How dark should I keep the room in which I am taking pictures? I want to keep my overhead lights off right? And if I am not using window light should I have my blinds drawn? I understand I dont want it pitch black but how much light should be coming into the room?
I am using x2 Vivitar 285 and just want to try my hand at lighting off the hotshoe.
I don't keep my studio very dark. I'll shut the blinds if there is direct sunlight coming in, or for privacy. The ambient light is all about the relationship to the output of your studio lights. If you get too dark it makes it hard to AF. Also, I don't even need my modeling lights anymore, I don't even have them on, so I don't need a dark room for that.
If you are shooting at 5.6 at ISO 100, then the room light is going to be 3-4 stops(or more) below that and won't usually effect anything. If you are shooting at 3.5 and ISO 800, then ambient light could certainly play a factor.
The beauty of digital is that you can figure it out yourself by testing and see the results instantly.
You're at a big disadvantage not having modeling lights on your strobes.
I'll turn the ambient lights off over the shooting bay and we keep all of the windows blacked out, but I leave the ceiling lights on over the equipment and kitchen areas and in the green room. Without the strobes' modeling lights it would feel like a half-lit room, but the modeling lights bring the shooting area up to a fine level. I haven't had any problems with the ambient lights reading in the exposures when shooting in the range of f/8 @ 1/250th.
We actually shot with the fluorescent work lights on in my studio last weekend, so Bryan could use LiveView and remote focusing with his new 7D. Shooting at 1/200 and f/16 the work lights had no visible effect on the exposure.
Normally I work like Shatterkiss, with the lights off in the shooting end of the room and some track lights on at the other end.
1) so you can see the effect of the modeling lights
2) so the ambient light doesn't affect the exposure
With your pair of 285HVs you don't have modeling lights and will need to make decisions on lighting ratio and exposure based on the camera feedback. As such you just need to keep the ambient light low enough that is doesn't affect the exposure in any unwanted ways. But in some situations it can be very effective to combine flash and window light:
If the room light is too bright and directional it will affect your perception when shooting. The brightness level will also affect th the size of the pupils in the eyes of the subject. In my shooting space the subject faces a wall behind the camera which has recessed lights washing it. The lights are on a dimmer and I can adjust the brightness of the wall the subject is staring at to change the size of the pupils beyond how just the modeling lights on my studio flash constricts them. You can do something similar by shining a desk lamp on a wall behind the camera.
Sorry. inside joke based on another thread about humidity and lens fungus. I once stored a pistol in a fire proof safe and the lining absorbed and held so much moisture the safe and gun rusted. I think RD is implying that Daddy better have a shotgun handy to chase away the boys.
She's actually the daughter of friends. She was only 5 in that photo so Daddy has a few years before he needs to start worrying
An easy test, assuming you want no ambient light to affect your shot, is to shoot a test frame without firing your flashes. If it comes out completely black then you you know that no ambient light is having an effect. Hearing other people's setups, room sizes, camera settings, etc. is nice, but in the end it all depends on what YOU have to work with.
Oh Chuck .... that family picture ...your white towel is still in the scene !!!!
( sorry, couldn't help it)
Except for modelling lights creating this kinda studio "mood" and showing what you'll get, I would have trouble to focus properly without them, using low ambient light.
The more because I like to work with open apertures.
( and with Canon ?)
