Studio Flash

acparsons · Nov 30, 2018

I just acquired 2 studio flash strobes. I've never touched one before. What are some good ways to get to learn how to use it without humans as the subjects?

Solarflare · Nov 30, 2018

Well, pretty much anything ? Your gear for example. Wooden sticks from the forest. Plants.

Derrel · Dec 2, 2018

Set up a strobe and a subject and start shooting pictures. A cup and saucer, a ball, an egg ...

Addendum: a few bits of additional information might be of some interest to you. "Some" flash units will need to have excess power "dumped" by firing a frame or test-pop when the flash power level is changed,depending on how sophisticated the circuitry is. Shifting from Full power to say, 1/4 power, some low-tech flashes will NOT fire a 1/4 power flash burst, but will fire in excess of that.

Keep in mind: the closer the flash to the subject, the MORE-rapid the fall-off in light intensity is! With a studio strobe firing at four feet from a subject, at 5 feet, the fall-off in light on the shadow side of the subject will be VERY noticeable! But...if you move the same flash back to 10 to 12 feet, that same, one-foot difference between the subject and the shadowed side will be almost invisible in intensity/density. The Inverse Square Law at work.

Try the flash units out. Set the ISO to 100 or 125 or 160, and the f/stop to a single value, like say f/7.1, and shoot,shoot,shoot. Get a basic, overall "feel" for the power of a Full Power "Pop!" of flash. Get a feel for Half power,etc.. If the flashes are powerful units, like 400- to 600-Watt-seconds (and I mean real W-s, not model-number specifications), then ISO 100 and f/8 and Full power might actually be wayyyy more flash power than you want at closer, indoor distances. One easy way to make lessons/learning more productive is to stick with only a few variables, so keep the ISO at one level, and the f/stop at one value, and see what effect Distance has on the overall exposure levels you get. Not sure if you have a flash meter or not. If not, you'll be glad that you're maintaining things mostly at a fixed exposure determinant level in ISO and f/stop, since within a short time you'll get a feel for what needs to be done.

I dunno...it's been decades since I learned about studio flash, but my early studio flash experience was with smaller umbrellas in the 36- to 42-inch range and with a the 36 x 48 inch softbox size modifiers. I enjoy using smaller modifiers; I'm not fond of the six- and seven-foot parabolic umbrellas I own (major PITA indoors in small places).

I think that actually MOVING the light through an arc on the floor, and up and down in height, and then adjusting the light's "angle" of incidence...those three things are the absolute,utter keys to lighting. Distance is also a factor, and many times, the difference of only a few inches is all that is needed to go from a meh lighting setup, to a good one on some types of subject. With the modeling lights set to On, in a darkened room, one can literally SEE the lighting effects, and I feel that the movement of the lights in arc/height/angle represents the crux of lighting. Ya' simply must move the light unit to get to the exact placement that gives you the lighting effect you want. One can not just plop! a light into place and expect good lighting; literally, and I mean literally m_o_v_i_n_g the light around and viewing the effect is a critical,critical step in lighting things best.

Last comment: if you have a smaller modifier, use that to see,more-clearly, the effects that arc/height/angle create. When one uses a big modifier, the softness of the shadows often sort of camouflages the effects of precise placement.

Have fun! Enjoy!

Designer · Dec 2, 2018

acparsons said:
I just acquired 2 studio flash strobes. I've never touched one before. What are some good ways to get to learn how to use it without humans as the subjects?

Do you have a light-colored plain wall? (Doesn't have to be perfectly plain or any certain color)

Set one or both lights at a certain distance from the wall, and dial through the range of power. Then vary the distance from the wall. Note the height and width of the spot of light on the wall. See how it changes from full power to lowest. See the changes as you move the light(s). If you have any reflectors or diffusers, take some shots using those. Make your own barn doors and experiment with one, two, or more doors.