i have all the equipment, but now what to do w/l358 sekonic

[danny_kizzee]

hey there everyone. im doing my hw right now. let me laydown my situation.

 

i have 3 alienbees all 400, a large softbox, a giant softbox & a boom & 20degree

honeycomb.

 

i bought a l-358 sekonic w/the optional radio transmitter

 

i bought 2 pocketwizard plus 2.

 

i have a 5d.

 

could someone walk me through start to finish process of what i do in using the

meter & adjusting the lights.

 

ive been reading alot of books from barnes & nobles. & studying forums but im

not getting it all. what would you do?

 

thanks for reading & hope to hear from you

[ellis_vener_photography]

Start by setting up one light with the power level for the flash in the middle of its power

range.

Set the camera up on a tripod. Set the camera to manual mode and the shutter speed to

1/125th and the ISO to 100. recruit someone to be a model. Now go stand next to them

and set the meter to the proper mode for wireless readings and put the meter right in

front of the model's face with the dome pointing at the light and take the reading. Make

note of the f/stop and go back and set that on your camera, Take a picture. Now go back

with the meter and this time point the dome at the lens and, take a second reading and

set that result on the camera and take another picture. Pick the one you like best. Try

bringing a white fill card in fro m the opposite side the light is placed, then try moving the

card around and closer and farther from the subject. Keep experimenting until you have

worn out as many possibilities as you can think of. Once you feel like you've exhausted all

the possibilities of one light , start using a second. And when that gets old, start using a

third. Try the light(s) at different distances to the subject and at different power settings

relative to each and with different light modifiers. Keep practicing as often as you can and

make notes. Try seeing how changing the lights around creates different effects and how

those effects affect the "mood" or pictorial effect.

[garry edwards]

I agree with everything Ellis says except that I think you'll find it easier to start with a still life subject, simply because still life subjects keep still and don't get bored. Subjects that keep still produce repeatable results. If a subject moves between shots, just slightly, the effect of the lighting can be very different.

 

Books can be helpful but they're written to make money. Trust me on this, because I write books... They should be used only as a guide and a starting point and nothing beats experimentation.

 

Lighting equipment is sold to make money too, and it makes sense for the suppliers to sell their kit in sets - but don't be deceived into believing that just because you have 4 lights that you should use all of them.

 

Take a look at the Lighting Themes archived under 'Administration' in this forum.

[danny_kizzee]

thanks for getting back to me. im going to try this this week. ill use my wife, that way she cant complain too much about the time spent. :>

 

im excited b/c all this really forces me to use my head.

 

from the flash meter i gain my fstop setting.

id like to kick this question around.

 

alot of what ive read tell me to set up the fill, then the keylighting, & finally the hairlight.

 

so when you bring all the lights together. alot of what ive read has one meter at a certain fstop, & the others 1 1/2 stops or more lower. how do you do that? i think i do that by changing the power of the fill & the power of the strobe. i this correct?

[johnnysks]

Hope you folks don't mind me posting a link here:

 

http://super.nova.org/DPR/Ratios/

 

If you don't want to learn the fundamental stuff, just scroll down to the heading "Metering Technique".

[danny_kizzee]

im digesting that link now. thanks alot! it helps that the authour used a l-358. the fundamentals also really helped shed alot of light on 45 degree lighting. ill be toying w/this this week.