On a budget: what would you recommend?

[invisibledemon]

well, havnt been on here much at all, busy times.
havnt had much inspiration for photographs lately either....

but had an idea that i want to try one night, but not sure where to get light.
what would you recommend for a flash to give a soft glow such as moonlight.
i plan for this to be a long exposure shot, and will need the light to be a flash, cant be constant.
also, tight budget.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JerryPH]

Seeing as most flashes fire in the thousandths of a second, a long exposure is not what I think you are looking for.

What kind of camera do you own? Nikon's like the SB-600 or SB-800 if you have a higher budget.

If Canon, The 430EX or the 580EX if you have the budget.

If you are very strapped, something like a Vivitar or Sunpack flash manually controlled could do it for you at under $100, but there is no auto power setting adjustment (iTTL or eTTL).

Second, this is something more suited for the beginner's section.

 

[Bifurcator]

Yeah, I'm not understanding either. Invisi... What is it you want to do exactly?

 

[djacobox372]

For a long exposure I recommend actual moonlight...

 

[invisibledemon]

well, a flash might actually work, i just need to have enough cover so as to not cause shadows. basically just need it to light up the area a little, figure a flash would be plenty.

i found a nice small cemetery close by that i want to shoot in, but, theres trees all around i noticed today on my way home so i dont know how much moonlight will actually get through.
im going to stop by the house thats closest to it and ask permission to shoot there if its on their property.
so i thought that a quick flash would suffice just enough to bring enough light into the exposure.

 

[Josh66]

Go on a night when there's a full moon, that should give you enough light for that.

There's a full moon on the 14th this month, and the 13th next month.

 

[Mike_E]

I've seen what I think you are talking about. Pretty cool. You walk around during the exposure and set off the flash to illuminate different areas and everything is dark except what you've flashed. Is this it?

Take 4 new AA batteries and go around to your local pawn shops/thrift stores and get a cheap flash that has manual settings (use the batteries to make sure it works ). You should get one for under $20.

You can also gel the flash for different effects.

good luck.

 

[invisibledemon]

thanks mike, yeah, your pretty close to what i was thinking.

what exactly is gelling the flash?

 

[Bifurcator]

Oh, you want to simulate moon light lighting for night cemetery shots.

I think cemetery shots are a strong hard contrasty cross-lighting from a single light source. Maybe a little PS fog, maybe a tiny bit of very soft fill, etc.. This should be pretty easy to simulate... or at least fun!

http://gallery.photo.net/photo/5668349-md.jpg
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:0kNhH5Ye2Wj9OM:http://gallery.photo.net/photo/5699871-lg.jpg
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/10/05/newtown_wideweb__470x308,0.jpg
http://gallery.photo.net/photo/4778421-md.jpg
http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5261332
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kensflikrpics/1347756987/in/set-72157601915602738/
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g105/nyghtmage/guys203.jpg
http://ameganfindsartinphilly.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/oct-30-023.jpg

etc.

 

[invisibledemon]

i think it should be fun, the fog thing i would probably do with some dry ice vs ps.

those links are pretty cool, the houses look awesome.
i plan on going out there maybe the night before the actual full moon and test some shots. if i cant get enough light from the moon then i'll find something else, or a more open graveyard.

 

[Mike_E]

By gelling I mean putting a colored gel on the face of the flash so that all the light coming through it becomes the color of the gel. For instance having done all that you want to the cemetery and then having someone stand in the frame and shooting them with a red gelled flash would give you a red person in your shot.

If you have radio triggers, green light coming from the inside of a house through windows or doors might be interesting (you would of course need some fog to show the light).

p.s. there are neutral density gells too in case your flash is too powerful even on it's lowest setting.

 

[redtippmann]

yea and if you want a real cheap idea get a very cheap strobe like a promaster (I have one and its alright) and manualy discarge it away from the subject into a thick white paper it should bounce the light back softly.

 

[invisibledemon]

hmm, i will have to give the gel thing a try. sounds like it could be fun, thanks for the tip mike,

and i will try the bouncing the strobe, i think that may be exactly what i need.

thanks for all the suggestions, trying them all should make for a fun night.