Going from the "studio" to outdoors.

[zack_mccrory]

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I think that im ready to add a few pieces of equipment to my arsenal, and would like some advice from this forum.</p>

<p>So far my main interest has been glamour photography. I have been networking with aspiring models around my area, and working with them to boost (or start) their portfolios. Its been a lot of fun, and i have learned a lot along the way.</p>

<p>Im starting to be quite happy with the results that i can produce, but only in an indoor environment where i have my lighting setup. When i go outdoors, or any place where i dont have my lighting, i feel like a fish out of water. Its my goal to be able to produce quality pictures regardless of where i am. </p>

<p>Here is what im working with:<br>

Nikon D90<br>

Tamron 28-75 f/2.8<br>

Alienbees AB400 Monolight<br>

Alienbees Large Octobox<br>

48" 5-in-1 fill reflector<br>

2x 13ft boom stands<br>

Ebay wireless trigger/reciever</p>

<p>The single light/fill reflector setup is doing great, but its not very mobile obviously. It just wouldn't be practical to try and carry it around outdoors with a mobile power unit.</p>

<p>When i originally decided the direction i wanted to go, i decided to go the monolight route vs the strobist/speedlight route. I didn't want to mess with batteries, etc.</p>

<p>I still feel that way, and dont regret the purchases i made... but i need to gain some versitility and mobility. I did a shoot this past Saturday at a models home, and one of the rooms we shot in just wasn't large enough to get my Octobox in there... so we had to skip those... i didn't like that at all.</p>

<p>Im tossing around the idea of picking up a hotshoe flash. The SB-400 looks like a great value, but the SB-600 looks even better. I've also found some great modifiers for them, and would likely purchase one of the offerings from Lumiquest at the same time.</p>

<p>The mobility of a single SB600, mounted in the hotshoe, with a large Lumiquest on-camera modifier seems like it would be a great combo. Im just curious if i would be able to get the results that im hoping for. It would be very nice to be able to shoot a model outdoors without feeling like the shots are sub-par compared to my indoor shots. I also have a lot of unuseable photos when i shoot outdoor due to slight blur from camera movement etc (even 1/50 at 28mm seems to be tricky)</p>

<p>If i have little need to move the flash off-camera... would i be at any advantage to get the SB600 over the SB400? What if i had both and one was to stay on the camera at all times... is a SB400/SB600 combo just as good as a pair of SB600's?</p>

<p>I really like the look of shallow DOF, and shoot at f/2.8-f/5 quite often, so the power of the flash isn't a huge concern (my AB400 stays at 1/4-1/2 power 90% of the time)</p>

<p>Any input/advice would be greatly appreciated. </p>

<p> </p>

[ken_yee]

<p>AB Vagabond? But it's 20lbs. If you like your octa, you'll need to haul hefty stands around anyways and you need to weigh them down.</p><p>Outside, the main issue is balancing w/ the sun so you'll need ND filters to lower the amount of light but it also lowers the amount of speedlight light. Speedlight modifiers are terrible compared to your octabox (just wanted to mention it because you seem to love it). Big scrims if you have a helper might be more to your liking...<br></p>

[nathan_stiles]

<p>With that low of power, a small modifier like a lumiquest will be disappointing. Actually, I personally feel a small modifier like that for glamour will always be disappointing-- but you'll have even less of an effect at super low power.</p>

[prettygeeky]

<p>Forget about the SB400... although it pivots up and down, the flash head won't rotate.. thus you won't be able to shoot in portrait mode properly.</p>

<p>If you are looking for portability with a studio look... I would suggest speedlights with umbrellas (I like the Paul Buff PLM umbrellas) or portable softboxes like a Photoflex Q39 medium softbox. I use SB600s with both setups and they work great.</p>

[model mayhem gallery]

<p>I shoot outdoors all the time. I use a c-stand with wheels alien bees ab800 with barn doors and diffusion gels and my beloved Vagabon which goes with me everywhere I shoot. I hate my Canon 580EX although I occasionally use it when I am in a pinch. Alien Bees studio strobes work excellent outdoors but you don't need a soft-box or any kind of light modifiers. The bare bulb is not as harsh outdoors as it is inside. Also, you need a lot less power going bare bulb and can easily as some call it over power the sun with just bare bulb. I absolutely love my vagabon and prefer shooting outdoors much more than shooting in studio which is so boring.</p>