Using two portable studio lights - what accessories would you get to start?

[Mike_E]

The speedlights are quick but what are you going to shoot (and light) that you can't stop at 1/700th?

 

[Overread]

Dragonflies - butterflies - moths - other bugs - birds = all in flight.

Using the lights with a Stopshot to freeze the motion - so the flash duration is very important; I'd neglected to check it and assumed that they'd be faster, which is not the case. I agree that for most regular action 1/700sec is more than enough for a decent shot; but flight has such fast motion that 1/700sec just isn't going to cut it.

That said I don't currently own the lights nor the Stopshot so its a battle between the two in my budget. The lights were winning as being an all round useful purchase (and they still are of wide application) - however the fact that I can't use them with the in-flight rig in the future makes me wonder if the inflight rig and my current flash setup would be of more "fun" for use now (or in a bit at least when the bugs are all properly awake for spring/summer).

 

[Village Idiot]

The speedlights are quick but what are you going to shoot (and light) that you can't stop at 1/700th?

There's a Strobist article about a guy shooting really low power with speedlights to stop the motion of bird wings.

Strobist: Art on the Wing: Bradford Fuller's Fly-In Studio