photo:flash_studio
studio flash
studio lighting
conventional studio lighting has diverse range of lighting options, but usually involve:
AC powered monobloc lights with modeling lamps and slave triggers on lighting stands, combined with accessories such as soft box for main light, umbrella for fill light, snoot (+/- honeycomb) for hair light, and possibly barn doors or color filters for background lights
while you may be able to get away with just 2, for versatility you need at least 4-5 light sources which becomes expensive
the advantages of monobloc lights are:
accurate daylight colour balance
not hot like tungsten light sources and thus more comfortable and less risk of burns
AC powered so no need to worry about recharging batteries and also, usually fast recycle times
incorporate a modeling light to assist in accurate positioning of light
buying monoblocs:
buy the most powerful you can afford (200-400Ws as a minimum)
if 2nd hand avoid those with brown tinge which may indicate excessive use & check cords
how easy is it to change the fuse & where is the optical sensor positioned?
how many manual settings are there?
most recommend Elinchrom or Bowens, although Prolinca may suffice
now, instead of monoblocs, we could use a wireless TTL flash set up, but this is fairly expensive and often complex and requires wireless TTL compatible equipment such as Nikon's i-TTL, so instead, I have suggested a cheaper alternative using old technology which can give just as professional results although the recycle time may limit ability to take some shots, and it will require a bit more thought and trial & error.
alternatively, a ring flash gives nice circular catchlights:
a must have is a radio slave set up:
if you value your camera, get rid of as many cables as you can, I have tripped over the cable and even pulled a camera off a table by moving a studio light which was tethered to the camera. My Olympus dSLR hit the floor on both occasions but fortunately no damage done - don't risk this, get a radio slave
if you work with other photographers who have their own lighting, you may need one with more than one selectable radio channel so you don't accidentally trigger their lights.
note - these do not provide wireless flash TTL functionality.
wireless radio slaves:
I bought a RD616 radio slave which has 4 channels and the receiver can be plugged into a studio flash or via its PC sync socket to a normal flash with a PC sync cable. The latter is a problem as there is a design fault which results in the internal contacts breaking for the PC sync if the PC sync cable rotates at the connection to the unit. The studio flash connection though is not a problem.
almost a must have is a good flash meter:
although you can successfully use trial and error and check the histogram on a digital camera, accurate adjustment of different lighting ratios is best done with a flash meter that can read down to 1/3rd stop increments.
the Minolta Flashmeter IV has been a standard with professionals but is a bit complex to use, the Flashmeter V is better and simpler to use.
the Gossen Luna-Star F2 is a simpler design, and more compact & uses standard 9V batteries and takes a 5deg spot meter but it only meters to EV -2.5. It displays ambient reading as well as the flash reading and can give you contrast range as you sweep it around with button held down.
the Sekonic L-558 Dualmaster has a 1 degree spot meter as well as optional radio trigger for Pocket Wizard wireless flash sync
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Studio lighting on the cheap
the following gives an example of using 4-5 second hand
Metz 45 series flash guns with slave trigger devices attached ($A30 each although you can attach one to a 1 to 4 flash sync module and thus fire other flashes by sync cable).
these flash units will need to be mounted on either lighting stands, tripods or just sat on the floor or tables.
this means that we will not have the luxury of TTL flash metering (so we really need to buy an accurate flash light meter or just rely on our measurements and check results), nor will we have modeling lights (but instant feedback of digital will help us here), and our recycling times may be limited to 5 sec on NiCd batteries.
furthermore, we will need to make our own:
snoots:
these are important for two main reasons:
shape the light to give a smaller light source:
why on earth would you want to make your flash light source even smaller than it already is?
I have found that bouncing a flash off a ceiling or wall often makes the effective light source too large with resulting flat effect on the subject, so one either has to move the flash closer to the wall or ceiling or use a snoot to make the area of light hitting it smaller.
minimise light hitting unwanted parts such as the face, background and camera lens when using it as a hair light.
I have made my own by buying a sheet of vinyl and making a conical shape from it which just squeezes over the Metz flash head - this is one reason why I chose to have all the same size flash heads so that one size fits all.
“soft box”:
whilst you can buy mini-soft boxes to attach to these units, they are not altogether cheap.
a cheap effective alternative is using a diffuser screen positioned between flash and subject, the advantage of this is that by varying the position of the screen, one can change the effective size of the light source without having to make any changes to our exposure calculations, as long as the flash is kept in the same position. It will mean either making a screen or buying one and either having someone hold it or making a stand for it.
barn-doors:
so now we can design a standard studio lighting set up such as this:
main light:
1
Metz 45CL-4 flash aimed at subject via a diffusing screen, or alternatively bounced off a white wall or ceiling at an appropriate angle & position for the main light effect
fill light:
background lights:
hair light:
Studio lighting a little more expensive
photo/flash_studio.txt · Last modified: 2016/11/02 00:03 by gary1