Mixing Flash w/ Tungsten in B&W--Fatal?

[ntiberius]

I've been learning black and white portraiture at home with three el

cheapo Smith-Victor lamps (500W tungsten bulbs). Now that it's summer

I realize how hot "hot lights" get, and it's about time for me to push

my learning curve anyway.

 

I'm thinking of buying a simple Alien Bee setup to learn the nuances

of strobes. However, I don't want to lose the functionality of having

three lights; I like hotlights for everything but the heat (and the

light output). I'd like to use my hotlights for fill, background

lighting, etc.

 

Much of what I've read in this forum advises against mixing light

types, for color balance reasons. But for somebody who shoots

exclusively B&W, and is only initially interested in learning how

light falls, how to meter, how to expose, etc... am I really

committing a fatal error? I hope to move to strobe-only in the

future, but I don't want to make a "leap" and discard what I've

learned from using the hotlights; I want to make a transition.

[garry edwards]

Neil,

 

What you are proposing presents no problems at all, other than the ones you've already identified (heat and long shutter speeds). Set the aperture to suit the flash and the shutter speed to suit the hotlights.

[bill_b2]

The color of your lighting will affect the appearance of your subjects in B/W or color. That is why there are colored filters for both. Take a B/W picture of a color chart under both types of lighting and you will see what I mean.

 

Here is one example. If you use hotlights(3200K maybe) for fill on a white woman's face, reddish blemishes will be deemphasized. A clear complexion. A 5500K strobe will show the blemishes more.

 

The way shadows fall will be same, so mixed lighting can be used in a lot of learning situations as long as you remember the effect the different colors of the lighting have.

 

You might try cool hotlights. Use a corkscrew fluorescent in the fixtures. http://www.argraph.com/PHOTO%20GALLERY/Sam%20FL360%20Light%20Kit/Sam%20FL-360%20Light%20Kit.htm

 

Bill

[twmeyer]

Check the film manufacturers specs for exposure under tungsten lighting. You'll probably discover they recomend a lower iso than with daylight and full spectrum lighting. This could affect your ratios and metering. Since you've probably already set exposure and processing according to your experience with tungsten light, you may find the strobe seems brighter than you expect, compared to the tungsten lights... t