A breakthrough of sorts

[purplehaze]

I took what was for me a deep dive into flash photography this weekend and finally accomplished an all-manual three-light setup. I have only ever shot TTL before and was always flying on a wing and a prayer. But after thoroughly reviewing how to operate my equipment, watching some video tutorials, reading, and above all, experimenting and looking at the results, I am finally starting to put it all together.

The following was shot with a key light at 1/8 power, a fill at 1/32 and a gelled back light at 1/8. The key and fill were inside Flashbender softboxes, and the back light had the flash diffuser pulled out to get maximum light spread in what was a very confined space. I used my SU-800 as commander for my Nikon SB-5000 and SB-700s, as it apparently sends a more powerful signal than my camera pop-up, and it in fact proved a more reliable trigger when the flash sensors were not in direct line of sight.

Although I just acquired a Sekonic light meter, it is too awkward to use with flash without radio triggers or an assistant, so I just worked out my exposure by trial and error. Once I was in the ball park, I tweaked my exposure by 1) increasing ISO and 2) moving my key light back. The final shot was f/5.6 @ 1/60 and 200 ISO on my D750 with Tamron 24-70 at 45 mm.

The purpose of this shot is to record this finished object before I give it to a friend. I post record shots like this on a knitting site that other knitters use for inspiration, so it should be judged as a product shot. I would appreciate hearing your observations.

[Manfred M]

Nicely done Janis. Great shot!

The only thing that bothers me is the dressmaker's dummy is a bit too "hot" and it takes away from the shot. Burn that down a bit and your garment will stand out better.




I'm not going to overload you with suggestions just as you are getting started, but let me start with two things that do strike me right off:

1. While it doesn't make a lot of difference in this shot, it can in others. The shutter speed, as long as it is at or below your camera's sync speed (with Nikon that is likely 1/250th second), makes no difference to your exposure. The flash duration is so short (less than 1/1000th sec), you can select just about any shutter speed and get exactly the same exposure.

2. In product photography, we generally look at flat, almost shadowless light, so it is typical to have the key light and fill light at exactly the same power settings. Lighting ratio of 1:1. In portraiture, where we look at shadows to sculpt the model's face we tend to look at having the fill light at lower power settings than the key light. 2:1 (fill at 1/16) or 3:1 (fill at 1/32) are pretty typical.

P.S. You're right; using a flash meter with optical triggers is a bit of a pain. That's why is pretty well why I exclusively shoot with radio triggers. My Sekonic L-358 accommodates a PocketWizard radio trigger and I use radio triggers on my Nikon Speedlights. The only downside is cost; PocketWizards are quite expensive.

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Manfred. I was thinking the neck of the dress form was a bit hot, as well. I did try bringing it down, but it quickly goes to that unattractive gray and I don’t know what to do with that. I understand that shutter speed is not a factor here, but my next challenge is to use it to mix flash and ambiant. I didn’t know that product photography prefers flat light, so good to know. I did want to practice balancing main and fill, though, as I am supposed to be shooting headshots of the new members of my dragon boat team this week. In the past, I have used just one flash and had my subjects hold a reflector for fill, but I was thinking I might be able to shoot faster with a second light instead.

[Wavelength]

Excellent

[Manfred M]

Part of your problem with the hot spots is likely your flash modifier.

The Rogue Flashbender is fairly small, when compared to your subject, so the light dropoff will be fairly noticeable, especially if your light source is close to your subject (where it should be to get soft, diffuse light). I do have the original model of the Flashbender, but have not used it much due to the quality of light (it's still a fairly small light source). I have used it rolled up with a Speedlight as it makes a decent hair light.

In static shooting situations with Speedlights, I tend to use umbrellas (reflective or shoot through) as they tend to give nicer quality light. I usually use a white umbrella but will use a silver one on occasion as well. The issue with using umbrellas is that one needs a light stand, and umbrella holder as well as an umbrella, so there is an expense (on sale they are probably running around $130 locally).

The up side of umbrellas is that they are reasonably inexpensive and portable, but they are not particularly robust, so I only use them indoors.

The issue with a static reflector is that one needs an assistant or a stand to hold it. A second flash does buy some flexibility as well as far more control on the amount and quality of light.

[rpcrowe]

There is nothing like being able to control the light that is making your image... The often heard complaint, "I don't use flash because it doesn't look natural!" is not a complaint directed against flash but, against flash used incorrectly

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Manfred. I have an umbrella and a couple of larger softboxes, but part of my experiment is to devise the most portable kit possible for my next task, which is to shoot a series of headshots within a short period of time before dryland practice in a gym. I want a kit that is small and light to spare me trips back and forth to the car (I will also be carrying my own workout gear), and I need something that is super quick to set up and take down.

[purplehaze]

There is nothing like being able to control the light that is making your image... The often heard complaint, "I don't use flash because it doesn't look natural!" is not a complaint directed against flash but, against flash used incorrectly

Yes, I see that now. I am quite excited to have reached the level of understanding I have now and explore all of this further. It really opens up a lot of opportunity, in particular for shooting outdoors. To that end, radio triggers are now on the wish list. (Do they ever go on sale?) My light meter is designed for use with Pocket Wizards, so that is what I will be looking at.

[xpatUSA]

I want a kit that is small ...

Unfortunately, this is a case where size matters. To avoid uneven lighting due to the dreaded Inverse Square Law, or at least mitigate it, the light source size should be more than about half of the distance of the light source from the subject. So placing the light source e.g. umbrella at, say, 2m away, a 1m diameter or more will do quite nicely, IMHO.

http://kronometric.org/phot/lighting...20handbook.pdf

See p.26 for the tech stuff.

[purplehaze]

Thanks for the formula, Ted, and the link.