Awesome photo Mr. Setters! Sometimes I wish I did fashion stuff as I can appreciate the work that goes into getting the good shots. I just don't have the experience with posing, clothes, makeup, choosing the right background and the experience with lighting skin properly.


From my experience the 580EX just does not have the power to overtake the bright sunlight for larger scenes. Throw in a shoot through umbrella or softbox and those things really zap your power output. Maybe for smaller shots where the subject is a lot closer to the flash but that puts limits on you. The main use for the 580 and 430 flashes during the day would be for fill flash use. With the price being super high on the 580EX II these days you can get a nice mono light but you will need a portable battery source if you don't have access to AC power. I have AlienBee 800's and I am looking to get the AlienBee vegabond mini lipo battery which cost 230.00 and allows you to take your high power lighting anywhere. Also with the monolights you should have access to many more light modifying accessories. You will still have to carry a light stand though where it might need to be heavier duty depending on the size of softbox or accessory being used but like Sean mentioned you have a lot more options. That's my experience and view where others may disagree. I've been seriously contemplating another 580ex or springing for the battery pack to run my monolights and it really seems like a nobrainer except for ease of use and quicker setup with the 2 580EXs and two light stands or mini stands. I bought Radiopopper JrX studio units as my flash triggers where you can control the power of alienbee monolights from the transmitter mounted to your camera. That makes it where you don't have to run back and forth between your lights and your camera/tripod to make the needed adjustments. I like the Radiopoppers ok where there kind of cheapy and use a CR123A battery instead of 2 rechargeable AA's. Blows my mind why they didn't incorporate the AA batteries into these units as every photographer has plenty of these batteries. 10 bucks for 2 CR123A batteries and they go pretty quickly.


If you really want to get serious about your lighting then swing by the photo/video store and buy some colored gels. They work well at adjusting color temp and for creative lighting but they can start to add up in price as I bought seven different colors x 2 sheets and it was like 85 bucks. I cut pieces for my strobes and my 580EX flash and use them a lot.


Another expense that you really need to have with monolights and stands is sandbags 10 to 20lbs with hand straps. Blew my mind how much people where charging for sandbags when I last went shopping for them. Like 30 to 40 dollars per bag but they will save your gear from falling over if you like to shoot out in the field. Just found a nice 15-20ilbs sandbag at Amazon for 8.99 and I just order 3 with free shipping HERE.