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K_Strecker Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #1 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day The groundwork. I've shot in this venue before. converted old church, eccentric owners with unique decorating and lighting taste. This is literally the lighting and exposure level in the room. The white balance in this shot was set to Tungsten, because that's truely what the bulbs in those fixtures are . . . before they were gelled to oblivion. With a few CFLs thrown in for good measure. Nevermind the fact that it took 1/15 @ f/2.8 ISO 6400 to get that exposure. Not gona work for a night of latin jazz and salsa dancing. If this were a wedding reception, and the flash was on-camera, bouncing would be the best plan. The ceiling isn't white, but it's a close-to-neutral baby blue, and the walls *are* white, so there's a good chance of getting good color balance. They're not too high either, so power is no problem. But, if you take those bounced flashes off camera, one on each side of the room, shooting up into the ceiling, and control their ratios, you can get some additional depth. Not to mention, eliminating the phenomenon of the far background going dark because you're bouncing the flash directly overhead. . . You can see the ratios doing some light sculpting on most of the shots. There's a clear highlight side and filled side. Much more dimension than a bounced on-camera flash can give. 1 mini on my 1D mkIII, ST-E2 on top. 1 580EX and 1 430EXII both on Flexes. 580EX is seperated from it's flex via OC cord, and the flex is simply clamped down on the ligthstand about 15 inches. With that out of the way, the results. Now, for the torture test. I found myself outside with the camera . . . and thought hmmmm . . . will it work? I disabled flash on the left image for the baseline, turned flash back on for the second. Again, just a Pocket Wizard MiniTT1 on camera, firing the canon flashes attached to flashes . . . 3 stories up at the back end of that room. alternate angle . . . and again, from further away, on the other side of the street. Sep 18, 2009 at 03:03 PM

boug Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #2 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day Nice to see a success story with this set-up.... I have a mini and two flexes; I'm planning on getting some AC7s instead of doing the OC cords; hopefully I'll get similar results. Sep 19, 2009 at 03:54 AM

Flyyvon Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #3 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day Nice shots. This really helps since i'm struggling right now with my Flex's. Thank's for explaining your set up. One question if i could: Where you shooting in TTL mode or Manual on your flashes? Thank you in advance. Yvon. Sep 19, 2009 at 02:21 PM

K_Strecker Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #4 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day TTL mode. Have you gone through this before? Sep 19, 2009 at 03:50 PM

Flyyvon Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #5 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day Thank you K_Strecker. I am using a Canon 5D Mark II and have changed the Camera model to my camera model. I left all the other configuration standard but was using some 430EX and not the EX II. I then changed those so will be testing everything this weekend. Helpfull post....Thank you. Yvon. Sep 19, 2009 at 03:55 PM

soupey Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #6 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day try resetting your pw units too, for some reason once i did a hard reset it seemed to be more reliable Nov 01, 2009 at 07:15 PM

TeeJay Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #7 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day do you use the ST-E2 on top of the miniTT1 to help focus in low light? Nov 04, 2009 at 12:25 AM

TTLKurtis Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #8 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day I need to play with my ST-E2 in conjunction with the mini/flex system... I've never once actually used the ST-E2 since I bought it over a year ago. Granted, I often find that off-camera the ETTL never works out well for me, so I often go into manual anyways... Nov 04, 2009 at 06:13 AM

K_Strecker Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #9 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day TeeJay wrote: do you use the ST-E2 on top of the miniTT1 to help focus in low light? Personally? no. With a 1D mkIII I haven't been in dark-enough situations to need AF assist. Not that I haven't been in DARK situations, but the camera's always been able to handle it. I have AF-assist disabled via custom function. Nov 04, 2009 at 11:21 AM

cgardner Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #10 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day Save? I guess its a matter of goals for the mood of the lighting. In that same situation my goal indoors with flash wouldn't be to light up the entire room like an overcast day at high noon, which looks rather bland, but rather light it like a well lit stage or dark, sultry salsa dance salon: Dark background with one flash behind for rim-light with frontal fill to isolate the subjects just as a spotlight on a stage would. In the outdoor shots you rendered the flash lit window nicely, and used a nice balance of fill flash but dragged the shutter too much and blew the ambient highlights. The windows are also blown in the third wider shot. Chuck Nov 04, 2009 at 11:50 AM

jianghai_ho Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #11 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day cgardner wrote: Save? I guess its a matter of goals for the mood of the lighting. In that same situation my goal indoors with flash wouldn't be to light up the entire room like an overcast day at high noon, which looks rather bland, but rather light it like a well lit stage or dark, sultry salsa dance salon: Dark background with one flash behind for rim-light with frontal fill to isolate the subjects just as a spotlight on a stage would. In the outdoor shots you rendered the flash lit window nicely, and used a nice balance of fill flash but dragged the shutter too much and blew the ambient highlights. The windows are also blown in the third wider shot. Chuck Chuck, looking at the set up from the first shot, how would you go about achieving that effect that you talked about? Seems like the band was right up against the wall. Mar 25, 2010 at 03:49 PM

cineski Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #12 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day I have to agree w/ Chuck on this one. The room looks nothing like it did while you're actually there. Directional lighting in these situations work better imo. Mar 25, 2010 at 04:38 PM

K_Strecker Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #13 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day woah, you don't see threads necro'd like this on FM very often *_* You have to remember, that a photograph which exhibits the BAND for the purpose of their own self promotion may have more success if approached differently than a shot which is simply trying to record the scene and the performance *accurately* a moody, side and directionally lit photo of the sultry musicians might be more interesting and more accurately represent what this particular performance of theirs was like. But maybe the booker at the bar down the street is more interested in seeing the musicians themselves, and doesn't give a damn in how accurately the photos represent the look and feel of the venue (he cares about HIS venue and how the band might fit in there, not how the band looked at the hole-in-the-wall down the street). just food for thought When looking at other photographs, it's often more enlightening to think "now why did the photographer do that" instead of "here's how *I* would've done that" . . . Mar 25, 2010 at 04:55 PM

jianghai_ho Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #14 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day I'm just super curious how these guys would have done it, since they offer criticism but not suggestions how to do it their way. Sure, they're not the most artsy fartsy pictures ever. But every situation is different, and everyone has a different style. I for one would probably tackle the situation like you did. Mar 25, 2010 at 04:58 PM

K_Strecker Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #15 · PocketWizard Mini/Flex save the day they don't offer criticism, they offer idiocyncratic opinion backed up not with theory and jsutification but rather personal aesthetic preferances. And they don't even justify those. I don't mind, it is the internet after all. But there's no thought process behind these comments. just "LOOK - OFFER OPINION - MOVE ON" there's no consideration of why the photographer might have taken the photo that way. Obviously they know how it SHOULD be done regardless of any other circumstances which they may not be aware of they're not going to come back and defend their positions. And even if they do, you're right. The band is in a sort of nook, the width of the stainglass window that's about 8 feet deep. nowhere to hide a stand behind them without it being in some shots (and I don't own any white stands). And even then, at it's widest spread, a speedlight will likely not sidelight the entire band evenly. And, the whole band needs featuring, not just a key player or two. As soon as I'm able, I'll be putting a strobe outside that will flash through the window from the . . . um, outside . . . so that it's full of color and not a black slate. Mar 25, 2010 at 05:20 PM

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