Hello, I'll like to try the clampshell lighting technique as described in Photoflex Lighting School

At the moment I have only a Canon 430EX flash on a light stand and a 46 inch shoot through umbrella, plus one of those 5-in-1 reflector thing. While trying to mimick what they have done in the tutorial didn't quite give me the results I want (though resulting photo is still nice) and I'm thinking of getting a boom so I can place my flash correctly.

My question is: Will the boom such as the one from Alien Bees work with a hot shoe flash / shoot-through umbrella combo or do I need to proper studio strobe with a Octabox to do this correctly?

Thanks.


Bigbear.

A boom will work with any type of flash, you just need a bracket to hold the flash like the one shown below:

Like Chuck already mentioned you can do same using your light stand and umbrella adapter. I have the AB boom but I don't think it is not flexiable at all in what you can do with it. I should have spent more money to get better boom. I have seen those nice ones (red wing I guess) in my intructor' studio and they are awesome though costly.

Hello bobbyz,

When you mentioned that the AlienBee boom isn't flexible, can't you tell me a little more in details? PM me if you think this might start a flame war. I don't mind paying for quality stuffs but would like to know more. Thanks.


Bigbear.

The AB boom is just an extension arm. The friction / toothed locking mechanism at the stand when loosened will cause it to tilt (desired effect) but will also release tension holding the boom arm causing it to slide (undesired consequence of loosening it. The interlocking tooth design of the tilt mechanism requires it to be loosened quite a bit to adjust it exacerbating the problem. Then once you change the angle of the boom you usually need to change the angle of the head vertically and horizontally with two additional knob adjustments. So you need to take three separate actions to move the light. This problem isn't isolated to AB, most of the cheaper booms share a similar design.

At the next price point, such as the Matthews boom, the boom attached point and tilt point are separate and a simpler friction brake-type mechanism which makes the boom easier to tilt, but adjusting the head is more or less the same.

The Redwing uses a parallelogram design. When the boom is properly counter-weighted the parallelogram design allows the SB to be articulated into any position by just grabbing it and moving it without a lot of knob twisting and walking over to the stand. But you'll pay $400 - $500 for that convenience.

For your application you might want to investigate a Bogen Super Clamp and extension arm. Its part of an entire very cleverly designed system of lighting accessories which allow a flash / flash head or camera to be attached almost anywhere:

bigbearbear wrote:
Hello bobbyz,

When you mentioned that the AlienBee boom isn't flexible, can't you tell me a little more in details? PM me if you think this might start a flame war. I don't mind paying for quality stuffs but would like to know more. Thanks.


Bigbear.


Sorry for late reply but I think Chuck already answered your question.