Constant lighting vs. studio flash?

[brooks short]

RJ,

 

Actually I said, referring to Avenger or Matthews light stands, that is was a matter of choosing between either a Harley or BMW motorcycle. Do you want form or function? The point being that the Avenger stands have a deeper chrome finish while the Matthews stands were functionally superior in that they locked down more securely. But they're both nice light stands.

 

And I do prefer motorcycles to cars. I just read an article about the new 2005 Corvette and how with 400hp it had a blazingly fast 0-60mph time of 4.8 seconds. My TOURING BMW motorcycle does 0-60mph in 3.8 seconds, without leaving 1st gear. And my bike is not a sport bike in any stretch of the imagination. Plus, cars just plain lean the wrong way in turns. But they are handy for fetching groceries, in the rain. #8^)

 

I would love to see some examples of your lighting with the Dedos. I'm guessing that you want to create lots of dark and light transitions in small areas and that's why you're leaning to optical spots but I could be wrong about that. I'd be very interested in seeing how they work out.

 

BTW, I did a food shoot for new menu items at a restaurant last week. The chef was really good at styling the food but I still had to have a stylist (my wife) come in halfway into the shoot because he was getting tired of me pointing out things that should be corrected.

 

Please forgive me but I used strobe, a medium soft box, small soft box

and a 7" 10 degree grid spot. The lighting was pretty aggressive, the shots look pretty cool. And it was an all-you-can eat occasion for me.

 

I shot a full-frame DSLR. Firewired to the computer. If I was shooting 4x5 I would have exposed over 80 Polaroids getting the styling right. The chef enjoyed seeing the images on a large lap-top screen, until I pointed out the bad grill marks on the shrimp and the ragged edges of the red pepper slices etc.

 

No fries or burgers this time.

[brooks short]

RJ,

 

Here's a shot done a couple of years ago. This sort of tight, small set would lend itself to using Dedo lights, I would think. This was done with strobes though. A mediul softbox overhead and an optical spot on the right, rear side of the set. No gels, just the gold colr of the optical shining through the liquid in the glass.<div></div>

[rj__]

I love the photograph, even if I think that you are a smartass for choosing a song that most people wouldn't know. Did you really have to choose a composition by the relativey unknown younger brother, or did you do it because the song means something special to you?

 

You are quite right in saying that I misrepresented your position about light stands. You did indeed draw a distinction, that some people other than true believers and bikers would consider arcane, between BMWs and Harley's. For various reasons, I went with Harley, in sexy black.

 

The chef and I are both aware of your concern, expressed in a response to an earlier post of mine, about whether the chef will have the patience, or for that matter the skill, to play the role of food stylist. He and I have decided to take a shot at it. And yes, we might go through a lot of polaroids. Also, I can tell you that we have already involved other photographers, specifically some people who work in 8x10, to handle certain parts of this project. We have quite a bit of luxury of time and money on the production side. In other words, when I say that we'll move to strobe if the Dedos are a dud, it will be annoying, but not a financial problem.

 

I may be dead wrong about this, but if I recall from reading something quite some time ago, you may have grown up in Ottawa. True, or have I got that wrong? Just curious.

[brooks short]

RJ,

 

I chose the song because it was laying in a pile of sheet music next to another pile of old photos. I thought it sort of went with the photo.

 

Harleys are nice bikes as are BMWs. Hey, a twin is a twin. I like pretty much all motorcycles but the BMW is hard to beat on an 800 mile day. #8^) What model Harley do you have?

 

In the eighties, I used to shoot a ton of 8x10 film, both transparency and Polaroid. It used to be that a full page ad required 8x10. In fact, Polaroid was running a promotion for their dealers. They allowed their dealers to run a contest for their customers. Whichever customer shot the most Polaroid film in a certain time period would receive a free 8x10 Polaroid processor. I won. Now I've got two 8x10 Polaroid processors sitting on the shelf in the studio, unused for more than 10 years.

 

I lived in Ottawa for one year in the Seventies. I was born in Baltimore, Md. and relocated to Tampa, Florida in 1981.

 

Perhaps you've seen the photo of Rita on my Photonet page? That was taken in Ottawa, Canada. We both worked for a commercial photographer there.

 

Be sure to show us some of your photos taken with the Dedo lighting.

[rj__]

Brooks,

 

Let me repeat that I like the photograph and, in particular, that you incorporated a piece of music by Mack David. I play the piano and I know the piece. I assumed, apparently wrongly, that the choice of sheet music was deliberate. You will find that there are two David's. They are brothers. One is called Hal and the other is called Mack. Hal David is famous, his brother is not.

 

Beyond that, I would like to say that I greatly appeciate the advice that I have received from this forum about the project on which I am working.

[imageus]

I would like to get some advice on lights. I will be using them for Portraits (Digital) but also would like to use them for video (indoor). After reading all the posts in this thread (which took me quite a while!) I am leaning towards continuous lights.

 

Anyone has any suggestions on any brands or kits? I appreciate your recommendation. Thanks.

[rudy - ny, ny]

Wow. What a ride.

 

I just spent 1/2 an hour reading through this thread.

 

I'm shooting product at Clinique with strobes and I'm debating whether cont lights (aka "hot lights", "sizzlers", "barn door burners", "egg fryers", "stare into the sun", etc) would be a better way to go.

 

So I logged on to see if there was any good info regarding the two on photo.net.

 

You know what? Half an hour later, I'm even more stumped. There is a big group of yes and there is a big group of no.

 

I guess that I'm going to have to try them and see what works best for me and my situation.

 

Cheers.

 

rudy