streetlevel

Another word of caution... depending on the fixture and bulb

inside, it may have non-standard electrics and may not be able

to run on household circuits (requiring a theater dimmer

instead).

I buy alot of material at www.setshop.com - they've always been

very helpful and their prices seem fair.

1. It depends on what you are shooting most. The 30x60 seems

a little narrow, but would work well for 3/4 length portraits. The

Octabox might be a better general use box.

2. There are reflectors with wider spreads, and indeed some

scoops designed specifically for backgrounds. I find those more

effective than umbrellas or softboxes to get an even background.

But for a large background, it is not unusual to use 4 lights to get

it even across the image area.

3. It depends on the size of the subject and the fill area you want.

As far as I know, there is no exact definition for "muddy." I tend to think of it as a

photograph without much contrast (either color, or luminance contrast).

A lack of contrast could be caused by any number of factors. Poor exposure, poor

processing or poor printing being chief among them.

It could have been the lab's screw up, but it could just as easily have been a mistake by the

photographer. And, of course, shooting in open shade will often reduce contrast, and

induce a blue cast in a scene as well.

Sounds a little odd... did you test in the studio with the same

camera you were shooting these with? Perhaps the camera

runs a stop or two hot? I know my digi is not true to the marked

ISO (compared with film and meters).

Not usually... but sometimes, depending on how much speration you want...

mirrors can work well.

I buy a few 4x8' , half inch foam core boards then chop them up.

My primary reflector is 2 pieces of hinged 2x6' board which I can

stack a few lights in and make a large bounced source if I want...

or just place as a standard reflector

White gaff tape is great thing.

The scrap board (2x4' pieces) can be used as smaller reflectors

and flags.

Look for non-glossy foam core. It's slightly more expensive, but

good stuff.

For a tape, Gaffers tape might not hold the paint too well... but

you could probably find a linen tape that would work nicely.

One idea I toyed with, but never built, was makeing a few large

piano style hinges, that could be inserted into, or bracketed to

the foam core. If you make a 1/2 inch bracket, you can put a 1/4

inch piece of white on one side, and a black one on the other,

and just replace them as needed. Flexible sizing... and cheap

replacement.

Easy breakdown for travel too.

I guess, I'm not sure why they are trying to show in the comparison. That they all mount

the same lens and hold the film flat?

study rim lighting, and other side lighting techniques.

Don't forget the silouette can be just as visually interesting as the

rest.

Try killing the lights in the gym, and letting the suroundings go

black. (tho with all the mirrors it might be hard to do well)

The Chimera is slightly better IMO - they will help soften the light

source some when you are close to a single person, or

something small-ish to shoot. But will not be terribly useful for

larger groups, and you'll lose a lot of the already meager power

of these strobes.

I've had pretty ok luck bouncing that unit tho. A card type of angle

bounce, or I made a shaped bounce I could velcro to it that works

pretty well.

I really like the current AF Nikon 60mm Macro 2.8 - might be

worth playing with. With the crop factor, I find this lens to have a

fairly useful fov.

Oy - Ignore my advice on the cobra style then... I was assuming

you'd be doing "grip and grins" of 2-5 people at close range.

You'll probably want something along the lines of a Norman

400B for portability. There are several that fit this bill - search the

forum for topics on "portable studio strobes" and similar things.

You'll also want to at least double your time spent familiarizing

yourself with the equipment. A flash meter would not be a bad

purchase... along with a radio sync of some sort (pocketwizard,

etc.)

You might see if you can rent a few setups too - to see what

works for you before you invest.

Wow - talk about jumping in without testing the water.

Do you own a flash? If not, I'd buy one of the newer Canon

models so yuo don't have to fight compatibility issues.

Try and get it soon enough that you have time to play with it and

learn how it functions. Shoot lots of tests. Try to approximate the

lighting conditions you expect to face.

Good luck. Oy.

Arri, Mole Richardson, and LTM make really nice continuous

lights...

Lowel makes so nice lower priced ones that I find to be

generally higher quality and more flexible than the Smith Victors.

I've also found that SV's quartz halogen lights perform a little

better (and give a slighly whiter light).

First tho, I would try to work up a workflow that will allow to set a

custom white balance (and shoot raw please). You should be

able to make those SV's work for most things without too much

trouble.

Anand - I think you need to simplify. Start with one light only, then

gradually add some fill - look at the subtle changes from moving

that one light a few degrees each direction... shoot tonnes. You'll

soon start to see what works for you and what doesn't.

As you get more comfortable you can start adding in more lights

and learning their effects as well. But take your time to really see

what is going on.

Incidentally - your shots are not bad at all... for a self proclaimed

"noob" you seem to be picking up rather quickly.

Yes - tho' typically they are larger strobes running off a power

pack. (often an 8-12" diameter ring throwing 1200w/s - rather

than the macro sized ones).

Yes the "ring" shaped catchlight in the eyes is the easiest way to

see if that's how it was shot.

Well that sucks. Sorry mate. Dedicated equipment is still king of

off camera then (cord wise anyway).

But you should still be able to go with third party strobes without

fear.

With the addition of an optical slave ($30-70 from various

manufacturers) any hotshoe style strobe can be made to fire

optically from your on camera strobe in manual mode. (ettl/ittl

stuff gets weird with pre-flashes so if you want facy metering, get

the dedicated equipment listed above).

Afaik all the newer quality strobes by metz/sunpak/sigma et al

have been brought up to spec on sync voltage. None will fry your

camera. The droid is talking out of his ass. (if you'll pardon the

expression.)

Both will be excellent... primary consideration would be how easy

it is to find modifiers for them, and service. Getting bowens

packs serviced in the US can be tricky... but no problem in the

UK...

So - I'd dig around the support structures to see what makes

more sense for your location.

Mathews C++ stands rock. about as solid as you get. Tho they

do take up space.

Remember the histogram shows the whole image considered. It

doesn't know what the subject is. So while your shot shows a

correctly lit subject, that only represents 30% of the image area.

What you are running into is a subject that is lit brighter than the

room. If you cannot add light to the background, you need to

decrease the light on the subject - in order to get a balance.

Otherwise, as you saw, the highlights blow out when you

increase the overall exposure (too wide a dynamic range for the

sensor to hold).

Since you are likely getting it outdoors anyway, why not use a large white sheet for a sun

diffusion tent? Just a thought...

are you loading your film correctly? If it's above the rails, light

might bump around them, flaring like this. I think this was

covered, but that's what mine looked like before I checked my

loading technique.