Intro To Flashes: Monolights And Hot Shoe Flashes

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

11/19/2004 09:04:46 AM · #1

Post your comments, questions, and reviews for...

'Intro To Flashes: Monolights And Hot Shoe Flashes'
by KevinRiggs

View this tutorial here.

doctornick

Apple iPhone 13 Pro

11/19/2004 11:01:09 AM · #2

Cool! Thanks.

Gauti

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

11/22/2004 09:51:00 PM · #3

Very good article about Canon EOS system is PhotoNotes.org Flash Photography with Canon EOS Cameras

PerezDesignGroup

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

12/09/2004 05:09:07 AM · #4

I know....it's several weeks old. But it was *sooo* helpful. Thank you very, very much. :D

Natator

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

12/09/2004 05:41:23 AM · #5

Great stuff Kevin, I hoped this would become a tutorial.

Question for you though ... can you still edit the tutorial or is it locked in?

It's just that I've recently had some issues with the Canon Speedlights and after a week of back and forth with B&H came up with the solution.

I'll post the problem and solution here shortly, and it might be worth including as a P.S. at the end of the tutorial. See what you think when I post it (as I need to get one bit of info straight before I do).

drewmedia

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

01/04/2005 12:24:53 PM · #6

I'd love to see a follow-up or edit to this tutorial to show sample shots with each of the different types of lighting / flashes. Great tutorial, though =)

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

01/04/2005 12:26:52 PM · #7

Good idea. I'm looking at a studio this afternoon where I will be able to shoot in more controlled lighting setups on a regular basis. I'll send some images to you with different lighting setups.

Kev

mrorange002

Canon EOS-5D

01/04/2005 02:09:27 PM · #8

hey good tutorial kevin, that should help a lot of people out. maybe add some umbrellas, snoot, barndoors attached to the whole thing, also maybe show some reflectors being used with a simple explanation of there purposes. Keep up the good work!
Peace,
E

Message edited by author 2005-01-04 14:09:39.

01/14/2005 12:41:53 AM · #9

Working on updating the tutorial with photos of more modifiers but tonight we shot some photos of the effects that Drew mentioned. Here are some shots with explanations. Once I write the explanation and draw the diagrams for the lighting configurations I used I'll try adding them to the tutorial.

Caveat: all photographs were shot with AlienBees B-800's. My wife is the model and this was shot after a full day of work, an afternoon and evening with our two-year old and staying up past my wife's bedtime by several hours. The only purpose of these photos is to demonstrate lighting effects that can be achieved with different lighting modifiers. This is not comprehensive nor is it given for artistic value. It is simply a comparison at this point.

3 light setup

In this photo the key light (the light that gives off the most illumination) was set to camera right and was facing my wife. It was modified with a PhotoFlex LiteDome 36"x48" softbox with the internal baffle and external diffuser on it. Behind the subject (camera left) and aimed at the back of her head is another B-800 set at half power; it was modified with barndoors to allow a harsher, more direct light from the strobe. A light that serves this purpose is often called a kicker or rim light because it helps to outline the subject and separate them from the background. Finally the third light is mounted high above the subject to camera right but it is behind the subject and aimed back down onto the subject with a 20 degree comb. This light is used as a hair light. The hairlight was set at about 1/8th power so that it simply adds some highlights and knocks out a few harder shadow that would be visible otherwise. Its worth noting that with the internal baffle and external diffusion panel on the softbox the kicker light was probably a little too hot since it was a bare strobe at about half the power of the key light. I probably should have turned down the output of the kicker and maybe even the hairlight to help create more dramatic lighting.
Since my wife wore her glasses you can see the reflection of the softbox in her lenses. A polarizing filter might help this out by blocking certain angles of light.

I used the Canon EOS 10D, with the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM lens and a Cokin P system with a 2-stop neutral density filter on the lens so that I could power up the strobes more and still take advantage of the lens' features.

The exposure was made with the following settings:
ISO 100
1/200th" shutter
f/11

Well, that's the first of 5 and I'm already getting sleepy.

Kev

01/14/2005 12:46:52 AM · #10

Here you should notice a difference in that my wife's hair and outline don't stand out as much to camera left because the kicker (with the barndoors) has been turned off. Also you should notice deeper shadows on camera right (her left shoulder) as the hairlight was turned off in this. Compare this shot to the 3 light shot. Notice anything about the hair on the left side of the photo? In this one you can see the area of hair that is lit by the strobe in the front but you can't see the contours of her hair/head above and behind that section of hair. She blends into the background here. This can be used to good effect in an artistic interpretation of a portrait. If you're shooting a "plain, ol' vanilla" portrait that Mom & Dad want to give the grandparents next time the go see them then you'll probably want the separation. People tend to want to see other people with the depth and contours that they have come to expect. That doesn't mean you have to give it to them, but at least now maybe you have a better idea of how to create that separation if you decide that you want it.

I used the Canon EOS 10D, with the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM lens and a Cokin P system with a 2-stop neutral density filter.

The exposure was made with the following settings:
ISO 100
1/200th" shutter
f/9

Kev

Message edited by author 2005-01-14 07:07:15.

01/14/2005 12:53:11 AM · #11

In this shot we've taken the comb modifier (looks like a honeycomb, remember) and moved it from the hairlight down to the key light (that's the light that will be giving off the most illumination no matter where we set it). This means that our main lighting for the subject will be tighter, more direct but still modified somewhat. The subject will see a lot more light if she looks directly at the strobe but the comb that sits between her and the light will help to cut down on the harsh glare. Likewise, when the strobe goes off more light will reach the subject but it still isn't like putting the silver reflector ring on the flash and shooting a bare flashtube at her. Instead of diffusing the light and spreading it over a greater distance we have used the comb to direct the light into a tighter beam so that we get more illumination than the softbox gave us and this illumination is aimed directly where we want it to go. Now to get us back to having some separation from the background I turned the kicker light on (the kicker light is a label given to the light that we will use to create separation between the model and the background, it isn't a fill light per se but it can also have a little bit of that effect). In this shot the kicker still has the barn doors on it so its still pretty harsh light. Not too flattering but it does the job. I had to keep the kicker turned down below the key light so that the kicker doesn't overpower the key light which would have ended up giving us a nice silhouette.

Without the softbox we're really starting to get some deeper shadows along the face.

I used the Canon EOS 10D, with the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM lens and a Cokin P system with a 2-stop neutral density filter.

The exposure was made with the following settings:
ISO 100
1/200th" shutter
f/8

Kev

Message edited by author 2005-01-14 07:08:16.

01/14/2005 12:59:38 AM · #12

With this shot all I did was turn off the kicker. Now we're illuminating only the front of our subject but we're doing it in a more directed fashion. We're not just pouring light over her which is what would happen if we used only the silver reflectors that come with the lights. We're not diffusing our light so that we can create nice, even, flat light like we would if we used the softbox. We are creating deeper, harsher and greater quantity of shadows in our subject. That can be fine as the interplay between light and dark areas is one of the elements that can create interesting compositions. Here its done simply for illustration but I'm sure you can see opportunities to use it to an artistic advantage. This type of lighting can really draw a viewer in by cutting off his/her options; make everything around dark and use the light to present the viewer with the elements you want. The light that is landing on the subject is brighter and has more "depth" than light that has been modified by a softbox.

I used the Canon EOS 10D, with the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM lens and a Cokin P system with a 2-stop neutral density filter.

The exposure was made with the following settings:
ISO 100
1/200th" shutter
f/9

Kev

Message edited by author 2005-01-14 07:08:52.

01/14/2005 01:03:54 AM · #13

This shot is one of my least favorites. This shot uses the barndoors on a B-800 as the key light and the 20 degree comb for a kicker/hairlight. This is a bare flashtube going off in the subject's face and even though I turned up the kicker's power and turned down the key light's power the key light just overpowers the whole composition. It creates unflattering facial features and gives the impression that the subject's face is wider than it looks in any of the other shots. It is worth noting though that the hairlight at least creates some measure of depth in the photograph by highlighting some of the subject's hair and outline at the top of her head.

I used the Canon EOS 10D, with the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM lens and a Cokin P system with a 2-stop neutral density filter.

The exposure was made with the following settings:
ISO 100
1/200th" shutter
f/11

Kev

Message edited by author 2005-01-14 07:09:28.

01/14/2005 01:07:15 AM · #14

Okay. Welcome to nasty photo 101. This shot uses a B-800 turned down slightly below 1/2 power with barndoors on it as the modifier but all other lights have been turned off. There is no fill light nor a hairlight nor a kicker. Notice the hair and outline; it just blends into the background. Again, I think this is the least flattering type of light. It has its place for illuminating things or people in some shots but it doesn't create the most endearing portraits when used alone.

I used the Canon EOS 10D, with the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM lens and a Cokin P system with a 2-stop neutral density filter.

The exposure was made with the following settings:
ISO 100
1/200th" shutter
f/9

Kev

Message edited by author 2005-01-14 07:09:58.

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

01/14/2005 01:10:39 AM · #15

I'll compile these illustrations and any helpful comments I get on these; add another few photos with more modifiers and send it all to Drew or Langdon to get it rolled up into the tutorial.

Kev

And now I'm VERY sleepy. I'll try to edit these posts tomorrow with data about each exposure like I listed on the first one.

Canon EOS-20D

01/14/2005 01:14:11 AM · #16

Thanks for all your work on this, Kevin. It's especially helpful since I just got two B-800s. Would you be able to take some shots of your studio set up?

01/14/2005 01:20:21 AM · #17

I will but for right now we're moving furniture downstairs everytime I need to setup. I'll be moving to an empty room upstairs sometime over the next 2 weeks and then I'll have a lot more freedom to shoot the layout as I won't need to tear it down immediately after shooting (seems like I always forget to get photos of the configuration.

Congrats on the lights, too. I'm very happy with mine. I'm still wanting to move up to professional grade equipment someday but for learning how to use them and what techniques to use, these lights are great.

Kev

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

01/14/2005 07:11:15 AM · #18

(bump) for morning

dacrazyrn

Nikon D300

01/14/2005 09:19:03 AM · #19

EXCELLENT WORK!!!!

soup

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

01/14/2005 10:16:04 AM · #20

one thing i'm curious about is how far behind the subject the back ground is. or specifically how it is kept so dark. i am assuming it is the positioning of the lights, and controling the span of the output, but not positive. i've never used 'real' lights.

quite an article you are building ;}