Lighting setup for grad night photo booth.

[Colin]

It looks like there's a good chance of landing a little gig to do a photo both for a high school grad night. This needs to be an efficient kind of production, and I'd like to have it possible to have things setup with the EOS utility to take pictures, and get them printing, as soon as possible, so the kiddies can have something to remember their night of sobriety and not getting to dance with that person they've had their eyes on for the last four years.


I want to get them in, catch them while they think they might be happy, and not worry about adjusting the focus or getting them to hold still.


That means greater depth of field, smaller aperture, and FLASH.


My 30D has a flash. But almost every picture i've taken with the onboard flash on either the 30D or my Rebel XT has been pretty sucky.


I'd like to do this well, but I don't want to spend a huge chunk of money. I know that some of you have suggested using a big speedlite bouncing off ceilings, but I don't know if I can rely on having a ceiling, or what not. I was wondering about maybe getting a couple of economical umbrella flash kits, and maybethe 'cheap' speedlight for fill from the front....


This caught my eye, inspired by remembering that wad of recycling that comes in the mail regularly... http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/CF0502K1/ ("http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/CF0502K1/)


I'd like to keep the lighting budget under $600, total.


Any suggestions?

[Dallasphotog]

I've shot a few of these. Not a great chance for art, but at least you get in some work. I have a pretty inexpensive set of Smith Victor flood lights and I use a 580EXII or a 430EX on a Stroboframe bracket.

[Sean Setters]

Colin-


I don't how much time you have before the big shoot, but I would suggest taking a strobist approach. It'll work reasonably well and you can get everything you need under your budget.


(2) <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,4721.html"]

LumoPro LP632 Umbrella Swivels (http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,4616.html]Vivitar 285HVs[/url] x $90


(2) Impact Air-Cushioned Heavy Duty Light Stands - 9.5' x $39


(2) <span class="bodyTextBold) x $17


(2) <span class="bodyTextBold"]<a target="_blank" href="http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,4643.html"]

Westcott 43" Collapsible Umbrella White Satin[/URL] x $20



(1) Cactus Wireless Flash Trigger Set V4 ("http://www.gadgetinfinity.com/product.php?productid=17204&amp;cat=0&amp;page=1) x $40


(1) Cactus Wireless Flash Receiver V4 ("http://www.gadgetinfinity.com/product.php?productid=17205&amp;cat=0&amp;page=1) x $24


All that together comes out to about $400. That would give you two light sources, one for the mainlight and then another for fill (or else a background light). Depending on how much you'll be shooting, I'd recommend a couple of sets of backup batteries per flash. Other than that, I think you'd do fine with this. I used a similar setup here:


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The only difference is that I'm using the silver umbrellas in the above shot. With the white ones, you could use them in a reflective manner or shoot through them. Of course, I'm also using two flashes into the same umbrella, but that's because I was trying to overpower the sunlight hitting the subject on the left side of the image. Indoors, you should be able to use a single flash as your mainlight at (probably) 1/2 power depending on ISO.

[Colin]

Sweet!





Thanks Sean!

[Colin]

Dude, I just realized that you did my shopping for me...


THANKS (yes, yelling)


However, the Cactus stuff disappeared.


I can't find it via google, at least anywhere it's in stock. Any suggested alternatives?

[Joel Bookhammer]

You can find the Cactus's on ebay pretty much all the time, just got some my self and they work great.


joel

[Sean Setters]

Actually, the Cactus V4s had just come out when I posted the link and they're out of stock already. You can probably get by with a set of Cactus V2s triggers, but the quality of them varies greatly. I have a pretty good set of 4 that have lasted me a good while, but they're starting to misfire too often for my comfort (which is why I'll be upgrading soon). There are several cheap wireless trigger options. If you search this discussion group on flickr it should help you find out about the different models available:


http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/ ("http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/)


One option is the CTR-301 triggers found on Ebay...from what I've heard, they're pretty good. However, they seem to have a design problem that makes them only fire if your flash batteries are over halfway full. There's a simple mod to alleviate the problem that can be found at:


http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157612529839420/ ("http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157612529839420/)


If you do get the CTR-301 set, you'll need to get a different umbrella swivel. You'll need this one instead:


http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,4722.html ("http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,4722.html)


The above swivel is a little more expensive, but comes with a stud that you need to fit to the bottom of the '301s. If you wanted to mount your flash directly to the umbrella swivel (without a trigger), you could use a shoe:


http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,6542.html ("http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,6542.html)


If you've got your lights set in close, you might want to take a look at the Wein Optical Peanut Slave:


http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,4632.html ("http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,4632.html)


The peanut slave will allow you to trigger another flash without having to buy another trigger. It'll fire whenever it sees your other flashes go off. It fits into the PC terminal of the Vivitar 285HV.

[photobooth]

I have a similar question, i just built a portable photobooth and have a question regarding the Canon 580ex or any flash for that matter that would allow me to plug in to a power adaptor for constant use. Is there one out there i've seen the external power packs but does anyone know of an A/C adaptor?





thanks,


Joel