Flash Fever

It's going on a year since I last bought a lens, and I thought I had Lens Lust under control. But if you count the fresnel lenses on the front of every strobe, I'm still in the grips of the dreaded disease   .

Up until a year ago, I only had one flash... an sb800. But it exhibited erratic behavior, which I've finally figured out was just the result of an overly snug fit in the d200's flash shoe, so I bought a second sb800 as a backup. Last month I picked up an SU800, which makes using multiple flashes more understandable, and since it will control 3 groups, I just had to buy a third stobe... an SB600 :Curved: .

This is insane... I think my lighting gear now weighs more than my cameras and lenses. I'm almost embarrassed to list my collection of photon sources :redface: .

an SU800
(2) SB800s and an SB600
(2) Vivitar DF200 slaves
a softbox and numerous ABBC bounce cards
a CB Junior flash bracket
(2) 8' flash stands and umbrellas
a light tent
(2) 250W Tungsten Floodlights with Reflectors and (2) 6' stands

Now I just have to figure out how to use all of it :-/.

Actually, I had my first outdoor portrait session with the flash off-camera, and the results are encouraging.

 

Good observation, Ed. The problem was, I was lazy and only brought a lightweight 6' stand. I'll take an 8 footer next time.

Actually, one flash is probably enough for outdoor work, since you can use the ambient light as the main. I bought the 3rd flash so I could create a "portable wireless studio" at any indoor location. Now I need to figure out a good setup.

I'm thinking an sb800/umbrella for the mail light, an sb800/Lumiquest softbox for the fill light, and the sb600 with a homemade snoot (or just tightly zoom the flash head) for a hair light. Since the su800 commander will control 3 groups, I'll use ittl for the main and fill lights, and a manual setting for the hair light.

Will do, as soon a I get it working.

 

Absolutely. Lighting the formals has always been my weakest area. I got a taste of better lighting at my last wedding. Between Philippe and I, we had 3 sb800s, and he brought his umbrellas and stands. We used a flash on-camera in Commander mode to trigger the ones on the stands wirelessly.



But balancing the flashes got complicated, because it required diving into menus, and triggering the outboard flashes was inconsistent. I think the su800 solves those problems, and am anxious to refine a 3 flash arrangement for my next wedding, which will be in July.

 

OK, here's two samples from my first session with a 3 flash rig. Main light, an sb800 fired through a white umbrella, at frame left, fill light, an sb800 with a Lumiuqest softbox on it, just to the right of the camera, and a hair light, sb600 in manual mode, at the right and slightly behind the subject. The model is my long suffering bride  .



The UPS guy happened to stop buy to deliver a small purchase from BH Photo (more NiMH batteries to power my stash of flashes), and I dragged him in to sit for a portrait, too

View attachment 93471

And one more of Nancy.

View attachment 93472

Not great by any means, but I think the approach shows promise.

 

Thanks! I didn't like the busy background in the den, so I moved the rig to the living room, which was a good test of the mobility of the system. It passed with flying colors  . Anyway, with the subject sitting on the couch, the background is the hallway's wall, which has a nice patterned wallpaper on it.



I still need to work on arranging the stands, because the fill light needs to be directly behind the camera, not off to the side. And I'm going to try using two umbrellas instead of one umbrella and a softbox. But Nancy has lost patience with posing, and I don't have any UPS deliveries due today :frown:.

It had me giggling, too, Sharon. He's a great sport. I'm going to have to make him a print.

 

I'd rather not. He's liable to think I've got the hots for him  .

I have a d70 and a remote, but I'm trying to dial in my d200, and I don't like being in front of the camera.

You're allowed to choose your own standard for obsessiveness, even with portraiture. The model's expression is much higher on my scale of metrics than shadows.

Candids are about light, too. You just have less control.

 

Hi, Dave, and welcome to the Cafe! A few forum mates from the other place have shown up recently. This a friendlier place to trade ideas and images, and nicely moderated. That is, the mods aren't intrusive, but they're available when you need one.

I'd encourage you to upgrade your sb20 to an sb800. Nikon's iTTL strobes can produce wonderful results, and give you the option of off-camera operation if you have one of the newer camera bodies.