off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

[Ian]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

It is quite remarkable just how even small adjustments to the individual power of each unit can have in terms of affecting the result, especially where shadows are concerned. You might need to consider if you need to use reflected light to soften the shadows, too. I wouldn't be too reliant on small plastic diffusers unless you are using them in a relatively confined space with walls to act as reflectors, which is how these diffuser domes work best, rather than diffusing direct light.

Ian

[Mihir]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

Good observation Ian. The reason I stayed away from strobes all these years was because I hated that harsh white light. It was only a few months ago that I started discussing the use of off camera strobes with photographer friends / researching on the internet / forums - that I realized that you can pretty much emulate studio light quality of lighting using the correct modifiers / diffusers / colour gels / power settings. Now I am very keen on testing all this out for myself.

[Ian]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)



This is from nearly two years ago. I used two off-camera flashes (Olympus FL-50Rs) controlled by the camera wirelessly (Olympus E-5), one behind Lara and one to her left (right as viewed), this one fitted with the Lastolite EZYBOX mini soft box. Our back room has yellow walls and unfortunately there was a nasty yellow tint to Lara's skin from reflections off the wall, so I had to convert to mono. Balancing the two flashes required a few test exposures and adjusting the power of each. And this is the result. Lens used: Olympus Zuiko Digital 70-300mm f/4-5.6, @70mm f/4

Ian

[Mihir]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

Lovely lighting! I like the soft glow on the face and the rim light highlighting the hair from the back. You might want to re-process this in LR4 now - I am told you can correct for multiple white balance situations using the adjustment brush and correct for multiple colours of light sources. I have not tried it myself, but did read about it here - http://www.popphoto.com/how-to/2012/...al-adjustments

[Ian]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

Yes, I now use the adjustment brush a lot in LR4 for adjusting highlights and shadows and sometimes for adjusting white balance, clarity and vibrance/saturation.

Ian

[Mihir]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

LR4 is a real quantum jump!

[Ian]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

LR4 also needs lots of horsepower - my old desktop PC at the office has a 2.8GHz Athlon X2 64 5600+ and 4GB RAM, but struggles with LR4.

My new 2.2-3.1GHz Intel Core i7 2670GQM quad-core laptop with 8GB RAM, on the other hand, flies with LR4. Adjustments are delay-free; very responsive

Ian

[Mihir]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

I have an iMac with 8 gigs of RAM and it flies. My laptop is windows and therefore I stick to LR3 on it... but then this is going to start another thread!

[devilgas]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

the yongnuo's i have are the RF602's

[devilgas]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

just checking the strobist flickr group and it appears that the 602's have been replaced by the YN-622c transcievers, offering ETTL control and flash ratios. might have to investigate those now.....

[Mihir]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

Thanks Devilgas! Will check those out.

[devilgas]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

read a bit more into them. there doesn't appear to be a 1/4" tripod mount on them, so that limits how i'd usually mount them, especially when shooting through an umbrella.
i had also seen the RF603 mentioned, which is also a transceiver. again, i've not looked into the 603 so can't comment.
another set of remotes i bought were the cactus ones, iirc, through digitalrev. can't remember the reason i no longer use them (probably range), but i rely on the 602's and manually dialling in the strobe settings.

[Mihir]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

You are right - I had not noticed that! However, there is a hot-shoe that you can buy independently that has the 1/4" tripod mount, into which this can get fixed, or use a speedlight clamp.. which can take both the speedlight and the umbrella.

[devilgas]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

was doing a shoot on saturday and getting narky at manually adjusting flash power - mainly because i know i can get a cheap ettl alternative
so, have just ordered a pair of the 622's. they're coming from 'outside the uk', and will be a few weeks i guess. will let you know what they're like when i get them.

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: off camera speedlite usage (moved from General Board)

I have an extensive "Strobist" kit in which 4 guns can be directly controlled by the camera with optical RC or via Radio Triggers, for long distance / out of sight use.

Added to this is 7 small 20 GN Guns that will all slave and several others that are used in various ways.

This amount of units was only ever required for one project (Big House, Lots of Windows) but they do get used for all sorts of other things.

I also use lots and lots of Duct Tape, wire hangers, coloured cards, gels, tissue paper, silver foil and anything that "works" the light to what I want. Almost all of it came from eBay and was VERY cheap.

If you can move a light, the brightness varies according to the Inverse Square Law and can work as well, if not better than a variable output gun. Auto Guns can be "tricked" by having a white card placed in front of them to adjust the flash output. A small mirror in front of an Auto Gun can make the flash duration very short, while only blocking off a small amount of the light output.

The ways to play with light are endless and can be so rewarding when you get it right. As with most things, only change one thing at a time and make notes of what you have done (or record it on a video camera)

Most important of all, have fun and do please show us the results.