Question regarding low light flashes. What to do?

[redu]

I am having a hard time figuring out how low the different flashes ect goes. I need something that goes very low, so that I can shoot in dimly lit rooms, but add the slightest touch of light with a flash and an umbrella or softbox. Something along the lines of this: http://www.dailyartfixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Keith-Richards-Annie-Leibovitz.jpg

As evidenced by this video, she only uses a single light source, to add to the ambient light.



How would I be able to go so low? I know she is probably using Profoto, but I dont have that kind of budget. I need to do this at very low cost.

I am using a Canon eos 5dmk2, a cactus v5 transceiver set and currently a speedlite 210ex, which would work fine if I didn't need it to be wireless. I am having problems with my Cactus v5's as I cant control the flash from the camera via the Cactus transceivers.

Can you guys help out? Thanks.

 

[SCraig]

Although I'm not familiar with Canon equipment I would think that the Cactus V5's would work, however they do not transmit any TTL information. You are going to have to do things manually and calculate or determine the proper exposure information. I have a set of V4's and they do a decent job for what they were intended but it is all done manually.

 

[redu]

that makes sense! thanks.

but even if i am not using TTL, but manual, I cant adjust til wirelessly. Does it not transmit any settings information at all? Does this mean I wil have to get a new speedlite with manual adjustments on the flash itself, and then adjust that during shooting? that seems a bit impractical. not being able to adjust the flash through the camera menu at all unless the flash is put on the camera itself.

 

[redu]

Also, the main issue is that I cant seem to turn down the flash enough, even when it is on the camera. It is set on manual, the lowest output it can get to is 1/64, and it is still too strong and overexposes the picture completely, but if I change the shutter, aperture or ISO to compensate for this, I lose the ambient lighting. This is the main pickle im in.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Redu, put the flash farther away, put translucent material in front of it, paper, whatever to lower the power. A milk jug may work.

 

[redu]

But the light changes is I move it further away, I want to be able to get it is close as possible, and considering this is on locations, inside and outside, it would be impractical with those improvised solutions.

This is without doubt due to my lack of knowledge on the subject that I dont know what to do, but I can't believe there isn't a proper way to do this. Do I need a new speedlite? In that case, which ones would be able to dim far enough?

 

[Rephargotohp]

680This is all about knowing how to balance flash and Ambient. You need to find a combination of Aperture and ISO that will give you a correct exposure for the flash set to 1/64 power. THEN you set a shutter speed that brings up the ambient light to the correct level since SS will control the Ambient but has no effect on the Flash Expousre

a Light meter would of course help

Or the other choise may be to use small battery power Video Lights as is often used in these cases

580EX go down to 1/128th power . diffuser panels also cut light

 

[Robin Usagani]

Get a flash that can go lower, or you need to make the ambient light brighter to get the right ratio with smaller aperture. Or use really slow shutter and make the person really still.

 

[SCraig]

that makes sense! thanks.

but even if i am not using TTL, but manual, I cant adjust til wirelessly. Does it not transmit any settings information at all? Does this mean I wil have to get a new speedlite with manual adjustments on the flash itself, and then adjust that during shooting? that seems a bit impractical. not being able to adjust the flash through the camera menu at all unless the flash is put on the camera itself.

As others have said, you simply have a tricky lighting situation and are going to have to get creative to get the results you want.

The Cactus triggers only transmit a fire pulse, no other information whatsoever, so you are going to have to shoot in manual. If your speedlight cannot be adjusted on the flash for lower output then you are going to have to accommodate that and force it lower. That flash, if I understand Canon's nomenclature correctly, only has a guide number of about 69 so even if you get a new flash it won't accomplish everything you want because 1) It's going to be more powerful, and 2) The Cactus triggers still won't transmit exposure information. If your solution is throwing money at the situation then get some Pocket Wizards and they will transmit the exposure information (for around $500 for a pair).

Moving the flash away from the subject by 8' will reduce the amount of light to 1/64th power. Moving it only 4' will reduce it to 1/16th power. Move it as much as you can, adjust the exposure on your camera as much as you can, put some layers of diffuse material (as was mentioned, cut some pieces from a milk jug) over the flash lens, and then add a snoot to control the edges of the light.

It CAN be done with what you have, but you are going to have to get creative with the solution.

 

[Buckster]

If the light coming from the flash is already at its lowest power, is as far away as you can get it with your modifier and still get the effect you want for shadow and depth, your aperture is where you want it to control DOF, your ISO is as low as you can go, your shutter is set to expose the ambient, and the flash is still too bright, then you need to think about how to reduce the power of the flash even further. I know you understand this already, but I wanted to make sure all those bases were covered first.

Now then, how to reduce the flash output from there? How do you drop the light by a stop or more? Well, the first thing that comes to my mind are filters in front of the light, and I don't mean colored filters, though you probably should be thinking about them in order to balance the ambient, which may be tungsten, with the flash output, which won't be, unless that's an effect you want. You'll lose something like half a stop with a CTO right there. After that, think about the possibility of putting a polarizer or neutral density filters in front of the flash if you have them. You could put a sheet of white tissue or toilet paper or something even thicker like a paper towel in front of it, and that will drop the amount of light that's hitting the inside of your modifier. Use more sheets stacked if necessary. Use enough and you'll eventually reduce it to zero if you were to go that far, point being there's no limit. You could drape a white bedsheet over your umbrella to cut down the light output from it. You could put strips of gaffer's tape across the braces of your umbrella to cut the light that hits the actual umbrella face, or tape pieces of paper or something to them to cut the light. If you have an umbrella with a black cover, you can use it to flag off part of the umbrella to cut the light.

Really, there are literally hundreds of way to reduce that light. Yeah, it'll take some trial and error to get it right, but it can be done. Just need to think outside the box a little.

 

[radiorickm]

I have a couple of thoughts. First wen I watch the video, I see at least two, not one, lights being used. The one on the boom you see a lot of, and at the end when Richards says "Rembrant like", you see a silver reflector. If you watch the video closely, I think you can see both of them firing. And on that note, I went and looked at the actual photos produced from this, and in them you can tell very plainly that he is being lit by the strobes, not ambient. I think they are just visible because they are turned on.

Now, I couldn't find anything on a 210ex, but it probably does not have manual adjustment. You control it from the camera menu. That type of information is not transmitted on the Cactus wireless signal. TO do this, you would need to use an off-camera TTL cord on your flash. You say you are at 1/64 power. If you shoot a silver umbrella you are going to loose ATLEAST 1 stop, a soft box 2-3 stops. SO, at 1/256 power I DOUBT you are going to totally overpower the ambient light to the point you can't adjust it.

I think you are just shooting with the flash at it's highest power, and are not able to turn it down (remotely). But it's up to you whether you want to actually try and balance with the ambient light, or as she did, just make it visible in the photo. Hope this helps and happy shootin'

 

[Village Idiot]

Modifier used: Photek Umbrella - Softlighter II - 36" SL-4000 B&H Photo

Lights looked like they were from a pack and head system, so even with a small 400w/s back, you're looking at 25w/s or so, which is roughly about half power of most speedlights.