Portrait Photography Lighting Help Required
Discussion
I was wondering if anyone can help with my lighting setup for some portrait photography I'm doing on Sunday.
A bit of background - I am a really keen amateur photographer, and last year was asked to take photos at my daughters local Irish Dance competition.
This was of them with medals etc, which I took using my 500D and Speedlight Flash.
There is no profit in this for me, anything made on the selling of the photos goes straight to to the dance club, so purely fund raising.
They were very happy with the quality, and have asked me to do it again this year. However I think I can do alot better, especially with the lighting, so have hired some extra gear for this year.
Maybe I've gone over the top, but want to learn and improve.
I have hired two Bowens Esprit 500 DX monolights with Umbrellas etc and backdrop.
Set it up at home tonight and have got it working and am comfortable with adjusting the flash brightness setting, but there a some things I'm not sure about.
I was expecting it to just have flashes, one Master using a sync chord with a slave driven of the Master.
But there are also lights in each unit, which can be set to stay on or flash. They also seem to react differently depending on how I set the connection between the 2 units.
Does anyone use these lights, that can help with setting up. What is the difference between "remote" and "cell" and why would I want the lights on or the lights to flash rather than the main flash unit?
Is it just an additional feature for lighting the background as an example.
On the test shots I took tonight, I can see immediately the reason for good lighting. A huge improvement, even if I don't understand all the features available, but any help will be appreciated.
A bit of background - I am a really keen amateur photographer, and last year was asked to take photos at my daughters local Irish Dance competition.
This was of them with medals etc, which I took using my 500D and Speedlight Flash.
There is no profit in this for me, anything made on the selling of the photos goes straight to to the dance club, so purely fund raising.
They were very happy with the quality, and have asked me to do it again this year. However I think I can do alot better, especially with the lighting, so have hired some extra gear for this year.
Maybe I've gone over the top, but want to learn and improve.
I have hired two Bowens Esprit 500 DX monolights with Umbrellas etc and backdrop.
Set it up at home tonight and have got it working and am comfortable with adjusting the flash brightness setting, but there a some things I'm not sure about.
I was expecting it to just have flashes, one Master using a sync chord with a slave driven of the Master.
But there are also lights in each unit, which can be set to stay on or flash. They also seem to react differently depending on how I set the connection between the 2 units.
Does anyone use these lights, that can help with setting up. What is the difference between "remote" and "cell" and why would I want the lights on or the lights to flash rather than the main flash unit?
Is it just an additional feature for lighting the background as an example.
On the test shots I took tonight, I can see immediately the reason for good lighting. A huge improvement, even if I don't understand all the features available, but any help will be appreciated.
The 'constant' light is a modelling light to help judge how the lighting is going to look. On Bowens monoblocks they can be turned off, set to full brightness or proportional to the level of the flash power. To let you know when the flash has recharged you can set these lights to go off after the flash and come back on when the flash is ready. You can also set the flash to beep when ready.
Cell sets the flash to act as a slave, triggered by the light cell detecting a flash from another unit - is a pain in a place where others are taking photos as their flashes will set it off too...
Remote will set for use with wireless triggers.
Hope that helps and good luck with the shoot.
Cell sets the flash to act as a slave, triggered by the light cell detecting a flash from another unit - is a pain in a place where others are taking photos as their flashes will set it off too...
Remote will set for use with wireless triggers.
Hope that helps and good luck with the shoot.
Are you sure you're not getting confused with the modelling lights.
The studio flashes I have have two adjustable knobs - the first can be on or off when on it's output level is adjustable - this is the modelling light and allows you to set up the scene how you want it and would generally stay on. The second knob is purely the flash output level - again adjustable and normally I would run these at a similar output level as the modelling light if you've used them to set the scene.
Good Luck with the shoot.
ETA - Too slow..
The studio flashes I have have two adjustable knobs - the first can be on or off when on it's output level is adjustable - this is the modelling light and allows you to set up the scene how you want it and would generally stay on. The second knob is purely the flash output level - again adjustable and normally I would run these at a similar output level as the modelling light if you've used them to set the scene.
Good Luck with the shoot.
ETA - Too slow..
Thankyou both for your help. I think I'll use the modelling lights for set up, but not in the main shoot, as it's going to be requests for a shot on an ad hoc basis. Last year was about 250 over the day.
It seems that I have to set the slave to "cell" which I know will work and hopefully won't get any interference.
I may post some shots of the day if they are as good as I hope
It seems that I have to set the slave to "cell" which I know will work and hopefully won't get any interference.
I may post some shots of the day if they are as good as I hope
I've shot stuff before just lit with the modelling lamps, but they are just that really - something that gives you an indication of where the light will fall before you hit the flash. Which on 500's is going to be about 5 times more powerful than what the modelling bulbs are putting out assuming both lamp and flash are set to about half power
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