Douglas Barnes
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John, Great questions.
1. Check out Pocket Wizards. I own five of the 4 channel transcievers (not the new fangled multi channel/task bell & whistle units) and they fire perfectly indoors or out. All you need with them is a hot shoe or pc sync on your camera AND a pc synch on each flash for them to work. You can even use a splitter (thanks Radio Shack) and fire two flashes at once if they’re side by side (think umbrella).
2. Any strobe will work as long as the have an external PC sync socket and a way to incrementally adjust output. Sunpack and Vivitar are good. Downside is post market/off brand multi flash set-ups don’t usually work in conjunction with ETTL-II, i-TTL etc. automation. Also, you might have issues with light color when you mix brands, but that’s not a really big deal. Just get a good flash meter and set the strobes on manual.
3. Don’t know much about Canon flash stuff but my Nikon’s with a built-in flash will wirelessly fire up to ten external Speedlights if they’re all set up correctly (and indoors). I can even set power and compensation remotely, in up to three groups, right from the back of my D300 or D-80. However, as mentioned above, using any other strobe not in tune with the Nikon system will screw up the i-TTL function. I assume it’s the same with Canon. That’s where setting manual on the camera and flashes then using an incident meter (Minolta Flash Meter IV) on the subject is where I usually end up.
4-5. An incident meter is a must IMHO. Plus think about getting several strobe/umbrella brackets and some light stands. My buddy Cor uses gorrilla-pod type tripods outdoors to hold up his strobes (great idea Mr. K) Also, go to a stage works shop or a camera store and pick up a lighting gel swatch pack. Many colors and frosty diffusion to choose and at around 1″x3″ they fit nicely over most flash units and are free.
Hope this helps and good luck.
Just like any tool it’s a matter of knowing how to use it. WP point and shoot cameras can do an adequate job of capturing what’s in front of them, sure. Snapshots and such.
I use external HDs as well (I’m filling my 10th Lacie 250gb). You guys who store multiple TB on one drive; do you worry about putting all your eggs in on basket?
Matt,
You pretty much can’t go wrong with Hoya or Tiffin. B+W if you like to pay more. Don’t cheap out here and get a WallMart brand!
One idea, get one quality polarizer to fit your largest current or near future diameter lens, (probably 72 or 77mm) then buy step up rings to match your smaller glass. Yes, more expensive, but you’ll only need one filter. Plus you’re only going to be using it occasionally (see below). And remember the extra lens cap to fit, for convenience.
My biggest word of caution is to only use when needed and or required, like for reflections, water blur time exp etc, or saltwater uses. And ALWAYS use a lens hood! Many folks just leave the polarizer on for full time protection (salesmen are big on this), their hood on backwards or not used at all,
Neil thanks! I’ve got quite the vault of samples being a photo geek AND a fisherman most of my life. Cheers!
Back to the point at hand on what to warm. The choice is simple really. In most cases:
>CTO on flash and no filter on lens = warm subject & cold background
>Warming filter on lens (81b) and no gel on flash = cold subject & warm background
Do some tests to decide which (CTO, straw, gold, cc, etc) gel and camera white balance combination is right for you and the situation. (Hint: a snowy or cloudy day combo will be very different from a sunset combo) Try not to overdo it and warm too much. Sure it looks good on the skin tone, but its good by blue sky.
Regarding zooming, I tend to soften the strobe for close-ups if anything. Metering; center weighted in camera TTL for fishing snapshots, mostly, and an incident (Minolta IV) for serious work.. ;~)…
…other times you may need to dial it back just to add some color (attach 2). Most importantly, warm up your flash with a gel or filter. You can then dial your color temp to match that in your converter. You ARE shooting RAW right? Bottom line is experiment and play with it. After all we get unlimited bullets with digital now. I had to learn all this stuff and dial in my flash units with lots of notes, little signs, and transparency film.
The best thing to do is put the camera on manual and the speedlight on TTL, then play with the exposure compensation dial on the flash in relationship to your camera exposure. Sometimes you need to put the flash on +1 to add a lot of fill in bright or contrasty situations (attach 1)
…..Should any of you, whether through design or dumb luck, shoot something that you think would work on a cover (keeping in mind all my objections to images in this thread) please don’t hesitate to send it to me.
Phil
Thank you so much Phil for this opportunity. You have obviously spent some time here and whether we give up some cover worthy goods or not, we’ll all come away better photogs because of your input this week on IA. Thanks again!
Doug
Doug,
The super-high contrasty stuff doesn’t do it for me. It looks kinda like when they do “day for night” in the movies. However, I like this shot: df-s_hyans9-07cv.jpg
Do you have less-processed versions?
P
Thanks for the feedback Phil. Here’s that image right out of the camera…
