 Aimeedphotography D. |
Studio Settings W/Digital I have just started my account with this forum and my question is based on Studio Settings. I've been an outdoor shooting photographer for over three years now and I recently purchased two BY-160B, and one BY-240SD stobes. Along with the soft boxes , umbrella, etc. I haven't been able to get quite the results I want. I know the settings of the camera depend on the lighting situations but I was wondering if there was in general range of camera settings that I can go off of. I seem to be in either left right field and can't quite get just good result. As of now I have one soft box on and the backlighting stobe. Any suggestions? Any help would be much appreciated.
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Aimeedphotography D. |
meant "Strobes" not stobes. :)
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W. |
Hi Aimee, if you need a "general range of camera settings that [you] can go off of", then set the camera on P for Program. If the figures in "BY-160B" and "BY-240SD" denote the WattSeconds available to you, then you don't have nearly enough light and need to approx. triple it. Have fun!
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Debby A. Tabb |
Aimee, Please read the Studio Photography Threads they will help alot! Here is thread #1: http://www.betterphoto.com/forms/QnAdetail.php?threadID=17534 If you have a SLR try starting with 200/200/f22 and then go from there.
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Christopher A. Vedros |
Aimee, Don't set your camera on Program mode. Program mode won't work properly with strobes. The best way to set your exposure when using strobes is to use a flash meter. With a flash meter, you plug the sync cord from the strobe into the meter, and it triggers the strobes to get an exposure reading. Without a flash meter, you can do as Debby suggests, and pick a starting point, then adjust based on what you get. Set your camera to Manual mode. Set your ISO to 100. Set your aperture to f/16. Set your shutter speed to 1/100th second. Take some test shots with the strobes. If the shots are too bright, increase your f/stop. If they are too dark, decrease your f/stop. Some strobes will allow you to decrease their power, but you probably won't need to do that. Adjusting your shutter speed won't be very useful for adjusting your exposure, because the duration of the strobe flash is much shorter than your shutter speed. The shutter speed will only determine how much the ambient light in the room affects your exposure. Chris A. Vedros
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Alan N. Marcus |
Hi Aimee, Assuming studio portraiture is your heart’s desire, here’s how to start. Start by setting the camera at f/5.6. Start with only one light (the fill) placed near the camera lens at lens heigh. Make a trial exposure. The idea is use lamp-to-subject distance and/or f/number setting to achieve a reasonable exposure. ISO can also be used as well as the power settings on the strobe. All the advice in world won’t help much. Trial and error is best if you don’t have an external light meter that measures and tells you the correct aperture for your flash. After trial and error procedure you should have achieved a good exposure. Now position a second strobe (main). Place high to replicate midday sun. Place off to the right or left at the 9 o’clock or 2 o’clock position oriented from the subject’s prospective. Using this prospective the camera and fill are at the 12 o’clock position. The main is adjusted to arrive at the subject plane 1 f/stop brighter than the fill. This is achieved by placing it closer than the fill or by adjustment of the brightness control (if available). Otherwise distance to subject becomes the control. Turing on the main may require making a compensating adjustment to the lens aperture (maybe 1 f/stop smaller to f/8). The main is positioned more to the side or more to the front of the subject based on facial type. Narrow face fares better with more frontal lighting. Fat face fares better with side lighting. Long nose place main to produce short nose shadow, short nose place main to yield longer nose shadow. For the final touch, experiment to achieve different lighting ratios by moving the fill forward and backwards. Backwards increases subject contrast. Forward reduces subject contrast. To move with a plan, measure the fill to subject distance. Multiply distance by 1.4 or divide by 0.77. This math allows movement in one stop brilliance changes. Assume fill and main are equal subject distance and both are equal in power. The lighting ratio from such as set-up will be 2:1 and very flat. Moving the fill back by a factor of 1.4 distance multiple yields a 3:1 ratio which is very desirable. Move the fill back again by the 1.4 factor alters ratio to 5:1 which is a little contrasty. Move the fill back again by the 1.4 factor yields a very contrasty 9:1 which is theatrical. Hope this helps, Alan Marcus
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Debby A. Tabb |
Aimee, I can't seem to get a email out this morning(????) I geuss I'll restart the computer and see what happens then. I am really glad you have a studio kit to focus on now, and I hope all will go well with it. Your CDs had to be shipped for me ( as I have been ill) But they should be there any day. there are graphs ect. for your lighting. So let me know then, I don't believe you should need any help getting your first shots once you receive them, but Email me or call if you do. Wishing you the very best in all your ventures, Debby
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W. |
It's been posted before, but for good measure, here's Kevin Kertz' nifty way to document your lighting setup: http://download.yousendit.com/85CB8DC4753C0ED8. Have fun!
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