Need help on buying lighting to take on a location shoot. Currently have 2 SB 600's with stands and umbrellas. Do I need more?

[t_c16]

I am currently thinking of buying a 2 light set up, either with studio strobes or a continous lighting kit. I will be

shooting an on location group corporate shot. I normally do weddings and just use my SB 600 - on camera or

bouncing it. I've used the SB 600 indoors using the umbrella strobist method and it worked well. However, if I use the

2 SB 600's, will the skyports transmitters work with it? I'm concerned that the SB 600 won't trigger at a certain

distance.

I also have the EZY box softbox I can set up with my SB 600.

Any ideas. I need to buy it in a few days since the shoot is in 10 days and I need some time to set it up and play

around with it.

I'm thinking a 1 or 2 light large softbox system might work well too. Possibly an Elinchrom or something similar. Any

thoughts?

My budget is $250.00-$300.00

[joseph_wisniewski]

The skyport receivers will work just fine, with the right cable.

 

I have no idea what an EZY softbox is, but based on previous experiences with the SB-800 and Westcott softboxes and shoot through brollies, the small flash doesn't have the power to do a group shot with a soft box.

 

I really don't see how you can purchase the amount of power you need for group shots for $300, even used.

 

Hot lights are essentially useless for corporate group shots. They require extremely cooperative models, because the exposure times are very long. Even all three of my "Electric North Window" 500 watt high CRI fluorescent banks aren't really up to group portraits, and each bank is equivalent to 2,000 watts of quartz halogen, for 6,000 watts total.

 

I normally go in with a 1200WS main strobe, and two 600WS for fill. You can get that for about $1,000. Throw in two 4x6 soft boxes and the stands to hold them, and you're around $1,800. With your budget, if you want to keep and impress this client, rent what you really need.

 

p.s. if you're shooting weddings with a pair of SB-600, and have a $300 budget for the gear for corporate portraits, you've gotten yourself into a "low price photographer" trap. You need to raise your prices to afford the gear you actually need, and to make a living at this.

[picturesque]

First, I agree with Joseph--hot lights are not the way to go. I also agree a single shoemount is not enough for corporate work, normally. Some strobist flash techniques are very translatable to corporate work, but using high ISO to compensate for the lack of flash power. High ISO these days is suitable for many applications, but it may not be for what you need. For instance, if the shot only goes on their website, you can use high ISO, no problem. But if it is to be enlarged to 20x30 to hang in their lobby, high ISO may not be the thing to do. Have you found out how the image is to be used?

 

Particularly outdoors, if it is bright, you need lots of flash power for fill. And if outdoors, a very small softbox like the EZBox isn't going to buy you anything in terms of soft light and will tax your shoemount even more. Not to mention the wind knocking your flash and box over. In any case, your budget is not enough for what you probably need. You will need to rent.

 

You haven't provided any details of the shot so we don't know what you might need. If you really want help here, you need to give more info.

 

And Skyports will work--so will Pocket Wizards and Cybersyncs.

[steve_c.5]

Now, Nadine knows her stuff for sure, but I might disagree with her just a tad on the EzBox. I just read a wonderful article from a British photography publication about a portrait photographer who uses that softbox with an SB-800 for daytime outdoor flash fill, and it works very well for him. The EZBox does give a broader, softer illumination for outdoor portraits. He had an assistant handhold the EZBox (to avoid the wind issues, particularly since they were shooting by the water). Now, the 800 is a little more powerful, granted, but it can be done.

 

You might find the 800 a better choice than the 600, since with the 800 you can connect an auxilliary battery pack for faster recycles and more consistent power delivery. The 600 doesn't have the connector for that.

 

Now, for sure, in some situations, you will be better off with the flash by itself, but in many portrait situations, the EZBox will be a very nice, portable diffuser to use. I don't use them myself (I use the shoot-thru umbrellas because they go up faster and do nearly the same thing), but I may in the future pick up a couple. They would be somewhat less affected by breezes and wind than my umbrellas though.

 

I'm a firm believer in the Strobist minimalist approach to location lighting, because I don't like to cart around heavy monolights, when the shoe-mount flash does the job for most of my shoots. And of course, if your budget will allow, you should have both, and use whatever works for any particular situation.

[picturesque]

Steve--I'm sure the EZBox is fine for portraits where you don't need the full blast of flash and you are fairly close to your subject. While T C didn't say how big the group shot is, usually corporate group shots are of the principals of a company and then possibly the whole company. These numbers are usually not less than maybe 4 or 5, which would be at the very limit of effectiveness of a softbox that small, plus you lose flash power if shooting in brighter light. Now given ideal situations, like shade and maybe 2 people to photograph, plus an assistant to hold the thing, you can definitely get away with SB600s and the softbox. It's just that usually, you don't get to choose location or time of day or number of people, etc. Out here in California, if a corporate client wants an outdoor location, I usually get requests for 60 people in full blasting sun (what fun, if not to photograph, trying to explain why that isn't a good idea).

[t_c16]

Hi Nadine, Thanks for responding. As always I appreciate your replies. I created a pre shoot questionnaire for

corporate jobs and included those questions, such as how many people to be photographed, location, preference

and what it wil be used for. Pre planning is important since we don't want to be caught unprepared. I'm assuming that

there will be at least 20 in this group. I'm still planning on using the SB 600's and may also rent out some lights just

in case. Either way, I'm going to need to test it all out a few days before the shoot. I may even go to the location to

assess the lighting.

I had to laugh about your last comment re:the corporaet request to photograph 60 people in blazing sun LOL! What a

nightmare, Thanks again!