SDuffyPhotography.blog

The off-camera lighting journey begins

A few weeks ago, I ordered one of the Strobist Starter Kits over at Midwest Photo Exchange to begin my journey into off-camera lighting. On the one hand, I’ve never been so excited about photography… On the other hand, it’s frustrating. I feel like I’m starting at square one all over again… “This part of the camera is the lens, this is called a flash…”, etc.

Anyway, my wonderful girlfriend agreed to let me abuse her and blind her this weekend with my new set of toys… I wanted to share a few of my favorites below.

The following shot was taken with a Vivitar 285HV flash fired through a simple homemade snoot made from the cardboard box in which the light stand was delivered. The flash is camera left and up. Interestingly enough, this shot was taken in the middle of the day with sunlight coming through the bedroom windows. I wanted to try and effectively kill the sunlight and darken the room by applying enough light to a small area to get what I wanted. Mission accomplished:

The next three shots were taken, again, with a single Vivitar 285HV camera left and above her. This time, though, the flash was reflected off a soft silver 43″ umbrella. Oh, and many thanks to Hunter for (not) sitting very still.

The next two have a very similar set up but, for these, I added a Canon Speedlite 580EX II camera right and behind her. It was fired remotely by the Canon STE-2 IR transmitter. In both photos, it didn’t end up as dramatic as I had envisioned but it’s there.

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Tags: lighting, My Photos, portraits, strobist

Friday Link Love - Lighting Edition

Next weekend, I am shooting my first wedding. It’s a very small event but it’s a wedding nonetheless. Because of that, I’ve been spending some time recently learning more about off-camera lighting. I thought I’d share some of the sites and tutorials I’ve found so far.

- Strobist - If you don’t know about Strobist yet, you either don’t do much photography or you just started using the Internet. Strobist is, by far, the best off-camera lighting site available.

- Strobist: Lighting 101 - The Strobist: Lighting 101 series is a great compilation of tutorials you’ll need to start with. They cover everything including how to use all the cool equipment you just ordered.

- Lighting Essentials - Another great site with a TON of tutorials including tutorials and lessons for your models! Highly recommended!

- Photography and Design 101 - This is a great blog I just discovered recently. Some of the articles are even a little more basic than Strobist and include a lot of great images to illustrate the lessons. Check it out!

- Sublime Light - A great blog also designed to address your off-camera lighting knowledge deficit. They also have a series on Portrait Lighting for Beginners.

- DigitalProTalk - This has quickly become one of my favorite all-around photography blogs. David Ziser is an avid blogger and he loves sharing his insight into the photography business and is always willing to describe how he got a particular shot. A must read for any photographer who is looking to delve into wedding photography, or any photography for that matter!

- Midwest Photo Exhange Strobist Kits - Looking to get some gear to get you started but have no idea what to buy? Check out MPEX Strobist Kits! They have a few options of complete kits to get you started, almost all of them under $500.

Have any good off-camera lighting sites or tutorials I missed? Share them in the comments!

Tags: lighting, links, off-camera, wedding

Question for Readers: Studio Lighting Equipment

For some time now, I’ve wanted to experiment and learn more about lighting and portraiture. As far as lighting goes, I own one Canon Speedlite 580EX II and the STE-2 wireless transmitter. The wireless transmitter has definitely opened up my options a bit as far as lighting goes, but I still don’t feel like I have enough to do real portraiture. As a result, I’ve been considering buying some studio lighting equipment. Unfortunately, I have no idea where to start.

I have been browsing through B&H Photo Video lately looking at my options. I found the following Tungsten Miniboom Three Flood Light Kit that didn’t appear too expensive (around $200). I was thinking of purchasing this along with a backdrop or two. Photo below linked to B&H:

So, for those of you that have already begun assembling your home studio, what would you recommend for a beginner? I don’t want to spend a huge amount of money to get started but I would be willing to put in a few hundred bucks for a basic set up and then work on expanding that. Thoughts? Recommendations?

Tags: lighting, portraiture, question, studio