Using a low DoF with studio lights

blastman said:
I like this idea.

you can keep the filter off the lens (as to not compromise image quality) and still step down the light on the subject.

Might have to still bung a nd2 on the lens if the light is still too much.
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It's also worth remembering that setting the lights to 'half power' will normally change the colour temp of the light, while ND gels keep the colour temp the same.
 
Turn your lights completely around and bounce off the walls.

I took this shot at f/1.8 with a nifty fifty and a pair of studio lights.

4493168179_b4857f9dc2_o.jpg


It's all about experimentation on where you point your lights. Try and point them anywhere but the subject.

Actually thinking about it, it may have been my Sigma at f/2.8 but my method still stands :p
 
peterattheboro said:
Turn your lights completely around and bounce off the walls.

I took this shot at f/1.8 with a nifty fifty and a pair of studio lights.

4493168179_b4857f9dc2_o.jpg


It's all about experimentation on where you point your lights. Try and point them anywhere but the subject.

Actually thinking about it, it may have been my Sigma at f/2.8 but my method still stands :p
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Hehe nice one thanks. but I'm trying to find a solution with the lights pointing at the subject to play around with shadows etc. :)
 
Phate said:
Experimentation is required :)
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A tungsten bulb is basically a glowing piece of metal in a glass case.

The more voltage you put thru the bulb, the brighter it glows, but the colour temperature also changes, the colour temp gets higher when you put more power thru the bulb.

If you see 100W bulbs thru a dimmer switch, notice how the light is a much warmer colour when dimmed right down...

Of coarse LED and HMI bulbs don't suffer from this issue so if you are using a get of tungsten lamps then a roll of ND gel (and maybe a few other gels also) would be a good investment. :)
 
Cant you buy some flash transmitters and receivers such as HK's version of pocketwizards on the cheap to allow you to sync at 1/4000 ?
 
It should work with any format.

All its doing is telling the pocket wizard system to activate when the optical sensor sees light off the canon speedlight, so set the speedlight up for 1/4000 and everything else will fire at 1/4000.
 
Oh and if he can find a P-TTL flash system that uses leads instead of wireless, that will work at 1/4000 too.
 
You're going to struggle badly to get that really shallow depth of field - I suspect that your lights are quite a high wattage for the size of room that you shoot in. In a proper studio, you could move the lights further back, reflect the light back off walls/reflectors for more incidental light rather than direct lighting. Or, you could add a number of modifiers to reduce light spill even further.

I think you're options basically amount to purchasing lower wattage lighting eg.alienbees, trying as best you can to reflect light off walls/ceiling or just use speedlights/flash rather than proper studio lights ( you know, strobist techniques are quite fun ! ).

I'm not hugely in favour of stacking ND filters either, as it will degrade the image quality.

Best of luck with your attempts.
 
Im no expert on flash or studio but cant you just use constant lighting to over exposure your model, then use a wide aparture for DOF and a high shutter speed to nail the right exposure ? Your model will be frozen in the frame at a very high shutter speed anyway, and you could possibly use a speedlight to freeze without messing up the exposure ?
 
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