one two, testing! New Lighting Method test

Thanks for the comments guys :)

She's seen the thread and is annoyed that i didnt put a few of the others that she liked on, so here they are :p

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and just one more that i quite liked the lighting on but not the model's pose:

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Tom.
 
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Cool stuff Tom, good to see you getting used to off camera lighting.
I would suggest learning to shoot in manual mode though, you'll find that making adjustments is a lot quicker and easier.
 
Nice shots, ive just sold 2 sets of lighting stands, umbrellas and flash mounts on the bay, makes me wish it kept one of them now as i want to go and have a play again :)
 
Cool stuff Tom, good to see you getting used to off camera lighting.
I would suggest learning to shoot in manual mode though, you'll find that making adjustments is a lot quicker and easier.

I know how to shoot in manual, I'm learning how to use the ttl control so I can make adjustments remotely :p
 
Ah okay, but you know that shooting TTL isn't the same as shooting manual but with the added luxury of remote adjustments right?
 
yea I know it's different that's why I'm practicing with it before I need to use it :)

How do you find shooting TTL? It's not something I've gone in to much because of the lack of continuity that you get with it. It seems to be a system that you have to be on top of all of the time rather than the 100% consistant manual method.
 
well you can see the results, not half bad considering ive never used it before! So far it seems quite good, there is a regular pro who comes in work who swears by it who introduced me to it, he loves having the ability to sling a few strobes into good but hard to access locations with some decent batteries in and get on with the job, if the subject changes (mainly band work etc that he does) and he wants a different bias to the lighting he can dial it in via the on camera controller. Seems actually fairly consistant if im honest with you :) The only time ive had trouble with it was the first shots where i was shooting into a very very bright low sun where depending on my angle it wasn't picking the comms up, but if i made sure i had good line of site with the flash it was fine, and again once the sun died down a bit or i was in shade it worked 100% of the time.

I'd give it a go, especially as with your pocket wizards cant you do radio frequency TTL rather than having to rely on IR? That'd make all my gripes with it disappear :)

Also one thing i love is it is so quick to adapt, look at the shots of the chow in the other thread, i had the flash at the top of the steps taking shots of the model up there, completely differnt angles and working distances etc to the chow shots, when i grabbed the tripod, dropped the height of it down and took literally 4 shots, all of them lit 100% perfect, in manual i wouldve had to dial it right down first etc, this, just worked.
 
What I meant by "not consistant" was if the framing of a shot changes - for example if you all of a sudden pull to a wide shot where the background is very dark, the TTL tries to light the whole frame and so increases the flash power and you end up with a nuked subject. Obviously it can be compensated for in camera, but it's one of those things where you might miss a "moment" due to the TTL trying to do the thinking for you.

With regards to the pocketwizards, they aren't for TTL shooting only for use with a sync cord. Being a radio frequency they can't carry TTL signal.
But a clever guy called Kevin King made a system called "Radio Poppers" which will do wireless TTL. If you're looking for the pocketwizard equivalent for TTL then look no further, these things are amazing.

The more you shoot manual the quicker it gets, I can set up a head and shoulders portrait in under a minute including placement of light stands etc.
Once you get used to it you don't even think about the numbers and 9/10 times I'm within half a stop on my exposures right off the bat.
 
What I meant by "not consistant" was if the framing of a shot changes - for example if you all of a sudden pull to a wide shot where the background is very dark, the TTL tries to light the whole frame and so increases the flash power and you end up with a nuked subject. Obviously it can be compensated for in camera, but it's one of those things where you might miss a "moment" due to the TTL trying to do the thinking for you.

With regards to the pocketwizards, they aren't for TTL shooting only for use with a sync cord. Being a radio frequency they can't carry TTL signal.
But a clever guy called Kevin King made a system called "Radio Poppers" which will do wireless TTL. If you're looking for the pocketwizard equivalent for TTL then look no further, these things are amazing.

The more you shoot manual the quicker it gets, I can set up a head and shoulders portrait in under a minute including placement of light stands etc.
Once you get used to it you don't even think about the numbers and 9/10 times I'm within half a stop on my exposures right off the bat.



easy combat to it trying to light the entire scene, whack it onto spot metering and away you go :)

As you say you can set up a head and shoulders in under a minute, and get the exposures nearly right straight off, I agree and i'm in a similar position (obviously not done quite as much as you but ive got my head around it), but this took under 5 seconds literally, it just works......i do appreciate the use for manual and i will still be using it but IMO TTL has it's place and it's another technique to add to the arsenal :)
 
them radiopoppers at a quick glance look to be quite good! best of both worlds, allow manual remote control of the flashes and TTL :D will look at them properly when i get home
 
them radiopoppers at a quick glance look to be quite good! best of both worlds, allow manual remote control of the flashes and TTL :D will look at them properly when i get home

I didn't realise they did the same job as pocketwizards too? I know they have the Radio Popper Juniors which do but the range isn't as far at the PW's
 
The RadioPopper P1 system allows you to use the automatic and
high-speed sync functions built into your existing flash units without
concern of whether or not the master and slave units can “see” each
other. You now have the ability to place your lights wherever you
choose, then controlling the output power of each slave flash from the
camera body manually
or automatically via your camera’s ETTL or iTTL
logic system. It’s also the world’s first product to effectively provide
you high speed sync by radio. Enjoy.
 
The RadioPopper P1 system allows you to use the automatic and
high-speed sync functions built into your existing flash units without
concern of whether or not the master and slave units can “see” each
other. You now have the ability to place your lights wherever you
choose, then controlling the output power of each slave flash from the
camera body manually
or automatically via your camera’s ETTL or iTTL
logic system. It’s also the world’s first product to effectively provide
you high speed sync by radio. Enjoy.

That makes no sense...."controlling the power of each slave flash from the camera body manuallt"....that's not like a remote way of shooting full manual (i.e. changing the power on the back of each strobe) I think it means something else.
 
Sorry for the thread revival but I am looking at getting a setup like this for my 40d/24-105/580exII combo and was wondering what you were using to attach the flash to the tripod and umbrella?

I have seen umbrella holders on the auction sites but they look like they are designed for proper light stands.

I have a nice sturdy manfrotto tripod and see no need to buy a dedicated light stand and want to try and do this on a budget.
 
So what do you need for this? Is it as simple as a Flash gun (and wireless transmitter), umbrella and tripod?

How much would an umbrella and necessary mounting bits set one back?
 
That makes no sense...."controlling the power of each slave flash from the camera body manuallt"....that's not like a remote way of shooting full manual (i.e. changing the power on the back of each strobe) I think it means something else.

no, it is actually EXACTLY like chanigng the settings on the back of the flash ;)
 
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