Speedlight advice

trevburley

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Hey Guys,

I'm pretty new here and am getting back into photography but attacking a different genre this time.

Focusing on people I'm coming to the conclusion that I need to sort out a fairly decent (but budget friendly) lighting setup.

I've been using a Sigma EF-610 DG ST to light my portraits so far (it was dirt cheap when I bought my new camera) with a 5 in 1 reflector and they are coming out 'ok' but nothing special. I feel I need something that is firstly capable of being off-camera and secondly has customisable settings.

I'm using a Canon 750D with some cheap lenses which will get upgraded over time. My favourite is the 50mm f1.8 STM but I have the kit lens and a semi-macro 70-300mm Sigma (which I don't really like).

Primarily I am interested in back-lighting people and am looking for a 1-light starter setup + fill flash (which my Sigma can do with it's bounce card) with the aim to get a second one soon. If it helps I already have a radio triggering system which is Canon / Sigma compatible (but doesn't work with my particular Sigma flash).

Can anyone point me to some good resources or even give me some advice as to what I should be looking for in terms of specific lighting equipment and their pros and cons - the world of lighting is vast and I've been researching for 3/4 weeks now...

Attached are a few examples of what I'm currently shooting...

tori_kaitlyn_cropped2_small.jpg


tori_red_hair_small.jpg


Thanks - Trev
 
Yongnuo are a cheaper than Canon Flashes. Some love them. Some hate them. I've been using them with my Canon for years. They can be purchased online everywhere. They have a variety of models, imitating most Canon models. Can be picked up in sets at good prices at times. (2 flashes + triggers kind of deals)
 
I have 2 Yongnuo 600ex-rts and so far they work great. I use them in conjunction with the wireless speedlite transmitter they make as well. I've tried to use them wit the Canon 600exrt and has mixed results as there seems to be a slight delay in triggering.

They only thing I don't like about the Yongnuo is they tend to get much hotter than the canons. Also I find that I need to take the batteries out otherwise they will corrode after only a few weeks.
 
I've shot flash since the mid-1980's, both speedlight and off-camera (studio flash type gear), and I personally think that studio-type flash units like low-priced monolights, are the easiest to learn and advance with. Why? Modeling lights helpo you literally SEE the lighting effect, before commiting the shots to film/memory card.

I'd recommend a $100-$150 monolight flash unit from Flashpoint (sold by Adorama), oir on e of the lower-cost 150-Watt second units from Neewer or Impact brands, a 7-foot or 9-foot light stand, and a 32-inch to 43-inch reflecting umbrella. The on-camera flash could trigger the monolkight via light-sensitive slave triggering buuiklt into almost every monolight made for the last 40 years.

I recommend a Flashpoint 320M monolight quite often; much,much more powerful than a speelight, it can light upo a room pretty well by aiming its standard 7-inch reflector bell at a ceiling or wall,etc.. and you can use the on-camera flash as well in any number of ways.

In a living room type scenario, the monolight can be bounced off the walls,ceiling,etc.. to get a nice, soft lighting effect that comes from the light source being made into a very BIG one. The speedlight, being smaller, can be used as a crisp, accent-type light source, or just used as a triggerinbg device to set off the bigger flash unit.

Umnbrellas or umbrella boxes can really augment your lighting "looks" repertoire.
 
Very interesting Derrel, I'm more inclined to go down the speedlight route but perhaps that's something to consider for my second light

EDIT: Just for portability...
 
Very interesting Derrel, I'm more inclined to go down the speedlight route but perhaps that's something to consider for my second light

EDIT: Just for portability...

I guess I misunderstood the direction you were looking to head in. There were a couple of phrases in your original post that made me think you were looking to move in the studio-flash/monolight type direction. There are a LOT of speedlights on the market these days. A web called Scan Tips has some good reviews of Neewer brand speedlight units, and a couple members here have reported very good results from their Neewer brand speedlights.

Strobist.com has some information on speedlight flash topics, and might be worth checking out if yuo already have not been to the site.
 
No problem Derrel, it's hard to know what I want exactly at this stage - not having access to any local photographers and being able to try different equipment has limited what I know about where I want to take my portrait shots.

Studio is certainly on the to do list but a more portable speedlight for outdoor and dull indoor shots will be more use to me right now. I have seen a lot of Neewer kit out there so I'll have a look at them too thanks.
 
The thing with shooting outdoors with speedlights is one rarely has enough power, you may need 2-3 speedlights inside a light modifier to get the correct exposure, lots of variables.

I own and would recommend the Yongnuo speedlights, but moving forward for me mono lights like the Paul C Buff Einstein (Paul C. Buff - Einstein E640) will be my next purchase for lighting. For most people this light is over kill.

These days almost every lighting kit is portable with the right battery pack. But if you are set on size and weight IMO I would save a little more and get the Flashpoint 360 Flashpoint StreakLight 360, portable (battery pack), very powerful for size, very versatile.

Also keep in mind like Derrel mentioned, you will also need stands to hold any light for Off camera flash(OCF) and light modifiers...
 
Lots to think about here guys, thanks for the advice!

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk
 
No problem Derrel, it's hard to know what I want exactly at this stage - not having access to any local photographers and being able to try different equipment has limited what I know about where I want to take my portrait shots.

Studio is certainly on the to do list but a more portable speedlight for outdoor and dull indoor shots will be more use to me right now. I have seen a lot of Neewer kit out there so I'll have a look at them too thanks.
It sounds kind of like you want a run and gun setup, to me, especially looking at the photos you provided... so I thought I would throw some thoughts out for you. I'm not a full-time pro though, a lot of these other guys have a lot more knowledge/experience than me.

I've seen Yongnuo mentioned a few times. Fantastic flashes. Make sure you get one that has options for personal growth. Ettl isn't super interesting... but high speed sync is. You can get a commander that supports it too. Which means in the future you can grow into multiple flash setups in different groups while working with new options such as having all the flashes in all the groups be able to sync with your camera up to 1/8000 of a second shutter speed. So much control!

Get a stofen for your flash. They are cheap... a good simple starter modifier... and you can use it on the flash inside other modifiers too... which can help. Modifiers for speedlights rarely have sufficient diffusion and can have hot spots/uneven spread. You'll lose a little more power with it on, but it helps quite a bit.

Buy a kit like the Rogue and some gels for it. You'll have correction gels in there ... a snoot that can be gridded off for rim lighting/hair lighting. And it's pretty cheap. Packs up small. You'll have lots of colors to use for backgrounds, creative highlights... etc. If there's enough natural light in the environment you can set up to add color and interest in varying ways with only one flash. Such as shooting later in the day when the natural light is really warm... then putting a cool gel on the flash head to create a strongly contrasty rim/fill light. Etc and so on.

Buy a small speedlight softbox... I love this one. It is cheap, double diffused... has a white interior which makes the light output look a little creamier to me than a silver interior... it has a recessed face. Diamond shaped highlights are fairly pleasing to me... look sparkly like an anime to me. This little softbox is my go-to when I'm doing a lot of run and gun type stuff following the family or a really kinetic scene because it's small, fits right on the flash, doesn't have to be on a stand, is ready to go in a heartbeat.

Then do yourself a favor and buy at least one of these. Holy crap do I use that thing a lot. It can grip just about anything, has rubber nubs on the outside of the jaws that provide so much ridiculous grip this thing can hold a flash and a small modifier practically anywhere and at practically any angle thanks to the ball head. It isn't too small... but it isn't huge either so it fits nicely in my small run and gun bag... and its ridiculously fast to pull out, slide my flash into a cold shoe and clamp the whole thing to a door jam, shelf, branch, whatever.

Add a small coil reflector with a white side and a black side... then you've got a run and gun kit that can fit in a small sling pack or chest bag. Has tons of options, is super mobile and efficiently dynamic.

PS. You can use the manfrotto spring mount to hold your reflector too. No need for an assistant.
 
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Thanks Bluewanders, that's really cleared up a lot for me!
Good luck! If you set yourself up with a kit like I described you'll have plenty of options to experiment, grow, and learn where you want to take your photos without spending a lot of money.
 
I've made my first lighting purchase, keeping it cheap for now and will evolve the gear as I gain more experience.
  • Yongnuo YN-560 IV
  • Yongnuo YN560-TX
  • Neewer@16"/40cm Portable Mini Round Soft Box
I do want a monolight but that will come later along with some of the other gear mentioned.

Cheers - Trev
 

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