Your First Step Into The Studio

Do you remember your first studio? It was the lounge room, wasn't it? Or the patio, or the shed, or the corner of your bedroom...You had a camera and you had a flash, and you were going to conquer the world.

You solemnly read all the photo magazines, studied the lighting diagrams that involved five 1500 watt strobes and a cyclorama, and tried to figure out how to do glamour with a pack of alfoil and sheets of cardboard. Gaffer tape was a minor miracle until you took paint off the wall and were banned from using it.

If only you had had access to the Phottix double umbrella strobes kit, you would be on the cover of the Rolling Stone today...

Okay, back to reality. If you have at least one camera, one flash, and one means of triggering it from a distance, you can still dream. You'll do better if you find a shapely Hollywood starlet and a fabulous bedroom set and an editor hungry for sensation, but at least you can count on the Phottix people - they have made you a starter umbrella set that is beauty.

Boxed well, as is becoming the norm for modern suppliers, it contains a sturdy carrying case with handles and shoulder strap - suggesting that you will be taking this kit out onto location rather than leaving the bits sitting in the wardrobe. It's not that heavy and the Hollywood starlet may help you carry things into the bedroom as well. You might as well dream.

Inside, you get two photo umbrellas - a silver reflective and a white shoot-through. deploy them as you will for their different effects upon light.

They are held by a cast-metal articulated bracket that can sit on either a 1/2" standard light stand...you get one of these in the kit...or on the 1/4" thread of a tripod. the bracket is made in such a way that the flash you will use can go onto a universal holder and be directed back into the centre of the reflective umbrella or out through the centre of the white one. I have found with most of the speed light flashes that it is best to deploy the integral diffuser on the flash to spread the light into the corners of the umbrella.

So what will this do to the starlet? Give her a big soft light source to smooth skin, round the features, and get big highlights in the eyes. If you are so advanced as to deploy two flashes or one flash and a reflector as well as this umbrella setup then you do not need my advice on how to take glamour pictures.

But just remember: Do not shoot for exposure and do not let the raw files out of your hands. Hollywood starlets or not...

Phottix in store only at 230 Stirling St.
For all other items: www.cameraelectronic.com.au

Your Christmas Present Was A Speed Light - Here's The Rest Of It

If you are new to photography we want to let you into a secret - there is always more. If you thought that one purchase would equip you for a lifetime of pleasure you are either going to have thin pleasure or a short lifetime. To keep achieving, you're going to need to add more stuff.

Don't feel bad. We've all had to buy more accessories for what we use and in most cases it has actually expanded our minds and our abilities. Sometimes the extras turn out to be so simple...

For the person who has just bought or got a speed light flash for the top of their camera - hopefully from us - we say " Go out and go mad.". Take as many flash shots in all sorts of lighting conditions and of all sorts of subjects. It is the only way to find out what an electronic flash can actually do. Sometimes it does not do quite what you thought it was going to do, but with the TTL controls on most cameras it will at least do something recognisable. Keep doing this until you can be sure what will happen.

Then - think how your pictures may differ from those of the professionals in photo books and a magazines. The differences are not generally in the cameras that take the picture - they are in the light that plays round the subjects. Here is where some accessories can put you closer to that pro look.

Hahnel - famous for their chargers and flash sets - have an accessory set for all speed lights.

The various bits fit on different maker's flashes by means of an elastic band around the heads. This has one part of a velcro pad - the accessories have the other part. You can literally stick the whole thing together.

Some of the accessories spread the light - like the collapsible soft box or the diffusion card.

Some concentrate it. Just like the honeycomb grids that go on the front of studio strobes this little fellow doesn't allow any light to ride out to the side.

Do you need to jazz it up with colour? These gells fit over the front of the tube and it is all Las Vegas after that.

You also get a mounting block that can help you use your speed light on a studio stand or tripod as an umbrella holder- a surprisingly sophisticated studio technique you can use anywhere.

Best of all is the price - the whole set goes for $ 79.

Don't limit yourselves - get a set and start experimenting.

To Strobe Or Not To Strobe - That Is The Question

Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of trying to photograph a black cat in a coal-hole by purchasing a lens that looks like it should be on the front of a spy satellite or to take arms and buy a flash kit and actually see what it is that the camera is pointed at...

Hamlet, omlette, or roulette aside, I vote for the flash. I am just not sure which I prefer - mains powered kit or portable speed lights. I've tried both and they both have their advantages and disadvantages.

To clear one thing up at the start - if you are starting out afresh without the comfort of 40 years of gear acquisition filling your closet...or hanging round your neck like a plastic and aluminium millstone...the cost is going to be remarkably the same. An entry-level strobist kit is very close to the price of an entry-level studio kit. The chief difference between the two is the power supply and whether you'll want modelling lights.

The strobist kit comprises two lightweight light stands, two umbrellas and appropriate holders, and a carry bag. You'll need to add two speed lights and a wireless radio command kit to this, plus two sets of one-use lithium AA batteries.

The entry-level Elinchrom set contains two stands, two strobe heads, two soft boxes, and an in-built radio command set. You'll want to add a long extension cord and powerboard from Bunnings

In both cases we're talking about $ 1000 new stock.

The strobist kit is neat to transport - one case - but you'll still need to bunk the flashes in your camera bag. The Elinchrom comes in two cases that hold everything - plus you need to carry your camera case.

Advantages of the strobist? No need for an AC mains outlet nearby - no power cord on the floor. Disadvantages? No modelling light - limited light modifiers. Many batteries to remember. Markedly slower to recharge between shots.

Advantages of the Elinchrom? More light, faster recharge, unlimited number of shots. Neater integration of package - more light modifiers available. Modelling lights. Disadvantages? Gotta have an AC mains power point available. Two power cords on the floor.

For me - with all the stuff I need sitting on the shelves in the studio or at home - it revolves around the AC mains outlet and the distance I'll have to haul the gear from the car to the shooting venue. Short distance and power available means the studio strobes go out for a job - no powerpoint or a long walk to the venue means the speed lights.

Heading photo - Princess Fee at the Pseudoskirt rehearsal. The skirt of power! And the socks of polishing the floor!

The Humbrella - Lighting On the Cheap With Promaster

It is Promaster day here at the shop - boxes of Promaster accessories have come down from the receiving desk and are being priced up. The good news is the humble umbrella holders are back and the bad news is you don't know about it.

Yet. Read on...

If you have a regular electronic flash - any kind of flash, from the modest to the complex - you can generally adapt it to umbrella shooting - and thereby make large studio lighting from something that folds up under your arm.

You'll need to get a small light stand ( Did I mention that Promaster make them?), a small umbrella ( Did I mention that Promaster make them?), and an umbrella/flash holder ( Guess what...). We've got them all here - and if you'll bring your camera and your flash in we can generally succeed in showing you how to rig the system up to fire.

For all the hoohah about soft boxes, the umbrella does a pretty good job of softening a light blast. Add to the fact that setup can be a couple of minutes instead of 15+, and you can see the attraction. Add to this the variety of surfaces, colours, and translucencies of different umbrellas, and yo can fine tune the setup to match your own contrast preferences.

Plus you can get caught in a winter shower and still save your equipment.

The Humbrella - The Mary Poppins Of Light Shapers

Having occasion to shoot 18 dancers dressed in Middle eastern outfits on Tuesday at their dance studio, I opted to take along three speedlights, a background stand, and bags of  muslin drapes. I found out several things:

1. The studio had far better a backdrop than I could have set up. I should have sussed it out beforehand and I could have saved carrying the kit.

2. Several speedlights set to different powers and under control of the CLS system on a Nikon are capable of dramatic light ratios. 18 dancers are too many faces to try this on. Down came two of the lights and one SB 700 shot into an umbrella...and the even light got all 18.

3. The TTL system works perfectly  all the time except when it doesn't. Then the M system works all the time.

Moving on to Wednesday night and the 15 Japanese Geisha dancers in their studio...I discovered that their place has no adequate backdrop. Fortunately I had not unpacked the car from the night before.

1. A standard backdrop stand set doesn't stretch to 15 people, even if they are Japanese and you can stack them like cordwood. If you gaffer tape the legs of the backdrop stand to the studio floor  you can stretch the muslin drape sideways...makes 6 metres...and if you use welding clamps to attach it to the uprights it will work. The center section needs propping up with a pole and there will be wrinkles but these can be overcome by...

2. Lighting soft. Again the umbrella with two SB700's firing into it for extra power. Spectacular makeup jobs and colourful costumes lend themselves to pure illustrative light and this is what worked.

Note that the common factor in these two nights is the humble umbrella. In my case it was a small Elinchrom packed as an afterthought, but in future I am going to deliberately take the big Redwing  I own. Bigger really is better.

Bigger is also available here in the shop. Promaster, Profoto, Elinchrom, all make bigger brollies. There are cheap and cheerful Promaster light stands and umbrella adapters that fit together perfectly and take up little room in the field pack. I think that they will be the better answer for a lot of out-of-studio experiences in the future.

Also please remember to pack gaffer tape and welding clamps.

Singhing In The Rain

Here is a post for all our Sikh* photographers.

Have you considered getting one of the Promaster 72" white umbrellas for your studio? We have one in the shop right now and it is the most marvellous light shaper that you have ever seen. It is the BIGGEST light shaper you have ever seen, with the exception of the Redwing soft box we had a few years ago that needs a commercial scaffolding firm to erect.

People sometimes decry the humble umbrella, but when it is 72 inches in diameter it is not humble. It will throw massively soft light either as reflected or shoot through. It is not too heavy, though it will be necessary to consider the effect of wind if you are going to take it outside. Normally something this big in a stiff breeze has either Mary Poppins or a paratrooper under it...

If you cannot manage the full 72", we also have 60" and 45" sizes. Some of them are white and some are black/silver.

*And all those who are seeking to do good studio photos.