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[OM] Re: Using those old time (and cheap) flash units

Subject: [OM] Re: Using those old time (and cheap) flash units
From: "Jeff Keller" <jeffreyrkeller@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 08:49:55 -0800
Thanks Chuck,

Last night I saw a "virtual tour" of a house. The company charged $80
for it. I suspect they have some software to automatically balance
exposure. The photos seemed too good for what they were charging.

With a typical house having about 4 rooms needing a more than trivial
amount of lighting assist, there would be probably an hour or more of
effort to get the lights set up if I matched what you are doing. I'm
seldom able to get the pictures in less than 2 hours if everything is
easy.

I suppose using 2 or 3 no frills incident flashmeters simultaneously
could save a little time, but most of the time seems to be spent
actually moving and adjusting the lights. I would rather play with
lights than a computer but it looks like I'm going to have to also
look into software.

It's interesting that you move around to keep a constant distance for
your flash and zoom your lens for framing. I was thinking about the
list member who uses a fixed short tele. I would think she would have
to move around to frame. I have to find the best places to stand and
adjust the lighting to work. We are all just taking pictures but the
requirements seem to be turned upside down from one to another. You've
given me plenty more to think about, thanks.

Best wishes,
-jeff


On 11/1/06, Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> The lights get balanced as close as possible to f/5.6 for the background
> room light.  I use a Sekonic L-358 as an incident flash meter and fire
> the strobes remotely with a radio transmitter.   -----    It can be
> somewhat time consuming but I can generally get two lights reasonably
> well balanced in 10-15 minutes.  By reasonable I mean f/5.6 +/- one stop
> over the areas where I will likely be shooting, and the dance floor in
> particular.  I sometimes think it would be really nice to have the radio
> remote control of power output that Alien Bees offers.  But it's
> necessary to haul the lights down and adjust their angles almost as much
> as changing the power and the remote control can't do that yet.
>
> With the room lights set I then determine how to set the on-camera flash
> to provide a total exposure of, say, f/8 at a distance of 10 feet.  I
> may also determine flash power for a shorter distance, say, 6 or 7 feet.
>   I then try to stay that distance away from my subjects all the time
> and zoom to frame.
>
> The ambient light is probably more than two stops down from the strobes
> and it takes a fairly long shutter speed to pick them up and bring them
> out since I'm normally shooting at f/8 and ISO 400.
>
> Chuck Norcutt

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