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treebeard Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #1 · Serious studio help needed!!! Below is a picture of my "studio" as I would like to call it and one of the pictures of my wife and 14-month old (yes, she is not happy about being a guinea pig). I want to utilize what space I have. The fish tank is going tomorrow morning so that is one less thing I need to worry about. As you can see I have 3 stairs that come down into my office. I have 2 AB800's, an umbrella and 2 medium Photoflex litedome's. Right now I am using a softbox to the left and an umbrella to the right. I seemed to be really confused as to whether I should be leaving the modeling lamp on and still fire the strobes or what. All of the articles I have read suggest leaving the ISO to 100 but if I do that and shoot at say f/8 I barely get 1" shutter speed. I can't shoot at f/2.8 because then the strobe blows everything out even if I set it to 1/32 power. Do I need more powerful modeling lamps? Do I need a hair light? Please give me some suggestions on what I can do. This is not my normal forte as I am used to doing PJ stuff and sports so I REALLY need some help on this one. Thanks. Edited on Apr 29, 2008 at 08:44 PM Apr 29, 2008 at 08:43 PM

treebeard Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #2 · Serious studio help needed!!! Sample shot of my wife and 14-month old. Apr 29, 2008 at 08:44 PM

butchM Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #3 · Serious studio help needed!!! ideally you want your strobe output to overpower the modeling light and any other ambient light that may be in the area. I use ABs every day and have no problem with them canceling out the modeling lights. I use 150 watt halogen bulbs, not the 100 watt bulbs that come with the ABs. What is the shutter speed you are using and the wattage of your modeling lamps? Could be you are dragging the shutter to the point it is allowing the modeling lights to creep in. I always set my D200 to a shutter speed of 1/250 sec. (the max speed for that camera for normal flash work) Edited on Apr 29, 2008 at 09:31 PM Apr 29, 2008 at 09:29 PM

treebeard Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #4 · Serious studio help needed!!! The modeling lamps are 100w, so I need to get some 150's. If I set my ISO to 400 and shoot at f/8 I can only get 1" shutter speed so I must be doing something wrong! I would like to be able to use ISO 100, but if I set it to that and use f/8 I would drag the shutter big time and either get blur or ghosting. I seemed to be confused as to how I am supposed to get any shutter speed faster than 1/60. I must really be missing a piece of the puzzle here. Apr 29, 2008 at 09:36 PM

dedsen Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #5 · Serious studio help needed!!! The modeling lights are just so you can preview the shadows. The have no bearing on the exposure. If you are trying to use them to meter your exposure you are making a big mistake. Apr 29, 2008 at 09:40 PM

khguitar098 Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #6 · Serious studio help needed!!! ok nevermind..... Are you shooting manual settings? Because if you are just set the shutter for 200th of a second and to change the exposure, only change the aperture. You will then be fine. Edited on Apr 29, 2008 at 09:42 PM Apr 29, 2008 at 09:40 PM

Greg Feldman Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #7 · Serious studio help needed!!! treebeard wrote: I seemed to be really confused as to whether I should be leaving the modeling lamp on and still fire the strobes or what. All of the articles I have read suggest leaving the ISO to 100 but if I do that and shoot at say f/8 I barely get 1" shutter speed. I can't shoot at f/2.8 because then the strobe blows everything out even if I set it to 1/32 power. Do I need more powerful modeling lamps? Do I need a hair light? Something's not right here. On third read, based on "I have read suggest leaving the ISO to 100 but if I do that and shoot at say f/8 I barely get 1" shutter speed," it almost sounds to me like you're metering off the modeling lights. The modeling lights are there just for modeling--for seeing how shadows fall and seeing how multiple lights behave. They're not there to illuminate the photgraphed scene. The metering that matters is the metering that happens when the strobes fire. Apologies if that's obvious and I'm not giving you enough credit, but that's my best guess so far. Apr 29, 2008 at 09:43 PM

butchM Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #8 · Serious studio help needed!!! Don't set your exposure based on the modeling lights, set it based on the flash output. The modeling lights are just a reference to see where light will fall from the flash units. You should have your camera set to it's maximum flash sync shutter speed and ignore readings based on the modeling lights. Apr 29, 2008 at 09:43 PM

treebeard Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #9 · Serious studio help needed!!! Doh! So I need to get a light meter! Double Doh! Apr 29, 2008 at 09:45 PM

tifster Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #10 · Serious studio help needed!!! What do you mean "if I do that and shoot at say f/8 I barely get 1" shutter speed"? That implies that you are still using your camera's light metering. Set F8, 1/100th, and ISO 100 and then shoot. If it comes out nearly black then you aren't triggering the strobes right (probably due to a misunderstanding of E-TTL and preflashes). With that much light it should be very bright and you'll need to turn them down to like 1/8th power to get close to the right exposure. Other advice... get your subject at least 5 feet from the background, 10 would be better. (khguitar098 said 1/200th which is fine, won't matter much...) Yeah, after reading again, I think the important point is how you are triggering the strobes. I'm not a nikon guy, but Canon's popup flash ALWAYS does a pre-flash and won't properly trigger a strobe. Edited on Apr 29, 2008 at 09:49 PM Apr 29, 2008 at 09:46 PM

Greg Feldman Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #11 · Serious studio help needed!!! treebeard wrote: Doh! So I need to get a light meter! Double Doh! You don't, really, although they can be very nice to have. What you need to do is use the modeling lamps just for modeling--or even turn them off until this all makes sense to you--and then do the following: Set ISO to 100 just to eliminate that variable Set shutter speed to 1/250 or whatever your maximum x-sync is on your body. Again, this eliminates a variable for you, though you will come to understand that when all your light comes from strobes, shutter speed makes no difference. Set your aperture to something to start--say, f/8. Get rid of one of your strobes and light the scene with only one. Set it to, say, 1/4 power on the back. Since you're using only one light, don't set it off to the side. Put it just to the left or right of the camera so you don't have a half-dark subject. Get a guinea pig to sit there. Take a photo, triggering your strobe, and review it on your LCD and histogram. Was it overexposed or underexposed? You have two variables to adjust this: open/close your aperture or increase/decrease your flash power with the slider on the back. Lather/rinse/repeat. Edited on Apr 29, 2008 at 09:54 PM Apr 29, 2008 at 09:50 PM

treebeard Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #12 · Serious studio help needed!!! I am starting to figure it out. ISO 100, 1/125, f/6.3 and strobe set to 1/4 power seems to give me good exposure. I guess since I did not see the meter in the middle of the viewfinder I was all screwed up but I am starting to figure it out. I even went to 1/250 at f/5 and it came out pretty good. I feel like a retard now. Thanks for the help that has been offered. My niece is coming up in a few weeks and she wants some belly shots (4 months pregnant) so I want to be prepared. Yeah, I know I need to get a light meter! Apr 29, 2008 at 09:55 PM

treebeard Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #13 · Serious studio help needed!!! Greg Feldman wrote: treebeard wrote: Doh! So I need to get a light meter! Double Doh! You don't, really, although they can be very nice to have. What you need to do is use the modeling lamps just for modeling--or even turn them off until this all makes sense to you--and then do the following: Set ISO to 100 just to eliminate that variable Set shutter speed to 1/250 or whatever your maximum x-sync is on your body. Again, this eliminates a variable for you, though you will come to understand that when all your light comes from strobes, shutter speed makes no difference. Set your aperture to something to start--say, f/8. Get rid of one of your strobes and light the scene with only one. Set it to, say, 1/4 power on the back. Since you're using only one light, don't set it off to the side. Put it just to the left or right of the camera so you don't have a half-dark subject. Get a guinea pig to sit there. Take a photo, triggering your strobe, and review it on your LCD and histogram. Was it overexposed or underexposed? You have two variables to adjust this: open/close your aperture or increase/decrease your flash power with the slider on the back. Lather/rinse/repeat. You are dead on and you have no idea how much you just helped me. I am SOOOOOOOOOO glad this forum is here! Thanks again. Apr 29, 2008 at 09:56 PM

Greg Feldman Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #14 · Serious studio help needed!!! treebeard wrote: You are dead on and you have no idea how much you just helped me. I am SOOOOOOOOOO glad this forum is here! Thanks again. You're very welcome. Ordinarily I would send you an invoice, but instead I'll save you some more money: don't bother getting the light meter yet. (Purists will shun me, but whatever.) Honestly I think a light meter will just confuse the heck out of you right now. Instead spend your time experimenting with the instructions I posted. Put away the second light for now. You need fewer variables, not more, until this all clicks for you. Apr 29, 2008 at 10:02 PM

treebeard Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #15 · Serious studio help needed!!! The second light has been put away and I already printed out what you posted....thanks for putting it so simply. Now I can have some fun instead of being so frustrated. Apr 29, 2008 at 10:14 PM

cwebster Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #16 · Serious studio help needed!!! Read Chuck Gardner's tutorials here, all will be explained. Where to put you lights, and how to set them and the camera. http://super.nova.org/DPR/ He even shows you how to use a white towel instead of a light meter. <Chas> Apr 29, 2008 at 10:15 PM

treebeard Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #17 · Serious studio help needed!!! Just bookmarked it.....thanks! Apr 29, 2008 at 10:19 PM

bacilonur Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #18 · Serious studio help needed!!! From one of your comments, it looks like you may be missing the fact that shutter speed has no bearing on your exposure as long as you keep it under 1/250 (or whatever your sync speed is). 1/125 is a safe speed in case something goes wrong with your trigger. Only your ISO and aperture change the exposure. Click around and read what Chuck posts in almost every thread about metering with your histogram using a white towel to make sure you don't blow your highlights. And I would recommend getting a meter as soon as you're able to, it takes a lot of the guesswork out of things. Especially when you're under pressure and trying different tactics/techniques, it can save your butt if you move the light around and forget to chimp your histogram or if the histogram has a sliver on either edge that you fail to observe. Edit: Whoops, forgot to submit this for a while. Drop in if you have questions after Chuck's stuff. Edited on Apr 29, 2008 at 10:49 PM Apr 29, 2008 at 10:47 PM

treebeard Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #19 · Serious studio help needed!!! Thanks, I will. Apr 29, 2008 at 11:26 PM

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