Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

taygull · 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fivegrand

...For some people. Two of my three shooting partners shoot "button down" for portrait hold.

I have no idea what you guys are taking about with "button down"? To clear the discussion there are two ways to hold the camera portrait mode or landscape mode (not counting unique tilts).

With respect to off camera lighting, I'll have to say Canon has done an injustice to the photography world by not building in radio transmitters to their bodies and speedlights.

I shoot with off camera lighting at about 7-15 shoots per month and it is a hassle. I watched a Nikon shooter on Sunday and man was life easy for him. No pocket wizard, no need to use his light meter, that must be nice.

The only way to predictably use off camera lighting in all situations with Canon is to use a radio signal. I use Pocket Wizards and it irritates me that I need to go and spend another couple hundred bucks on another unit so I can fire 2 heads.

I just picked up a lastolite "hotshoe lightbox" and tested it last night. It is a pretty neat collapsible softbox built to work with speedlight type lights.

The problem with using anything other than radio signal is if you use an umbrella or small softbox the signal will get blocked if using the master/slave or the STE-2.

My process is not horribly difficult but I ALWAYS use my light meter when I go off camera. I meter the background so I get a shutter speed of around 1/40th and let the light meter tell me what setting for my aperture. I then manually adjust my lights to have the same aperture only I set the shutter speed to 1/200. I will then take several shots adjusting the shutter speed down to get the look I want. If I want the same amount of light on the background as my lights then I drop my shutter speed to 1/40th.

You can reverse the process by having an extra stop of light or two if you want a backlit subject.

Most of the time I'm doing this in bright light and I want my subject to stand out against the background so I will shoot at at least 1/80th or 1/160th.

In the next issue of Frisco Style Magazine you will see numerous shots with this method as it is the heaviest photography issue of the year. The shot that I'm thinking will make the cover will be a great example of this method.

Cope · 09-12-2007, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fivegrand

...For some people. Two of my three shooting partners shoot "button down" for portrait hold.

Then they shoot at 6 O'clock. I see pictures of this position, but i don't see how it can be comfortable.

Gateruner · 07:34 AM

I ddint see it mentioned in this discussion but there is the Ebay transmitters. Take a look at strobist.com to get a link to them. Supposed to be a reasonable cheap alternative to the Pocketwizard. I wouldn't bother with the st-2 as I am no fan of the Canon IR capabilities. Very unruly unless you are indoors with line of sight. Not worth the hassle or money in my book just to maintain ETTL. If that is your desire get the 430 and slave it to the 580 on camera. You can set the 580 to not flash and it will keep your ETTL through the 430. Then you can move up to the Ebay transmitters or pockewizards and have more than one flash.

Abel · 09-12-2007, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taygull

I watched a Nikon shooter on Sunday and man was life easy for him. No pocket wizard, no need to use his light meter, that must be nice.

Nikon's lighting system is driven by IR (not radio) like Canon's technology. Although I feel Nikon has a leg up on Canon in that respect technology wise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by taygull

My process is not horribly difficult but I ALWAYS use my light meter when I go off camera. I meter the background so I get a shutter speed of around 1/40th and let the light meter tell me what setting for my aperture. I then manually adjust my lights to have the same aperture only I set the shutter speed to 1/200. I will then take several shots adjusting the shutter speed down to get the look I want. If I want the same amount of light on the background as my lights then I drop my shutter speed to 1/40th.

I have a set of pocket wizards as well that I need to use more often. Yea it is a little more work and a meter is very helpful but I do love the fact that once you click the shutter you KNOW the flashes fired. There is no asking the assistant or the model "Did they fire?" like I would need to do when shooting via IR. Hehee.