Hopefully this hasn't been discussed already, if so point me in the right direction -- I didn't turn anything up on a search.
I am putting together my photobooth setup and I am having a hard time deciding what to use for lighting. I don't own any lighting besides speedlights at this point, so I am welcoming the opportunity to branch out. :-) I know I could just use the speedlights, but like I said above...looking to expand.
I am really liking the look that the ABR800 Ringflash brings to the booth, but I am wondering how much use that will get in other situations.
For those who have booths, what's your lighting set up?
There's a million ways to skin this cat...just depends on what you have for equipment and what you want the lighting to look like. I like the ring light look for the photobooth too, but I just can't justify buying one for as much as I'd use it. What I did at my last wedding was set up my 86" PLM with a WL X3200 (stuff I already have), and put the camera on a tripod on axis with the flash (camera in the center of the umbrella). Lighting looks almost identical to a ring light, with the catchlights being the main difference. If they had sunglasses on, it makes these crazy huge reflections (which fits in with what it was anyway). With the flash on half power, I was getting f20/ISO 200 at 15-20 feet (the PLM is *very* efficent. Gave them enough DOF to stand pretty much anywhere, and recycle times were almost instant. You do need a lot of room for this setup though . That PLM is HUGE.
You don't need a flash that powerful though...as said above, pretty much any studio light will work. If you don't seem to have enough power, just bump your ISO until you get the aperture/power level you want for any given distance. A $20 shoot through umbrella works just fine for this sort of thing.
Scott Clark wrote:
There's a million ways to skin this cat...just depends on what you have for equipment and what you want the lighting to look like. I like the ring light look for the photobooth too, but I just can't justify buying one for as much as I'd use it. What I did at my last wedding was set up my 86" PLM with a WL X3200 (stuff I already have), and put the camera on a tripod on axis with the flash (camera in the center of the umbrella). Lighting looks almost identical to a ring light, with the catchlights being the main difference. If they had sunglasses on, it makes these crazy huge reflections (which fits in with what it was anyway). With the flash on half power, I was getting f20/ISO 200 at 15-20 feet (the PLM is *very* efficent. Gave them enough DOF to stand pretty much anywhere, and recycle times were almost instant. You do need a lot of room for this setup though . That PLM is HUGE.
You don't need a flash that powerful though...as said above, pretty much any studio light will work. If you don't seem to have enough power, just bump your ISO until you get the aperture/power level you want for any given distance. A $20 shoot through umbrella works just fine for this sort of thing. ...Show more →
Dear lord, why in the world would you use a PLM!!!! wow haha
I am a fan of ringlights for photobooths, but umbrellas/brollys/softboxes/etc work just fine. (ab400 or a small flash is MORE than enough)
I use an AB800 usually at half power with a Paul Buff 84" PLM above and to the side. Lights groups of 2 or 10 totally evenly and the light is very flattering. I used to use a much more complex setup and switched to this, haven't looked back.
I probably have the cheapest/most disposable setup for photo booths. I use YNG speedlite with an umbrella, an LCD monitor, and a 550D. Why have 1 Photo Booth, when you can have 2 or more? The entire setup is acceptable in quality and easily replaceable in case anything happens. It can also be run in almost any environment with or without power.
Dear lord, why in the world would you use a PLM!!!!
...and then the next guy who posts uses both a ring flash AND a PLM.
The gigantic 84" PLM is a monster, and I bet it looks awesome when substituted for the ring flash. As an off-axis light, it's very good for really big groups, but I'm surprised to hear about anyone using it elevated in a photobooth setup -- it seems too likely to get knocked over. And I don't know what it adds to a ringflash setup when positioned high right -- are you using the ring as fill and the PLM as key? In what, a 3:1 ratio?
The beauty of the ABR800 ring is that it's a one-unit setup -- camera and nice light source go on the one tripod. And if you leave the modeling lights on full, they can help constrict pupils and reduce red eye.
Just this weekend, I did a photobooth with the ring flash. I had a nice black curtain as a background (it was on a stage, so it was already there). I would have liked to have set up a speedlight high and behind the subjects as a kicker -- it would have improved results a lot. Didn't have time. But I will set up the kicker next time.
Is it to reduce distance squared type light falloff?
when you throw the diffuser on the front of the plm, it's like a giant octa, just collapsible.
IMO, the big PLM is too big. Most of the time you won't have a big space to work with... a med sized soft box, or a 60" umbrella will be fine, and take up a lot less space... best space saver is definitely the abr800 with a moon unit.
I use different setups everytime. One thing I've learned though is that if you ever do a seated crazybooth, never use the ring light. No shadows + short skirts = an interesting photoshop job...
I use a Yongnuo 160 II speedlite and umbrella. I found the more complicated the system, I often have to set it up myself because my assistants wouldn't know how to set it up. Keep it simple. Stick with the speedlite imo.
. That PLM is HUGE.