K.I.S.S. TTL + studio flash

[dick roadnight cotswolds]

K.I.S.S. stands for Keep it simple stupid, so I like to set up a

simple flash setup, that allows me to follow a child or cat around

the room, but

 

single on camera flash gives red eye and hard shadows, so I used

 

dual flash, with one flash hand held, and a fill in 1/3rd the power,

under the lens. This gave ugly double shadows, so I used

a

 

diffuser on the fill in, with a pair of Metz 70MZ-5s, TTL-flash

controlled on the Hasselblad 555ELD, with the hand held main as a

wireless TTL slave � the diffuser wastes enough power to give the

right balance.This still gave to hard a light for babies, so I bought

 

soft boxes for the Metzs. The TTL flash metering takes care of

compensation for bounce flash, which softens the effect and helps

illuminate the background, but it does not entirely overcome the

usual problem of dark backgrounds that you get with on camera or hand-

held flash. So I thought that I could use

 

four of my studio flash units (with barn doors) to light the four

walls (via ceiling reflection), so that, wherever I pointed the

camera, I would have an illuminated background.

 

If I kept the background (walls) a stop or so under-exposed, would

the TTL flash make up the difference and give me the right

combination of main, fill, and background?

 

To make it simpler still I could put the Hasselblad on the back of

the Sinar p, and use tilt to keep most of the floor in frame and in

focus, so I could leave the camera on the tripod and not have to

follow the subject � I think the TTL flash control would still work,

as there is no electrical connection between the lens and camera,

even when they are directly connected.

 

So that I could take several pictures in quick succession, I would

use the Sinar auto-shutter, which is self-cocking through the cable

release. I need a system to allow me to operate the shutter cable

release and the camera motor wire release with one hand.

 

I could fire the camera with the my (modified) Polaroid radio

control, but I would then have to find a suitable electrical output

from the 555ELD, which could fire a Sinar Epolux electronic

shutter... if I paid £2,500 for one.

 

Any suggestion?

[jack_congson3]

Dick:

I think using TTL in the studio is kind of overkill in technology and leads you to your KISS situation.

 

The best system I have found for the studio is Joe Zeltsman's system. Read his articles in Monte Zucker's site cxarefully and it will provide you with an excellent insight into the relationship of fill and main.

 

Look at: http://www.zuga.net/freelessons/JZCH13.shtml

[mel_brown1]

Yes.

[dennis_smith4]

Go on Monty's site and check Joes formal lighting techniques. To get it perfect takes alot of practice but its not brain surgery. A fill, main, hairlight and background light will do it and of course alot can be done with a light and reflector. Practice. Good Luck Dennis

[hal_bissinger]

One thing you don't want to do is mix TTL and manual flash. You can have problems with pre-flashes setting off your strobes early or the TTL controlled flash just won't know what's coming and cause exposure problems. If you want to keep it simple the right way to do it is to provide even flat lighting and you should be able to do that with your four strobes and umbrellas. Forget about the on camera flash and use a IR transmitter like the Wein SSR in place of your flash to trigger your slaves.

[jacob]

I thought you said that you were going to use the K.I.S.S!

 

I am a little curious about the part where you mention that you could put the Hasselblad on the back of the Sinar p. What do you mean? I have both but I can't figure out how you are going to make them work together.

 

If you want to move around in a room, and take pictures in all kinds of directions, my suggestions are:

 

Use a room with daylight and blend existing light with diffused TTL flash as fill. And a 400ASA film.

 

or

 

Bounce a powerful TTL flash at celing and use a diffused TTL flash as fill. (don't bee in a to large room, or in a room with a very high celing, or in a room with a colored celing.

 

remember keep it simple!

[dick roadnight cotswolds]

Jacob;

 

There are standard Sinar boards to mount a Hasselblad magazine or a camera on the back of a 5x4 Sinar. The problem is the length and diameter of the Hasselblad body, but, with a recessed panel and wide angle bellows I think I will be able to focus to infinity with a 150mm lens. As the body is narrow, vingnetting will occur if I use much shift, but it seems OK for tilt. The magazine adaptor allows use of wide angle lenses am shift.

 

I have 7,000 watts-seconds of studio flash to enable me to use f22 in a large room with 50 asa film, and be independent of daylight.

 

I also have two Metz 70MZ-5s which I use with diffusers, light boxes or ceiling bounce, or for nature or outside photography, with daylight.

 

I could use one of the Metz heads as a mobile main light, but, as per previous posting I might have to do this using the manual setting to prevent the TTL flash being confused by the studio lights. If the studio lights are not powerful enough for full exposure, I imagine that the TTL might just top it up.

 

I had not expected everyone to take all my suggestions seriously� and I would try out such techniques at home on my cat before trying anything mission-critical.