I think it's time for a ^ for this long running thread. I have an on location shoot tomorrow for some portraits. I'll try to remember and take some shots of the setup and post them.
Muslins on top and bottom along with camera bag on bottom
softboxes and umbrellas on second shelf up
reflectors, grids, tape, whatnot on third shelf up
clamps attached to the side along with outlet strips
Here was a setup I used today for head & shoulder shots of some casino executives. Had a low ceiling, but you just deal with it. I'm using an AB800 in a medium softbox as the key light, another 800 with a 30 degree grid for hair and a 400 with a 40 degree grid as the background. I have a white collapsable reflector for fill.
KimL and everyone else who uses Photoflex softbox/octabox's, I am planning on buying 3AB800's however i don't want to purchase AB's light modifiers cause i have read that they are mediocre. I was planning on getting some photoflex modifiers but i'm not sure what speedring to purchase, i have seen soem on BHphoto for 50 bucks a pop. I was wondering what everyone here is using to mount their Photoflex modifiers to their AB's
I'am jealous of your setup! I see you have different types lighting around and above the area you shoot in, does this affect the color balance of your strobes? Sorry if this is a stupid question.
Larry, I have different types of lighting in my studio also. The simple solution is to turn off the overhead lights and use a small floor lamp that is easily overpowered by the strobes. Most days the overhead lights never come on. In my dressing room I also use table lamps, a floor lamp, and an adjustable light makeup mirror.
MikeKS wrote:
GREAT thread, thanks everyone for sharing!
KimL and everyone else who uses Photoflex softbox/octabox's, I am planning on buying 3AB800's however i don't want to purchase AB's light modifiers cause i have read that they are mediocre. I was planning on getting some photoflex modifiers but i'm not sure what speedring to purchase, i have seen soem on BHphoto for 50 bucks a pop. I was wondering what everyone here is using to mount their Photoflex modifiers to their AB's
Thanks for the replies in advanced
-Mike
Edited by MikeKS on Sep 24, 2006 at 01:07 PM GMT
Mike,
The Alien Bee speedrings will work with all the Photoflex Softboxes with the exception of the "Halfdome" (also known as a strip box). For that one you do have to use the Photoflex speedring. I use Aliens for my Medium, Large and X-Large rectangular boxes. I use a Photoflex for my Halfdome. And the AB speedrings are only $29 !!!!!! Always good when you can save a buck or two!
Kim
I noticed a few (more like a lot) of pages back that someone had a mirror on wheels to help the models to see how they're posing. I'm wondering if anyone tried using a small videocam hooked up to a monitor to do the same thing? Maybe clamp the videocam to the tripod or something? Great thread BTW. No studio here yet, but I am building a new home and I hope to turn on of the rooms into a small studio.
Wow Todd. That autopole is one sweet looking system. Does the paper roll back up pretty straight on the roll or do you have to keep an eye on it and adjust it to keep it straight?
Finally took some shots of our studio. It's our garage, roughly a 10x20 space (it's an extra-deep single car garage). We carpeted and mounted stuff. The backdrop poles are just 1" pipe with wood blocks on the walls for mounts. Backdrops are bedsheets, various fabrics, etc. Strobes are a ~250 kit from eBay (that got me 4 different lights, 2 softboxes, 3 stands, the umbrella, plus the infrared trigger unit on the camera) - they work, but have very little control on lighting (3 have only 1/2 or full power settings; the overhead one has no control at all so I used many layers of sheer fabric to tone it down). Posing box is home-made and weighs a ton, but it can roll to the far end if we've got adults to shoot.
We generally have the lights set to give pretty even coverage of the whole area, since most subjects are babies/toddlers who don't hold still. Lights let us shoot at ISO100, f/6.3, 1/160 for decent exposure.
Anyway, the pics:
http://www.virocolor.com/ebay/IMG_4933.jpg
The posing area (with our neighbor kid playing on my wife's computer)
http://www.virocolor.com/ebay/IMG_4934.jpg
Looking back at the camera - the black curtains are usually closed to hide the clutter. What can I say, my wife loves to have tons of props!
http://www.virocolor.com/ebay/IMG_4935.jpg
The wall that people see as they enter the room. All printed by us on our R1800 - for scale, the large vertical boy is a 12"x36" print. There's usually not this much clutter on this wall (the umbrella moves, and my wife's scrapbooking stuff on the floor needs to be put away...)
The messy side is not quite as messy now, but still a bit messy. Granted I'm not doing any work for hire yet so I'm the only one who sees this for now. I'm considering knocking out the wall so it is one big room, but kind of like the seperation. And if I needed more height, I could take out the drop ceiling and lights and have about 14 feet of vertical space.
Could someone please let me know whether those shoot through brollies (the one on the left, next to the fan) that are sometimes advertised as "easy to use softboxes" are anywhere close to being like a softbox? At the moment, I mainly shoot with silver reflective (with a black outer side) umbrella and find that the light can be quite harsh or, when used on a largeish scene, not bright enough (using regular Sunpak handle mount flashes).
I'm thinking of buying two of these types of brollies as a cheap "softbox". Also, how far off are they from being like a beauty dish with diffusion?
Man, would love to be able to have a room like his and not have to constantly tear down and setup!
