What additional equipment?

photop · Jun 10, 2019

I've been asked to photograph headshots for about 300 students at a local university. They will be for the yearbook I'm told several will come for their sitting all at once so I'm going to bring along a second shooter to help keep things moving. This means two light setups. I currently have 2 canon 580 and one quantum flash t4d (I do also have 2 photogenic 1250s but I would rather go cordless.) I have 3 cactus transceivers with appropriate sync cord for the quantum. Soooooo....should I get more canon flashes? I thought I would use one each for backdrop lights. Another quantum? I would use one reflector for fill for each set up so it seems I would need just 2 lights per set up. A background light and key light. I am wondering what the best use of funds would be. Does anyone have experience in using either of these lights for fast paced headshots? I'll be using smallish umbrellas for bouncing my key light. Thanks!

tirediron · Jun 10, 2019

It really depends on how long a period you have to complete this job. If you want to do this job with any sort of speed, you're NOT going to do it with speedlights. They're fine if you're shooting one, two, or even maybe a dozen sessions. 300? Not a hope. This is a job for proper studio lights. You could do all 300 sessions more quickly and reliably with a kit like this than you could with two speedlights. Speedlights are going to need frequent battery changes, their colour temperature is unreliable, they're prone to over-heating... A 600 w/s power supply driving three heads will pump out 300 sessions of say... 5 frames each, as quick as it will recharge (probably faster than most speedlights) without even breaking a sweat. If you don't want to actually buy kit like this on short notice, rent it.

Derrel · Jun 10, 2019

300 people? 5-7 shots each? Go studio strobes.

photop · Jun 10, 2019

Derrel said:
300 people? 5-7 shots each? Go studio strobes.

tirediron said:
It really depends on how long a period you have to complete this job. If you want to do this job with any sort of speed, you're NOT going to do it with speedlights. They're fine if you're shooting one, two, or even maybe a dozen sessions. 300? Not a hope. This is a job for proper studio lights. You could do all 300 sessions more quickly and reliably with a kit like this than you could with two speedlights. Speedlights are going to need frequent battery changes, their colour temperature is unreliable, they're prone to over-heating... A 600 w/s power supply driving three heads will pump out 300 sessions of say... 5 frames each, as quick as it will recharge (probably faster than most speedlights) without even breaking a sweat. If you don't want to actually buy kit like this on short notice, rent it.

Thank you so much! I will take a look at that that link. I would be doing them all in one day.

photop · Jun 10, 2019

Derrel said:
300 people? 5-7 shots each? Go studio strobes.

Thank you! I’m convinced!

texxter · Jun 11, 2019

Assuming you can photograph each student in 2 minutes you have 300*2 = 10 hours of work if you do it yourself, and 5 hours with two shooters non-stop. You'll need to take some breaks, so I would plan 6 hours with two shooters. It seems that two shooters is the minimum to get this done in a day. At my kids' graduation ceremony of 1,400 two photographers were taking portraits of the kids as they approached the stage, and it seemed to work quite smoothly. They used a green screen.

So definitely studio strobes plugged into the wall, which implies power cord management and making sure nobody trips into the light stand. It also means having an extra light and extra camera in case there is a failure. There has to be a way for the two photographers to have the same focal length, exposure, look, color balance, etc, so that the images look the same regardless of the person pressing the shutter.

Post-processing has to be efficient, as 2 minutes per photo means 6 hours of hour at the computer.

Hope you're being compensated for this work, as it's quite a bit of work. Good luck!

photop · Jun 11, 2019

The wall outlets are so far away so was hoping to go cordless. Would be my quantum be sufficient? I could get a second one for the second set up. What do you think?

Derrel · Jun 11, 2019

wall outlet proximity= extension cord(s)

I can see NO BENEFIT whatsoever in lighting with speedlights when you own two Photogenic 1250's.

Why eat breakfast cereal and milk with chopsticks when you have a spoon?

You will get smaller pupils and MORE color in the eyes with modeling lights; with speedlights, you are likely to get that large-pupil, cow-eye look in many shooting situations.

You seem to be bent on using the wrong tool for the job, over an imaginary problem.

photop · Jun 11, 2019

Derrel said:
wall outlet proximity= extension cord(s)

I can see NO BENEFIT whatsoever in lighting with speedlights when you own two Photognic 1250's.

Why eat breakfast cereal and milk with chopsticks when you have a spoon?

You will get smaller pupils and MORE color in the eyes with modeling lights; with speedlights, you are likely to get that large-pupil, cow-eye look in many shooting situations.

You seem to be bent on using the wrong tool for the job, over an imaginary problem.

Lol...

. Yes, I suppose. I guess I could revisit the scene with the idea of using extension cords.

texxter · Jun 11, 2019

photop said:
The wall outlets are so far away so was hoping to go cordless. Would be my quantum be sufficient? I could get a second one for the second set up. What do you think?

Well, we're talking volume shooting and fast back-to-back flashes, which means a heavy load on those portable flashes, since you need to move at a good pace. The only reason to use portable flashes is for portability and you don't need it for this assignment, as the light equipment is going to be stationary. A rented generator and an extension cord is probably better than running an extension cord over 100 ft, but I don't know what you mean by far away. Good luck!

Edit: wedding photographers shoot entire weddings, hundreds of images, with portable flashes, Quantum being a great one. They do fine. So I am not saying it can't be done, only that stationary lights are going to allow you to shoot faster with less stress on the circuit boards. If each of you is doing 150*4 captures per student, we're talking 600 flash activations each. This is very doable as long as you have replacement batteries. Recycle times are going to be slower, so keep that in mind.

Derrel · Jun 11, 2019

Speedotron Model D604 3 Light Travel System Brown Line -M11 & M-90 Max 600Ws | eBay

I own a D604 pack...it is too powerful for my tastes, especially with 1- and 2-light setups..I prefer the D402, 4-outlet pack,and have two of them.

photop · Jun 11, 2019

texxter said:
photop said:

The wall outlets are so far away so was hoping to go cordless. Would be my quantum be sufficient? I could get a second one for the second set up. What do you think?

Click to expand...

Well, we're talking volume shooting and fast back-to-back flashes, which means a heavy load on those portable flashes, since you need to move at a good pace. The only reason to use portable flashes is for portability and you don't need it for this assignment, as the light equipment is going to be stationary. A rented generator and an extension cord is probably better than running an extension cord over 100 ft, but I don't know what you mean by far away. Good luck!

Edit: wedding photographers shoot entire weddings, hundreds of images, with portable flashes, Quantum being a great one. They do fine. So I am not saying it can't be done, only that stationary lights are going to allow you to shoot faster with less stress on the circuit boards. If each of you is doing 150*4 captures per student, we're talking 600 flash activations each. This is very doable as long as you have replacement batteries. Recycle times are going to be slower, so keep that in mind.

Okay...thank you for your insight! That makes sense. The distance is probably about 60ft. So what about background lights then? Set on their lowest power and with external battery packs they could keep up?