Alien Bee

<p>Bob I think it is a very good picture. Well lit with good wrap and a soft quality but to be honest I see the Yellowish/red tint that the Bees seem to give off. Maybe I'm nuts. Nobody else seems to think they do so I guess I'm wrong. Regardless of weather the tint is there or not it is a very nice portrait and I thank you for sharing it with me.</p>

Actually the photo isn't really that good. It is a simple setup I use for instant prints, on location. For studio work I get a bit more technical and often use 5 or 6 lights, consisting of barndoors, grids, huge 6 foot soft boxes, reflectors, things of that nature.

 

Although I don't see what your are seeing flash tubes can often give out different Kelvin color temperatures. According to White Lightning their flash tube ratings I think are 5900. I could be wrong. You can call them to be sure - 615-383-3982. Needless to say you can also dial in your camera settings to whatever Kelvin rating you wish, such as less yellows and reds.

<p>Whatever color balance you might see in the image, a simple custom white-balance at the time of the shoot will give you the proper color (if correctly done) no matter what light you are using. The problem I have had in the past with the AB is that <em>that</em> color temperature will change as the flash head gets hotter. I can't stress enough however, that the differences would NOT be noticeable unless EVERYONE was wearing the exact same outfit and the shoot went on for hours.</p>

<p>As far as "quality of light" goes, define quality. Most of the time we define quality of light as something like hard to soft. A hard light is a small light source. Period. The smaller the light source, the harder the light. The harder the light, the more defined the shadow edge is. I could use a Profoto bare bulb or an Alien Bee bare bulb: both will be <em>hard</em> light sources (assuming you are photographing something larger than the flash tube!). At the other end we have soft light. And here is the key to soft light: the larger the light source in relationship to your subject, the softer the light. So as the light source gets larger we achieve a more wrap around kind of light and a very soft, gradual edge shadow. So, I could put a large softbox on either a Profoto or an AB and provided that softbox is larger than my subject, I will have wrap around lighting. The tricky part is not to confuse diffused lighting as soft lighting. By nature, soft lighting is diffused. However, hard lighting can also be diffused. Imagine a strobe with it's reflector pointed at something. Put a diffusion panel directly in front of the strobes reflector. You still have a small light source, you're just scattering/diffusing the output (slight softening of the shadow edge but not gradually). Now start to move that panel forward, away from the bulb. You will see the light source gets larger and larger. The larger it gets, the softer the light becomes. Obviously, this all has to do with modifying the light. And again leads back to the Alien Bee's being good enough. I find it amusing that Bluff & Co are making new, improved lights (Einsteins) which simply seems to confirm that there are better lights! But I don't need commercial consistency with my lights. I don't need to photograph the same exact object at the same exact color on two different days. I don't need that type of ultra exact output of power and color temperature. If I don't need it, why pay for it? And if you find you do need it- you are in a position to bill the client for it.</p>

<p>"I mean I do not want to show someones work as my example of poor lighting. That would not be right."<br>

If you said hey this looks like the guys did a bad job w/ the lighting and really suxxxx, I'd understand, but if you just want to point at an image and say the colors look a bit off because it's an AB, I think that's ok.<br>

What would be nearly impossible to tell w/o more control over the actual image is what was done during post? What room was it in? (walls give a color cast)? What was the ambient light? What was their workflow? What did the other images from the shoot look like? There are a lot of things that can influence color balance far more than running the bees at low power levels. I'd honestly say unless you're shooting catalog work, you'd be hard pressed to notice comparing photos.<br>

A quick way for you to find out is buy some bees (they have a 60 day return policy) and consider the shipping cost a "rental fee". Stop by your local Calumet or other photo store and rent a Profoto setup (or Elinchrom or whatever you're thinking about buying...rentals are fairly cheap...maybe $100/day for a decent setup). Spend a day w/ a model and run a few hundred images through each. Show us what the images look like in lightroom. Then you can say it makes a difference or not.<br>

If you're running these at a wedding reception, formals, etc., there are so many other variables that will cause color casts in your image...</p>

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<p>Ken Its not any one picture. Its a collection on photographers pictures that I have seen who are using bees. Maybe I'm nuts because no one else seems to agree with me. In the end I think you are right. I will just have to get some and try it for myself. I do like what I hear about there customer service and there pricing is unbeatable. </p>

<p>one thought about the cost or price of the alien bees is that they only sell direct, there is no profit being made by retailers which obviously would increase prices, I am happy with mine and have no complaints about the images I am getting when I use mine. It's all in knowing how to use the lights and the modifiers to get the desired result.</p>

<p>see my site</p>

<p>www.felixtm.com</p>

<p>people folder<br>

everything is with alienbees</p>

<p>Todd, if you have a sense about some image aspect from repeated exposure to seeing it ... trust your eyes. Your impressions are more important than anyone else's when it comes to what may affect your work. </p>

<p>Light isn't just light, and there is a reason why certain lighting products are found in most every professional studio and rental house and others are not. These products are so consistent in their output and color temp that they are used with Mutlishot digital backs that do 4, 8, or even 16 shots per image. </p>

<p>That said, a level of performance like that is probably overkill to the tenth power for wedding work. Then there is a cost threshold to take into account, so the top brands are probably out of the question anyway ... unless you find a good deal on used gear.</p>

<p>IMO, it is better to step up when buying lighting because even inexpensive gear gets expensive if you have to swap it out ... trust me, that is direct experience speaking. So, choose carefully going in and you'll have a solid investment in lighting gear to serve you for many years to come.</p>

<p>Lots of choices out there besides those you mentioned ... so look around a bit and explore your options. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>"Does anyone else see the poor quality of light given off by the bees?"</p>

<p>Todd, I'm so glad you asked this question!</p>

<p> For many years I used a couple Sunpak monolights, which I loved. They both went on the fritz about the same time, so I started looking around for new studio lights. Alien Bees were highly recommended to me by a camera club member, and I bought three lights, and two soft boxes. I have the same set-up as before, the soft boxes are a similar size, and yet..... the light is funny.</p>

<p> I can't put my finger on it either, but I don't get the softness of light I got with my Sunpaks. If I had never used studio lights before, I would have said it was my imagination, but it is definitely not the same. I wish I could show some side-by-side examples comparing the Alien Bees with the Sunpaks, but I don't have the Sunpaks anymore.</p>

<p>The Alien Bees light does seem to be harsher, and harder to work with. I am seriously thinking about replacing them with another brand. If White Lightning is just a more powerful Alien Bee, I think I'll avoid it!</p>

<p> I disagree that light is light. A given light level at a given colour temp will look totally different from one light to another. However its correctable, its quick and easy to tune a light that you use to give the results you want.<br>

The reflectors /grids/softboxes that each manufacturer supplies also vary wildly in quality.<br>

Photograph your source reflector and see how even around the bowl it is, some are shocking.<br>

Lights are not there to do your job for you, They are a tool that you need to learn to manipulate in such a way that gives you the results you seek. Because its different to another light you've used doesn't make it inferior, it just means you have failed to learn the nuances of the new source.<br>

Thats the craft of a photographer.</p>