flags

[tzvih]

<p>I want to use flags to control the light spill from my strobes on to my background. That being said, I have no idea how to attach the flag to the light stand.<br>

On a different note, what effect does a grid/honeycomb flag have?</p>

[nathangardner]

<p>sorry I can't help, but you may get more responses in the lighting forum.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>A honeycomb, put directly into a reflector, confines the output to some number of degrees (hence the way that honeycombs are sold ... 10 degrees, 40 degrees, etc). When the strobe is fairly close to the surface the light will be hitting, the result can be a quite-small puddle of light. The strategy for something like that will depend on whether you're lighting a person's torso (for example), or something the size of a watch. The light from the honeycomb is still "hard" in terms of the shadows that it produces. <br /><br />A grid, used on a softbox or octabox, etc., gives you light that still retains much of the softer qualities of those modifiers, but the light is much more directional. Very helpful when you want soft-ish light on something, but don't want it spilling onto a nearby background or other object.<br /><br />As for how to hold a flag ... it depends on whether you're talking about a piece of 10 x 10 inch foam core, or 10 x 10 <em>feet</em> of some other material. With foam core, you can stick something like coat hanger wire into the edge of the material, and then use almost any sort of clamp or other device to anchor it. For larger pieces, you can use the same sort of arm-style holders that are sold to hold reflectors. See makers like Photoflex or Westcott or Manfrotto for reflector holding arms that will go onto any light stand. <br /><br />You'll get some more details on all of this if you can describe in more detail what you're working with. I seem to recall that you've been focused mostly on table-top sized shots involving small shiny stuff, right?</p>

[tzvih]

<p>Matt-<br>

That was very informative, thank you.<br>

Regarding what I am shooting, you are correct. It's mostly tabletop jewelry. I'm trying to control the light spilling on to the backround. I want to keep the background deep black and I'm having a hard time with all the light spilling. I realized the hard way that black paper usually comes up gray. It seems other people have had more success with black velvet. I've tried black acrylic but it takes a lot of effort to keep the dust off. Does velvet attract dust as easily?</p>

[Charles_Webster]

<p>Velvet attracts dust too. And is a little more difficult to clean without wrinkling it on the table.</p>

<p>I use a long cotton swab stick with a little dab of "blue tack" on the end to pick up individual dust spots on the velvet. Very carefully.</p>

<p>I use a plastic cleaner for acrylic that I bought at the plastics store where I purchased the acrylic, and use lint free "Tec Wipes"</p>

<p>As for holding flags and such, I hot glue dowels and coat-hanger wire to foam core and pieces of black wrap (Rosco cinefoil) when I know I'll need to reuse them.</p>

<p>I made some 24" long, 1/4" dia. dowels with alligator clips on one end to hold flags made from black wrap. I just cut a piece of foil the right size, and grab it with the clip. Then the dowel is held by a grip head<br>

(http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/3581-REG/Avenger_D200_D200_Grip_Head_.html)</p>

<p>Those Avenger grip heads are flexible, and very useful and not expensive. I use lots of them in my studio.</p>

<p>Tzvi, look at your thread from back in early April where Matt gave you advice on grip gear also.</p>

<p><Chas></p>

[tzvih]

<p>Charles-<br>

Yes I recall that thread fondly. It helped me realize how little I knew about the pro "jargon" specifically regarding grip gear. <br>

Either way, it's still a bit unclear to me if there is a simple way to connect the flag to the light source (in laymans terms). Just looking at Matt's setup was enough to make my head swim. I am hoping to create a much simpler version of that setup- at least for now.</p>

[Charles_Webster]

<p>Oh, and when you buy velvet, buy the most expensive you can find. The deeper nap is much better. Expect to pay $40-50 per yard (bolt width).</p>

<p>And be aware that velvet has a "nap direction" where the nap lies best. I use it so the nap direction places the smooth side away from the camera - i.e., the nap is brushed forward toward the camera.</p>

<p>To clean the velvet, I clamp it to the shooting table, then go over it with an adhesive tape roller lint pick-up. Then I brush out all the marks with a 2 or 3" wide paint brush. Then brush again with a 2" soft camel hair brush.</p>

<p>Then I place the subject and style it as required. Then I brush out the velvet nap again. Then I turn on the lights and take one shot just to see where the dust is, so I can go get rid of it.</p>

<p>Be careful when working on velvet, every time you touch it, you'll have to brush it out again. But the same issue exists with acrylic, every time you touch it, you'll have to clean the finger prints off it again.</p>

<p><Chas></p>

[Charles_Webster]

<p>Try sticking some black flags on 1/4" dowel rods with hot glue. Then you need seperate stands for them, and you can make them with sticks in cans of concrete. Clamp the dowel to the stand with spring clamps like this http://alzodigital.com/images/equipment/spring_clamp.jpg</p>

<p>You can get spring clamps in all sizes at your local hardware store.</p>

<p>You won't have a lot of luck trying to clip the flags to the same stand as the lights because often they need to be at right angles to the light or on the opposite side.</p>

<p>I buy cheap (<$20) light stands just to hold this stuff. It's not unusual for there to be 6 or 8 lightstands surrounding the subject.</p>

<p>Since your subjects are small, maybe you can make stands that sit on your shooting table (out of view of course) perhaps from bleach bottles filled with sand, or... I use some zip-lock bags filled with shot (pellets from shotgun shells) as weights and props. For really small stuff, I have a "third hand" gadget I found at the hardware store. It has 2 articulated arms each about 2" in length, each ending in an alligator clip.</p>

<p>As Matt said last time, it's easy to improvise this stuff, but once you buy the right stuff, it's hard to live without.</p>

<p><Chas></p>

<p>Remember that "if it's not in the picture, you don't care what it looks like."</p>

[jpo3136b]

<p>I found it easiest to improvise a flag by draping some cloth over a boom and clipping it in place. You could get a C-stand which will be a short arm that goes on a light stand; it'll have a spring loaded clamp to hold a diffuser or panel that's a couple of feet across. They're usually adjustable to a range of sizes. </p>

<p>Keep in mind that you will probably only need smaller ones for your setup. These same devices are sometimes made on a large scale. Attached is a hyperlink to a photo made by a friend of mine who was working on a local TV commercial. You can clearly see that the lighting accessories are scaled up in size to match the job at hand. </p>

<p>You'll see the flag near the camera. If you look at the people walking in the background, you'll notice two people pushing a diffuser. http://twitpic.com/1lc0sg </p>

<p>It's the same basic idea as would be used with small format general purpose photography; yet, the items involved are larger if that's what's needed to build a larger effect. For what's on a tabletop, I bet you could improvise something easily in an afternoon.</p>