 8" closer to, or further away from the light can make, is huge.

I think overall, these worked well, 'though I see just a bit of a hot spot on her forehead. Out of curiosity, what did that session cost you?

 

[ronlane]

A good exercise is to set the ISO low, set the flash power low, then take some photos of the umbrellas and the flash units at something like 1/8 power and ISO 50 or 100 and f/22 to f/32, to be able to SEE the way the flash itself illuminates the umbrella fabric itself...

This!!!!! "Indexing" your modifiers is really important to getting good lighting. If you look at the shafts of my umbrellas, brolly-boxes, etc, they're all marked to show where they need to be located to get full beam spread with a given light/reflector combination. The difference moving your umbrella 8" closer to, or further away from the light can make, is huge.

I think overall, these worked well, 'though I see just a bit of a hot spot on her forehead. Out of curiosity, what did that session cost you?

Thanks John, I will be doing this over the next couple of weeks.

Oh and as for costing me, I got really lucky on this session because she was working on a research project and wanted a break for a few minutes. (That's why all I got was funny faces and not complaints)

 

[ronlane]

Okay, so why did I wait so long to get monolights? Set the first one up and tested it like Derrel and John suggested then took a few test shots of the kids that were running around the house (not all mine).

Again this is just 1 light and it was set at it's lowest setting about 4 feet away from the subject. ISO 100, f/8.0, 1/200 of a second with a 50mm f/1.8 STM, Canon 7D mk II.

1) SOOC with no adjustments.



2) WB, +.20 exposure, whites to +50, blacks to -5 in LR.

 

[tirediron]

Welcome to a new world!

 

[ronlane]

Thanks John, I think I'm addicted now. lol.

 

[tirediron]

 

[ronlane]

I even set the two moonlights on slave and plugged in my speed light and fired it wirelessly as a hair light. So now I have a three light set-up.

Now I guess I need to really read up on posing.

 

[tirediron]

I even set the two moonlights on slave and plugged in my speed light and fired it wirelessly as a hair light. So now I have a three light set-up.

Now I guess I need to really read up on posing.

I'm running a workshop for my camera club in two weeks on OCF & posing.... come on up!

 

[ronlane]

I even set the two moonlights on slave and plugged in my speed light and fired it wirelessly as a hair light. So now I have a three light set-up.

Now I guess I need to really read up on posing.

I'm running a workshop for my camera club in two weeks on OCF & posing.... come on up!

Thanks for the invite, but there are 2 problems that will keep me from attending. 1) no passport and 2) It's freakin' February and it's dang cold in Canada at this time of year. (I would be better off in July.) lol

 

[tirediron]

Details!

 

[jcdeboever]

Okay, so why did I wait so long to get monolights? Set the first one up and tested it like Derrel and John suggested then took a few test shots of the kids that were running around the house (not all mine).

Again this is just 1 light and it was set at it's lowest setting about 4 feet away from the subject. ISO 100, f/8.0, 1/200 of a second with a 50mm f/1.8 STM, Canon 7D mk II.

1) SOOC with no adjustments.

View attachment 116169

2) WB, +.20 exposure, whites to +50, blacks to -5 in LR.

View attachment 116170

I would like to see the difference with speed lights in this situation. Her eyeballs are big too.

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