Beauty shot

so, I watched this video on kelbytraining.com and it was about a beauty shot with a big soft box behind the subject and a beauty dish over head. I don't have a big soft box, but I do have a DIY beauty dish. Looking around, I had a DIY light diffusion panel made from some pvc pipes. This was very simple, throw a white sheet over it, and instant light panel.



In an attempt to learn about back lighting the subject, I gave it a shot.


Here's the end result.


Some details. The panel is pointed up behind Ashely so that is it not directly at the camera. I have a Sunpak behind to light the panel. I took a few test shots with just the panel light to get a feel for the light wrapping around Ashely's face. Remember, her face will be very under exposed and the shot will look washed out. This is ok since you can correct a lot of this in post.

Once I felt comfortable with the back light, I added the beauty dish, which is using the Vivitar 285HV. To lighten up the shadow under Ashely's chin, as you can see, she is holding a silver reflector. This is really a car shade from Costco, about $7.

This is a first attempt, so it's not great or anything, but you can learn from it. I plan to buy a soft box soon (a large one) for the Flashpoint mono light I have and then make a couple of small ones for my flashes. I think I will make a 24"x24" for the Sunpak first. I will probably come back and shoot this again when I have a soft box.

Clamp it

I bought two medium sized clamps from Lowes a while back. If you start to shoot with lights and back drops...etc., you need clamps. Small, medium, large...they all come in handy. This weekend, it hits me. Turn the two medium duty clamps to more than just a clamp. Turn them into remote flash holders!

This is actually very simple. First off, you need to have some 1/4" bolts. I had already picked up a small pack from Walmart a long time ago for some other purpose, so I have plenty of spares. Took the clamps out to the garage and less than a minute later, drilled a hole in each to fit the bolt through. Note, I found a couple of lock washers laying around. Be sure to use them.


When you buy an umbrella holder, it comes with female and male adapters. Just take the female adapter and screw it on to the bolt on the clamp.


Note, I recommend using the nut that comes with the bolt to lock the bolt to the clamp. This way you can easily remove the umbrella adapter any time and not have to worry about the loose bolt.

Use it in all kind of places. With just the flash.


With an umbrella


Places where you can't put up a light stand


Same shot as above, just had Chloe look at me and I zoomed in a bit.


Get creative with it. Need more power? Add it to a light stand and use two flash.


You can still shoot it thru an umbrella!


I found a small metal plate and then drilled a hole in the center. Bolt it to the light stand. The light stand comes with a built in 1/4" stud already. Now you can easily clamp two lights. I'm sure it would not be too hard to come up with some easy DIY rig to mount a longer bar across so you can mount/clamp 3 or 4 lights! Now you have some real power :)


Took it outside for a quick test. Early afternoon, overcast. D200, 35mm f/2 at f/8, 1/250s, ISO 200. Triggered from about 35' away with CTR-301p. Note how dark the shaded area is under the patio.


Turn the flash toward the patio and took the same shot from the same spot as above.


Just to test the power of the two lights, took another shot with the aperture set to f/11.


Have some fun and get creative on how you can use your new off camera flash clamp :)

DIY Snoot

One of the easiest light modifier to get started with is the snoot. I also realized that I wrote a quick blog already, so I will just link it here and add a bit more here.

http://jwangphoto.blogspot.com/2009/11/snoot-and.html

Along with some gels, you can have some real fun! Here's one I shot with two lights in my living room. I snooted and used a DIY grid for the light behind camera left, to give it a "spot light" effect. The light behind Chloe is just a sunpak with a blue gel on it.


Here's a single light, snoot with a diy grid.


The DIY grid I made was just some cut straws glued together.

here's another two light setup:


strobist info:
Sunpak 422D camera left at 1/8 w/diy snoot and grid and 1/4 CTO. About 8' from cup.
Sunpak 30DX camera left, behind the cup at 1/16 w/diy snoot and 1/2 CTO. About 4 1/2' from the cup.
All triggered with CTR-301. D700 w/70-200VR at 200mm f/4, 1/30s ISO 250

Speaking of gels, I blog about this as well.
http://jwangphoto.blogspot.com/2009/10/gels.html

triggers

Since this is targeted for people just starting out, the emphasis will be on cost, so I will be focusing on the CTR-301p, which is the lowest cost, off camera flash trigger that I can speak about and highly recommend. There are many many different trigger systems, including the RF-602s, I can say I have put my CTR-301p through it's paces and for the price, if they stopped working tomorrow, I would have gotten my money's worth.

The CTR-301p is very simple and easy to use. A set of one transmitter and two receiver can be had on ebay for about $42 shipped to USA location. I have bought from hkyongnuophotoequipment a few times and they have been very reliable.

I have two sets actually. The older CTR-301 and the newer CTR-301p. So, I basically have a backup transmitter and 4 total receivers. Since I generally only will use up to 3 lights, one can be considered a backup receiver as well.


They work on just about any camera that has a standard hot shoe and most flash that I have seen. I've even triggered my flash with my $26 Holga! :) Now that I have a year under my belt, if I was looking for a new set of triggers, I would probably get the RF-602s. The only reason is because of the RF remote trigger for my D700. The Nikon remote by itself cost as much or more than the RF-602 I think...anyway...I've had the CTR-301p for a year and shot thousands of pics with it and it's been very very reliable for me.

Here's a pic with them on the camera and flash.


By the way, the pics above were shot with my two used ebay sunpaks with the CTR-301p trigger system. Here's the basic set up for the shots above. Note, this was super quick, two or three shots and done.

Two foam boards on a chair, then drape a white bed sheet over it. One light is sitting behind the home made diffusion panel. I'll get into DIY light modifiers in a near future blog.


Again, very simple setup. There is a second light, behind the camera when I took the product shots above. It is pointing at the white wall behind me and bouncing back at the product on the chair.


A few things to point out from my use of the CTR-301p.

* it uses non-conventional batteries, instead of AA or AAA. I have not changed out any of the batteries since I got them except for one CR2 in one of the receiver. I think I left the receiver on for a few days, which did not help I sure.

* The optical slave does not work well, or at all, in bright light. I don't mean under direct sun, I mean, even bright light coming in through the window. But for me, I never need to use the optical. I just use the RF to trigger.

* They have very very good range. This was from about 120 feet away:


* Since they are RF, you don't need line of sight. This was shot with the light outside in the patio, with a wall between me and the flash. I am not sure if I could have triggered my SB-900 from where I took the shot.


So, that pretty much wraps it up for triggers. I think I will get into some basic DIY stuff for the flash and using them off camera next.

Back to the begining

Recently, a few people asked me about how to start shooting with the flash off camera. So I thought it would be good to start from the beginning. I will step through all the basics to get started.

First thing, of course, you need to have a flash! :) There are so many to start with, but the one most important thing to remember, if you are looking to get a flash, be sure the flash has full manual settings. DO NOT start with an Auto flash unless you already have one and want to play with it. Once you have more experience, you will be able to better determine what the next flash to get that will work the best for you.

Remember, there is no one answer that will fit everyone. I write about what works for me and try to put it in context so you can better use my information to help you make the right decision for you.

I have a number of flashes, including the SB-900, but for someone starting out, my favorite flash is the Sunpak variety. There are a few models to choose from. Again, any of the basic ones will work fine, as long as they are the full manual models. Here's two that you can find on ebay regularly for around $20 to $25 each.



Notice that they have different model numbers, but look identical. It is because they are identical! :) Something to do with different markets, US model and Europe, or something like that...no matter, as long as they work.

Also, both have a wireless receiver already attached. These are CTR-301p. They do not come with the flash. I will get into this in the next blog.

These types of Sunpak flashes can come with different hot shoe mounts. The most common are the generic, Canon, and Nikon. I think the Pentax are fine as well, but I've read that the Minolta's are not standard hot shoe types.

For off camera work, if you stick with the generic, Canon, and Nikon, you will be fine. It does not matter if you have a Canon or Nikon. I've shot with Nikon for 25 years, so I know Nikons, and a little about Canon, so if you are shooting with something else, then you may want to do a little more research. And, speaking of research, below are the two best places to start with:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/

By the way, this is going to center around wireless. So, next blog...wireless triggers...

One Light

Been on vacation the past week and this week, so not much to post. Well...lots of pics but I will wait until I get back home to pick some out for the gallery.

I was able to get a few shoots in with Trish while in SJ. Here's one with a simple $20 Sunpak w/DIY snoot and grid. The snoot is made from a Foamie craft sheet, while the grid is made with a bunch of cut up straws. The Sunpak from ebay, used. You can do this for about $25 easily. Trish's sister hand held the flash.



This was just before sunset. It was cloudy and if you look carefully, it started to rain. I wanted to blend the back ground light into the shot, but obviously, if I exposed for the back ground ambient, then the subject's face would be a bit too dark. Plus the subject's face would be a bit flat since there were no real directional light. Remember the clouds are like a giant softbox. It softens the light every where. This is why I used a simple flash+snoot+grid.

The snoot limits the lights splash and the grid helps soften the edge of the light. This allows for a slight glow of light on Trish's face and upper body only. The light drops off pretty quickly so the tree behind her is not overly bright either. Since the flash is hand held, you can easily fine tune the light intensity be having the flash move a bit closer or further.

I shot this with my D700, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR @ 200mm f/2.8 1/100s ISO 640. If we had more time (due to the rain), I would have taken another shot at f/3.5 or f/4 to see what I like better in the end. The DOF is nice on this one, but I would have liked to see a bit more behind Trish.

Anyway, just another example of something you can do with inexpensive, used flash, if you wanted to give off camera flash is try.

backdrop color

Something to keep in mind. There are times when you want a specific backdrop color, but depending on what you want out of it, you don't always have to change the actual backdrop.

Gels - in one of my previous post, gels are cheap to get. With a basic white backdrop, you can throw a gelled flash to change the color of the back ground color.

Here's one with a green gel


Here's a blue gel.


You don't even have to use a gel to change the backdrop color shade. Often, you will see off white/gray backdrop. With a white sheet/backdrop, you can manage the light fall off, which will create a shade of gray. Here's one with a plain white bed sheet.


Placing the key light, shooting through the umbrella, close to the subject, you can lower the power of the strobe. This means less light will reach the white sheet and reflect back to the camera. In the example above, I also added an accent light, a Sunpak 422D on the ground, pointing up at the sheet to give the area around Ashley's head a bit of a glow behind it.

Light budget - revisit

So, the question came up recently and I thought it would be a good time to do a quick revisit about all the lights I have. If you are on a tight budget, or if you are not, but just don't want to spend a lot of money on strobes for studio/portrait use, then you don't have to! Basically, everything you see in the picture cost about the same as ONE new SB-900!

Here's my studio lights


Lights: from left to right
285HV new $90 (used is even cheaper, I didn't know better at the time :) )
Sunpak used $20
Sunpak used $25
no name auto: free
Flashpoint 320A Mono new: $99
Total: $234

Accessories:
Light Stand x 4 @ $30 = $120
301 RF trigger x 4 = $60
Umbrella holder x 2 = $35
Umbrella x 2 (not shown) = $35
Total accessories: $250

Total Studio lights and accessories = $484. Of course, you can find some of the stuff used and drop the cost even more.

And, no, I still bought a SB-900, but it's because of the event type stuff I'm shooting and I need the iTTL and the SB-900 is great for that. But, for studio type stuff, I still use my budget lights exclusively. Why not. They work great as well.

SB-900 and iTTL

Speaking of the SB-900 (see previous post), I shot the kids dance studio performance this past Saturday. I used the SB-900, on camera, with iTTL. This is the primary reason I bought the SB-900. Over 400 shots and the SB-900 never let me down.

At 120mm and f/5.6


or 78mm, up close and wide open at f/2.8


Didn't have to touch a thing, just keep shooting.

Some tips. With any hot shoe flash, the more power you push, the longer it will take to charge up before the next shot. In situations where you may need a few rapid shots, you can't afford to shoot at 3/4 or full power because couple of seconds is like a life time in a fast pace shoot. To help reduce the amount of power you need from the flash, shoot at ISO 400. With the D700 (I love this camera), ISO 400 is a no brainer. Heck, you can push it up to ISO 800 and still get awesome low noise, high quality shots.

You can also open the lens up. The difference between f/2.8 and f/4 is one stop. It is basically the difference between ISO 200 and ISO 400. Just be aware of how much ambient light you want in on your shot. Don't forget the Triangle!

Shooting at the sun w/SB-900

Been super busy, so will keep this a bit short. In the previous post, you can see I took the kids out to the park. It was a beautiful day. I've read some issues about the SB-900, or, really more about the Nikon Advance Wireless Lighting (AWL) which can use the pop up flash in my D700 as the commander to trigger the SB-900 off camera.

Two issues I've seen.

One is the line of sight for the flash. Since it is not based on radio frequency, the light signal from the pop up flash will not bend or go through walls to reach the SB-900.

The other is too much light. This is the case I may have ran into. I did not set out to test either of the above. And, if you want more technical info, there are plenty out there. Just sharing my personal experience here.

In the photo below, you can see I was shooting into the sun. It was a bright day as well. The SB-900 was camera right, under direct sun light, as well as my D700. I took a few and the SB-900 would not trigger.


I move the SB-900 to camera left. Be sure to rotate the flash head 180 degree so the AWL sensor is now facing the D700 on the right now. With the SB-900 on the left side of the camera, now it is in the shade and triggered without any issues.


The SB-900 is still a great flash to have around. I have no regrets at all in getting it, even though it cost more than all the equipment you see here:


But none of the equipment above is going to let me shoot iTTL and high speed sync like the 2nd photo above, which was shot at 1/8000s!

putting my budget flash to task

This past Friday, I did a portrait shoot at my kids dance studio. In fact, it was 5 separate sessions with 9 different subjects in a two hour span.

I packed my portable studio, comprising...
- backdrop setup
- three light stands
- my two budget Sunpak manual flashes
- my Flashpoint mono light

Everything easily fits in the trunk of my car. Off we went and it took about 15 min. to set every thing up once we got to the dance studio. This was great. It was an on the spot shoot, mostly with kids and a limited amount of time before the next session.

In the end, I was very pleased with the outcome, especially considering the ad hoc type of situation working with young kids in a short period of time. The one thing that really stood out in the end, is how my flash setup worked. Sure, I brought the Flashpoint, but it would have been just as fine if I had another budget Sunpak. If you follow my blog, then you know both of my Sunpak cost me a total of $55 used from ebay. I see them for $25 all the time. As you can see below, they work. You don't need to have $1500 worth of lighting equipment to get good shots. Sure, I can put the $1500 worth of lighting to good use if I had it, but the point is, you can do a lot with tight budget as well.

Some samples from the shoot:

High speed sync

Although I am able to shoot the D40 with my remote triggers at 1/640s, I can only shoot at 1/250s with my D200 and D700 with these CTR-301 RF triggers. I'm not going to get into the technical details why the entry level D40 can and the semi-pro D700 can't. That's another story for another day. But, wait! The D700 CAN shoot at a much higher flash sync speed, just not with the CTR-301 and the manual flash that I have.

This is where the SB-900 comes in. The SB-600 and SB-800 as well. With these SB-xxx strobes, you can shoot at 1/8000s with the D700. Why do you need this? If you shoot in low light or controlled lighting conditions, like a studio, you don't. But if you shoot in a location that has a very bright background light source, then you need to bump up the shutter speed or stop down the aperture to not over expose the back ground. Of course, when you do this, you will under expose the subject.

Here's an example of a natural light where I needed to expose the face, but because the background light is so bright, to proper expose the face, it over exposes the background.


D200 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f4 1/125s ISO 100

For this shot, I wanted to shoot a bit open to thin out the DOF, so I shot at f/4. Then to expose the face, I had to shoot down to 1/125s. Now, if wanted to expose the background, like the sky line, correctly, I probably would need to go up to 1/640s or maybe even 1/1000s. Of course, Chloe's face would be too dark.

This is where flash comes in to help put light on her face to balance the exposure. Well, in this case, if I had to shoot at 1/1000s, I can't use the manual flash I have which only syncs at 1/250s.

With the SB-900, not only can I shoot at 1/1000s and as I noted above, up to 1/8000s, it will also shoot iTTL. TTL, meaning Through The Lens. iTTL is just Nikons new acronym for intelligent TTL. We'll talk more about TTL at a later time...back to high speed sync. Below is a shot I took with the SB-900.


D700 70-200 f/2.8 @ f/3.5 1/1600s ISO 200

The camera was set to matrix metering and aperture priority mode. This means the D700 will balance the exposure based on the overall picture, which includes the background light. This is why the camera picked the shutter speed of 1/1600s. So, without the flash, Ashley's face would be way under exposed. With the SB-900, using iTTL, which will talk to the D700 and try to even out the light as well (flash power). Because of this, I had to tell the SB-900 to increase the power by +1EV. This will help put more light on Ashley's face since I need to over compensate for the bright background over weighting the average exposure value.

This is why it's nice to have a flash that will work with the camera at any shutter speed.

Mixing ambient light

Here's something quick I did last week. Just a basic setup, combining the ambient light to provide a warm background, but still emphasizing the coffee cup and steam with a couple of strobes.

This is not hard to do. Here's a basic setup shot so you can see where everything is. Notice, that Ashley is the actual photographer :) I'm just the assistant setting it all up :)


Here's the final shot, which is straight out of the camera (SOOC) with a crop only. No post processing adjustment to the image.


Here's how I did it.

Once the camera is set, distance, focus...etc. Take a few test shots with just the ambient light. Find the setting that provides the best background light (exposure) you like. Once this is set, then adjust your strobe settings to highlight the cup. I added a second strobe to highlight the steam, which is behind the cup to the left.

That's basically it. Don't hesitate to snap away and test until you get the best combo of light you like, and then boil up the coffee in a pot and pour it in the cup. The steam will rise and start snapping...it is digital, so no worries...you will get different steam patterns, so the more you snap the more to select from later.

Have fun!

High Key

Just did some high key stuff. Very simple. White bed sheet as the back drop, point a flash at it, and then another flash for the subject.

A snoot and a....

For specifics about what a snoot is, like a definition, then google it :) Basically a snoot is something to focus the light. It can be done DIY style for pocket change. Run to your local arts and craft store and pick up a few pieces of foam paper. I like the 3mm more than the 2mm. I picked up a few "foamies" for $1.50 each.


You can use gaffer's tape or in my case, some Velcro. You can make long ones and short ones. With the Velcro, you can do it so that you can narrow the front opening to control the light beam. There are different ways you can get there, so be creative.


Now have some fun with it :)