Getting Into Strobing

[Garrett-Grimsley]

I've always been interested in strobist photography for everything from portraits to sports, and now I actually want to do it myself. But I have no idea where to start for equipment and such. Once I have it all I'll have no problem figuring it all out.


So basically I want you, my fellow photographers to give me a list of recommended equipment for at least 2 umbrellas. (flashes, receivers, stands, ect..) I'd like also the equipment to be easily attainable from ebay, as that's my main source for just about everything.





What I have now;


Canon Rebel XT 350D


Canon 430EX Flash


Canon 50mm f/1.8, 85mm f/1.8 USM


Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 macro


Sigma 15-30mm f/3.5-4.5


Crappy plastic/metal tripod from ages ago





Thanks.

[Colin]

Sean setters gave me a great affordable list in another post, about high school grad night photo booth...

[peety3]

A lot of the strobist stuff can be done with one off-camera strobe. You have camera, you have strobe, you need a way to trigger it.


Read up on the strobist ways to trigger: wire (from hot shoe to hot shoe, whether smart with TTL capability in some fashion or dumb with nothing more than the ability to trigger), optical wireless (such as Canon ST-E2 or 5xx-series on-camera flash), RF wireless with simple trigger capability (i.e. many of the triggers on the market), or RF wireless with some or full hot-shoe capability (such as the new Pocket Wizard line). Choose a trigger method (I use on-camera 580EX II flashes as triggers, sometimes as a flash that contributes to the lighting, sometimes only as trigger) and start shopping.


For umbrellas and stands, the Manfrotto Nano 001B stands are great stands and the wescott double-fold umbrellas are great; both are suggested on strobist I believe. Recently, DH said he likes shoot-through umbrellas for maximum power delivery to the subject, but it's your call. Check also the Midwest Photo Exchange (MPEX) ads on strobist; they support strobist (which is a good thing) and sell great starter kits.


I hope to buy into the new Pocket Wizard triggers soon. Being able to keep doing ETTL is great for me (I'm lazy like that), so it saves me a flash (as on-camera trigger) in the end.

[Keith B]

I use the ST-E2 with 2 580EXIIs and a 430EX with great success (Thinking about adding another 580II).


My favorite modifier is the Westcott Apollo 28"x28" Umbrella Softbox. I reverse fire a 580 at 1/1 and I can actually achieve f8 at 4ft or so. It is one of the most even and pleasing light I've used. I also have the 60" Photogenic Eclipse umbrella Bryan recommends. It works well, but will fill a room. I often use it for groups with 2 580IIs mounted to it.


I have shoot through umbrellas, but I'm not a fan. The light is hard to control. They are good if you want to fill a large area though. They can be good also if you only have 2 strobes. You can mount one to a shoot through and it can light a background and give off a little edge light too if you aim it right.


I recently built a DIY Beauty Dish. I haven't done a whole lot of testing yet but It appears to work really well and I don't lose nearly as many stops as my Westcott SB, but the light is slight harder. I'm also a big fan of the Honl Speedlite Grids. I love being able to focus my lighting. I am working on a grid for my Softbox too.

[peety3]

Should have added this earlier: remember that the ST-E2 can only do two channels of remote flashes. I've never used one, but from what I can see it cannot trigger flashes by power level, only by A:B power level ratio +/- any flash exposure correction. As such, you won't be able to fully subscribe to the strobist method by setting manual power levels at the camera or on the flashes. I often use three channels (key, fill, background), sometimes use preset power levels instead of ETTL, and occasionally wish I had another channel or a means to trigger additional flashes (so I could dial in a preset power).


As far as shoot-through umbrellas, they do run the risk of spilling light where you don't want it, but you can get more power out of them by shortening your effective lightsource-subject distance. I've started putting up a gobo to keep excess light away - it works for me.

[Sean Setters]

I wouldn't rely on ebay for the bulk of your equipment purchases. However, ebay is a great place to get wireless flash triggers. My current favorite is the CTR-301. They're fairly well built (better than the Cactus V2s), and ingeniously designed. With them, you don't need any cables to connect your flashes to the receiver. You simply slide the flash into the receiver's hot shoe, then mount the receiver to your umbrella swivel. My previous recommendation was to buy the new Cactus V4, however, the first reports I've seen on them aren't terribly comforting. The reliability of the triggering doesn't seem to be nearly as good I would like. So for the money, the CTR-301 set is my current affordable choice.


Now, as far as flashes go, there are tons to choose from. I personally use 2 pre-owned Vivitar 285HVs that I bought off of ebay, and I bought one 285HV new. The only one I had malfunction was the 285HV I bought new (there was a rash of bad units before the Vivitar flash division was sold/went under). That's why I suggest either buying used ones on ebay or buying new units from MPEX because they usually test the flashes before sending them out. That said, there are plenty of other flashes that are relatively cheap and have manual controls:


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

LumoPro LP632 Umbrella Swivels x $17


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

Westcott 43" Collapsible Umbrella White Satin x $20



<span style="text-decoration: line-through;"](1) [url="http://www.gadgetinfinity.com/product.php?productid=17204&amp;cat=0&amp;page=1]Cactus Wireless Flash Trigger Set V4[/url] x $40


<span style="text-decoration: line-through;"](1) [url="http://www.gadgetinfinity.com/product.php?productid=17205&amp;cat=0&amp;page=1]Cactus Wireless Flash Receiver V4[/url] x $24


(1) <span class="ebay"] Wireless Flash Trigger 3 Receiver CTR-301 P w/ PC Cable x $60


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). I listed the wireless trigger set with three receivers instead of two so that you'd have a backup should something happen. 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. You might want to pick up a couple of sets of gels (colored plastic to change the color of your flash).

[Sean Setters]

With the kind of equipment listed above (plus a few more things), you'll be able to do shots like this one that I did this weekend:


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Strobist: 1 Vivitar 285HV camera left, 1/2 power, shot through a white umbrella, with a 1/2 CTO warming gel. 1 Vivitar 285HV, camera right, 1/2 power, blue gelled, shot through a 1/8" Honl speed grid, and directed through the industrial sculpture. 1 Vivitar 285HV, camera right behind subject, 1/16 power, bare, used as hairlight. Flashes triggered via CTR-301.


If you're wondering about the warming gel, I basically used it so that I could shift the white balance even further blue while keeping the subject relatively neutral. A grid spot was used on the flash going through the sculpture because a bare flash spilled unwanted light onto my subject.

[Keith B]

580EXII with 1/8 Honl Grid and 580EXII with 1/4 Honl Grid





580II 1/4 Grid Main, 580II 1/8 Edge, 430EX with Gary Fong Sphere for fill





580II in Westcott 28" SB 430EX w/ 1/8 grid Hair/edge








I set everything manually all are fired with ST-E2. I'll definitely admit a radio system would be better but way pricy.


The ST-E2 always seems to work even the flash in side the SB is pretty flawless. The only time I have issues is when the flash's batteries get low.

[Colin]

My shipping/receiving service just left me a message. I hope it's the flashes...





^ is excited...

I love how these pictures uses flashes and don't look like the generic 'flash' pictures I've come to fear. Good job dudes!

[devsalvi]

Hi Colin,


If you go to Brian's review for the 580exii flash (http://www.the-digital-picture.com/R...sh-Review.aspx) below he has some links for guides to using flash. Of these i found the "Neil van Niekirk's Flash Techniques" very useful.








this one was taken using 580exII flash at 0V+ exposure compensation with a bounce.


Cheers!


Dev