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Thread: Suggestions for single strobe portraits

  1. #11

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    Re: Suggestions for single strobe portraits

    Quote Originally Posted by Ole Tjugen View Post
    Keep it simple, and use Mortensen lighting.
    Hmm, I did a quick Google search on "Mortensen lightning" and didn't come up with anything substantial... Actually, one article said Ansel Adam's f64 group did not like Mortensen very much Care to explain Ole?

    As for the issue of hot lamps vs strobes, I prefer strobes because I will most likely have to work in small areas and I don't want my subjects to be sweating up a storm (actually, I don't want to be sweating up a storm either!).



    Jason

  2. #12

    Re: Suggestions for single strobe portraits

    If you are concerned about cords, you can try rigging a small slave set-up to fire your main light. Simply get a battery powered flash, connect to the sync cord, and set it as low as possible. Then set your monolight/strobe to slave, or attach a small slave receptor, and no worries about cords streaming across your floor. I have used a Nikon SB-27 in this manner to fire a monolight, though I recently switched to all battery powered Speedlights.

    Reflectors, clamps, foam core, art boards, etc. are all items that can improve your control of light. Remember that the idea of most artificial lighting is to replicate daylight (unless you want a different effect). The bigger the reflector, then the more even will be your lighting.

    Ciao!

    Gordon Moat Photography

  3. #13
    All metric sizes to 24x30 Ole Tjugen's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for single strobe portraits

    Mortensen's portrait lighting consists of one single light, above and very close to the camera. Metering the highlights and opening up two stops ensures good exposure, and the modelling is provided by the edge effect.

    Ansel Adams didn't much like Mortensen, and I feel that he wasted a lot of effort that could have been better spent: Adams' portraits stink, and Mortensens landscapes suck. Yet Adams' landscapes are great and his methods work wonderfully for that - and Mortensesn's portraits are great and his techniques work wonderfully for that.

  4. #14
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for single strobe portraits

    By "Mortensen Lighting", I assume that Ole meant the type of lighting that William Mortensen recommended in his book called Pictorial Lighting, Camera Craft Publishing, San Franscisco, 1935. Mortensen used two photofloods and a white background.

    The following locations are for a 6.5" lens on a quarter plate camera, i.e. one with film 3.25x4.25".

    The subject was placed 5 ft from the background, with the camera place 6 ft in front of the subject. He placed the first light as close to the front of the camera as possible, just a little to the side and above the lens. (He would've loved ring lights.) He placed the other photoflood 4 feet from the axis from the camera through the subject to the wall and 4 feet from the background. The background and the light area of the subject are equally illuminated.

    His goal was to:
    1. To produce a two-dimensional effect, a modified Notan.
    2. To secure modelling without use of cast shadows.
    3. To keep within the photographic range of luminosity.
    4. To give full scope to the photographic range of halftones.
    5. To present the image in the simplest, most direct manner possible.

    Mortensen says that the basic light "is pre-eminently a form-revealing light, and emphasizes the static, impersonal, timeless aspects of the subject.

    Oops. Ole beat me to it.

  5. #15

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    Re: Suggestions for single strobe portraits

    Quote Originally Posted by jasonjoo View Post
    Tim, thanks! I took a look at the White Lightning website (guess it's the same parent company as Alien Bee) and the WL X3200 is out of my budget. However, comparing the WL X1600 and the AB1600, I can't really make out much of a difference, other than the 7-stop range. I'm not sure how much more this will be useful. All of the other specs seem the same. Physically, the WL X1600 is heavier and larger than the AB1600 as well. Are there any other benefits? The X3200 is out of budget, but I may be able to pony up for the X1600. One big benefit I see is that it seems more durable.

    Edit: Oops, the X1600 also has a brighter modeling light as well. I'm guessing that this will be useful when composing/focusing on the ground glass!

    Peter and Frank, forgive me for asking such a beginner question, but why umbrellas over the octabox? I really don't know the difference between the two! I'm not even sure why I feel this way, but I would prefer a "shoot through" method rather than bouncing the light off an umbrella (though I'm aware that you can also you shoot-through umbrellas as well). I guess I was heavily influenced by the Ovation video special on Timothy Greenfield Sanders. I just remembered seeing a large octabox and it seemed to work well enough for him

    BTW, for the time being, I don't think I'll ever shoot more than 4 people at once. I'm just hoping that the light I choose will be powerful enough to light 4 people... just in case. Photography is just a hobby for me, but I know once I invest in a strobe/light, family members are going to be asking for family portraits

    Thanks for your help guys!

    Jason
    I would suggest that you visit Strobist.com for tons of information about electronic flash lighting without breaking the bank. Franks suggestion about using the inexpensive "poverty wizards" instead of the over priced Pocket Wizards is a good one also.

    Don Bryant

  6. #16
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for single strobe portraits

    Why umbrellas instead of soft boxes? Umbrellas are cheaper, easier to set up, more compact when folded, lighter, can be used with all types of lights without special adapters, can be adjusted to make the light bigger or smaller (by changing the distance of the light in relation to the umbrella), and can often be used in spaces where a softbox won't fit. The downsides are light spill and visible rib/strobe body in catchlights. That said, if you follow some of the links I mentioned earlier, these characteristics can be minimized to a great extent with the right umbrella.

    I like soft boxes too, but good one's (Chimera, Plume...)are expensive and fairly bulky. I don't like Photoflex boxes.

  7. #17

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    Re: Suggestions for single strobe portraits

    Ole and Peter, thanks for the explanation of Mortensen's lighting setup. I'm planning on sticking with a single light source for the time being too, so maybe it will be worthwhile to study his techniques a little more.

    Don, I've looked through the Strobist site a few times, but I always thought most of their work was limited to the small Canon and Nikon strobes. I'll take a look into their techniques though.

    Peter, do you have any experience with Alien Bees or White Lightning's soft boxes? Quality light boxes do seem very expensive, but I don't need the best of the best. This is just a hobby for me and while I want to make the best photos I can, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to make the most out of such expensive equipment! Alien Bee and White Lightning both offer an octabox that folds up like an umbrella. That was the one I was looking at.

    Also, wouldn't a softbox also be able to change the characteristics of the light by positioning it at different distances? I've read that the closer a softbox to the subject, the softer the light...

    Thanks,

    Jason

  8. #18
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for single strobe portraits

    Hi Jason,

    Yes, what matters for how soft a light is, i.e. how gentle the transitions for highlight to shadow are, is how big of an angle the light source covers of the subject. (360* would be even light from all around the subject. This would be the softest light source. As you cover less, the harder your source will be.) Since the closer the light source to the subject, the greater the percentage of the subject is lit by the light source, and the softer the light will be. Keeping the light source at the same location but making it bigger will also make the light softer. Yes, you can adjust the location with both soft boxes and strobes, but what I meant was that with an umbrella, you can move the light very close to umbrella, such that only a part of the umbrella acts as a light source, or you can move the head back, such that the whole umbrella will act as the light source. Hence to some extent you can control the hardness/softness of the the light with an umbrella by changing it's effective size instead of it's location.

    I haven't used any White Lighting products, but I've heard good things their customer service, which is a good sign. With softboxes, you have to insert flexible rods into sleeves on the light box. Sometimes you have to flex things pretty dramatically. I once had a brand new Photoflex box rip setting it up the first time. The fabric seemed very flimsy to me. Maybe this has changed. (I bought that softbox over 10 years ago.) At work, we use Chimera softboxes every day, and they're very durable.

  9. #19

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    Re: Suggestions for single strobe portraits

    Hey Peter,

    Thanks for clearing that up for me. So I guess umbrellas have a little more flexibility in terms of changing the hardness of the light? Also, an octabox is very similar to an umbrella with the exception that I am not bouncing the strobe off of the inside of the umbrella and the "umbrella" is essentially covered with a white sheet of fabric... Is this some what right?

    Thanks again for spending the time to explain these things to me!

    Jason

  10. #20
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for single strobe portraits

    Hi Jason,

    Just looked up the octoboxes. They look pretty nice. It all depends on how durable they are. (I expect they're fine for amateur use.)

    With most softboxes, and also with the octobox, you can change the effective size of the box by removing the inner baffle.

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