4x5 lighting requirement for portraits.

[RJ Hicks]

Howdy all,

Would a 1000 watt monolight, say the speedotron force 10, be sufficient in light power to use as a key light through a chimera softbox to light a portrait of one or two people? The camera format would be 4x5, iso 400 speed black and white film and shooting a lens in the 240 to 300mm range. I am guessing the f stop would be somewhere in the 16 to 45 stop range.

Here is my situation. I have just attained permision from the boss woman(wife) to use my garage as a studio and I am thinking of putting together a studio system using speedotron strobes, but currently I could only probably afford one force 10 monolight and add more goodies later. I understand that there is an ongoing monolight vs pack and head debate, but it looks like speedotron makes pretty capable products in each category so in time I would be able to amass a pretty good lighting kit, but for now its something in the under $1k category that will light sufficiently. The force 10 seems to have a good following but I am confused with the power requirements for 4x5 portraits. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[brook]

I would try to rent or borrow one and find out if it serves your needs. There are lots of variables, starting with manufactures who think their film is really 400 in practice. If you can get a meter reading of say f22 at working distance from the soft box with a rating of 160, I bet you are in business.
Brook

[Ted Harris]

1000 watts is more than sufficient for most portrait situations. However, unless you are looking for special effects I wouldn't recommend putting all all your lumens in one lamp. You would be much better off with two 500 watt units so that you can set up with both a key light and a fill light. My usual portrait setup is three or four lights ... the two additional units as a hair light and a background light, I use 4 500 watt units but dial some or all of them way down.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with portraits lit with only a single light, provides a nice strong image. I just don't think you should limit yourself like that and 1000 W is probably way too much, depending on your camera placement.

I won't get in the middle of a Speedtron v. others debate (I use Hensel and Norman and moonlights and an assortment of theatrical lekos and fresnels). Go with what you are comfortable with and with what you like just stay with the solid brands and not the low priced spreads from China. Problem with the lower priced units is that they do not necessarily deliver their rated output, are not likely to last as long and may not give you all the control you need. Make sure that whatever you buy:

1) has a modeling light that is reasonably high powered .. 300 W is ok in a 500 W unit)
2) has a slave triggering capability
3) gives you the ability to dial down both the modeling light and the strobe ... at least from full to 1/4 power and the more variability the better.

For the 1K you are ready to spend you should be able to get a kit which includes a case, 2 500 W moonlights, 2 umbrellas, and a few other goodies ... the price would be up a little or down a little depending on your source and brand of choice but that is the ballpark for any of the better brands for that sort of kit. As with everything else in the LF world, check with Jeff at Badger and Jim at Midwest for what you need. They both carry a good selection of lighting and Midwest frequently has some good used stuff.

Finally, do some reading on portrait lighting! Someone else will likely have a few books to recommend .... I just don't have any off the top of my head.

[ronald moravec]

Spedo doesn`t seem to have a site like White Lightening. They are in Chicago. Give them a call and ask the guide number of the unit with no reflector. divide the distance, subject to flash, into the guide number and you will get the f stop required. You will need to open 1 or 2 stops more for losses in the softbox.

White Lighting gave numbers for each of their units on their site with the different types of reflectors attached. The actual output is different if you change reflectors. Soft box and umbrellas are the most inefficient. Highly polished ones the most.

You will need some type of fill reflector to bounce the light back into the shadow side, but this is tricky for two subjects. Study some portraiting lighting set ups so you don`t start twice.

A flash meter is nice, but a tested unit and string with knot`s is a poor mans meter.

My flash units sit now that I have Lowell DP lights and their heat resistent unbrellas. subjects can sit all day and feel glare like you get with a 16 in hot light and they are much brighter than any modeling light will be. since you will be working on a tripod, 1/4 or 1/8 sec is no consequence.

300 mm will be about 7 feet for a head nad shoulders and a 90 with 35mm for the same subject size is about 4 feet. There is quite a difference.

A 250 or 300 Imagon would be absolutely yummy.

[Henry Ambrose]

For the $1000 budget I'd buy two White Lightning X1600s with umbrellas. You can make f16-22 with these. They are good lights and the company gives excellent service. I had one blow up and when I took it back they gave me a loaner while they fixed the damaged one and asked me to bring in my other lights to be updated at no charge. (even though out of warranty)

Some big flat reflectors would be the next move and they can be really cheap - look at big sheets of white foam core. Select reflectors at least as large as your subject, larger if possible. You can paint one side neutral gray if you want less fill available. Next I'd buy a large quarter-stop silk from Matthews for a giant window effect.

One thing to be very careful about with umbrellas and all that light bouncing around is to flag off your lens to eliminate flare. A compendium shade would be nice.

[Ellen Stoune Duralia]

Hi RJ :-)

I had been using 3 [AB400] Alien Bees (made by the same folks who make White Lightning monolights but cheaper) with my dSLR and was worried they wouldn't be adequate for my 4x5 but so far so good! Buy either brand from them and you will enjoy a nice 'trade-up' program and the best customer service in the world.

Good luck on your search and congrats on your recently 'found ' studio space!

[Dominique Labrosse]

RJ,

On Thursday, I shot a portrait of two people with a single White Lightning Ultra 600 (10 years old now) through a single Chimera small soft box with the internal diffusion baffle removed. I was shooting at around f16 or so after bellows correction and I don't think it was even dialed up to full power. The face of the box was about 4ft away from my subjects.

I have had my White Lightnings for a long time now (I have two Ultra 600 monoblocks) and I love them. They have been trouble free; though they don't get used every day. I have used Speedo pack/head combinations but I preferr the simplicity of mono's. Just what I'm used to I guess. Packs have their advantages too. However, for the hobbiest it's hard to argue with the bang for buck of White Lightening/Alien Bee.

Regards and good luck.

[ronald moravec]

Well I have to learn to proof read better. I meant to write the Lowell DP lights and heat resistent umbrellas do NOT produce the uncomfortable glare of a small bulb and reflector.

[Duane Polcou]

Watt-second capability is not the real issue, I think. You must ask yourself the level of complexity of your lighting set-up and what working f-stop you wish to use.

A critical concern with doing large-format portraiture is in the ability of your subjects to remain still. Not just for a long exposure (if you are using hot lights) , but also to sit still for the difference in time between when you focus them critically (assuming you are ground-glass focusing vs. rangefinder), and you trip the shutter. Now, subject movement along the lens axis will not create focus issues with a small-ish f-stop, but do you really want to be blasting f 22 to f-64 intensity light at your subjects, especially those who are non-professonal models, to insure they are within a critical depth of field?

It is for this very reason legendary glamour photographer Peter Gowland developed a 4x5 twin lens reflex camera. He utilized synchro-sun technique with a Honeywell Strobonar , not a particulary powerful unit; but because he could fluidly control focus and then shoot, the aforementioned lag time was not an issue, and a mid range stop could be used.

This is why so many large format portraits look so static (look at Greenfield Sanders, Avedon, Hurrell). I know these photogs are heralded as masters but the subjects look like they are not moving because, well, they are posing waiting for instructions.