xenomer

<div></div>

Thank you very much for the suggestion. The 580EX and 430EX has the possibility to be used in fast sync mode (quick multiply flashes to light the shutter plane). So I can try the 1/500 sec. Any suggestions for positioning the reflectors or flashes? Are the waterdropps better if I try to backlit them with the 430EX or should I use an on-camera flash? Should I use any accent light on the drops or the lighting (reflectors) for the person is also good for the water?

For the lens I have the options: Canon 70-200 mm 1:4 L or Sigma 100 mm 1:2,8 EX DG MACRO.

Canon EOS 350D, 1/200 sec X-sync and I have a 580EX and a 430EX flash + I can get other not dedicated flashes.

Sorry, I forgot to say that I would like to make it late afternoon to have nice natural light on the background.

I have to make some "fashion-like" photographs in water. The model have to

splash the water front of the natural background. I have to freeze the drops

in air. So I need a really short shutterspeed and still have the background

naturally light. Any suggestions for lighting or anything that can help in

this situation? (I have flashes, reflectors and can get almost any necessary

equipment but I have never done such photo before).

What kind of flash do you use? What is the setting of the flash? Do you use it in manual mode or in one of the automatic modes?

I never used brolly boxes, but I think their main advantage is over umbrellas that they eliminate eliminate light spill what is a good feature. Gives a little more control then shoot-through umbrellas and probably put out more light (because the spill light is reflected back to the diffuser). So I think it is a good alternative for shoot-through umbrellas with several advantages over them. I think that if the choice would be umbrella or brolly box I would go for the second. But all that I say without any experience with them...

My flash set came with umbrellas. I was able to make quite good portraits with them (and sometimes I still use them) but as soon as I had the money, I bought softboxes for better lighting control. Now I have a retangular softbox plus an octabox plus the two shoot-through umbrellas and I think this set is more then enough for good quality portrait work and even for object photography.

IMHO it all depends on the lighting style you prefer. I myself use 2 softboxes on the 2 flashes for portrait plus a flash without any gobo for the background. But if you like more dramatic lighting you probably would like to buy barndoors and honeycombs plus several different reflectors. The more gadgets you have, the more space for experimenting but also more space for confusion. :)

As a built in feature you can't find the optical slave functionality in these units. You can buy optical slave triggers to fire them as optical slaves but not all these triggers are good for fireing them (I bought a Soligor one and it didn't work with my 580 EX).

Thank you Bill for your valuable input. My flash uses a 150W modeling light and in this case it was at 1/4 power and I used a 1/200 sec shutter speed with aperture F/16 so I think that the effect of the modeling light is not significant in this case.

Probably the solution is in the last paragraph of your answer as the background paper was a super white semi-glossy cardboard. As the flash was located at the side of the setup it is possible that due to the slightly different lighting angle and intensity on the background the UV response of the background paper was different at different areas of it. I'll check it in practice as you suggested. Thank you very much again for the answere. I think it will be a great help to me.

sorry for the misstypings....

Thank you very much Edward for your detailed explanation. You're right I have a little knowledge about the theory and a very little experience in color management. In this case I thought that the completely white background paper could serve as a WB reference (instad of shooting a grey card) I still not understand that why was this theory wrong. If I use Canon DPP-s White balance clicker it gives me different WB settings depending on the part of the background paper I click with it. That's why I think that the WB is not consistent on the photo.

The reason I use AF is, because it provides better fogusing results then my eyes combined with the viewfinder of the 350D. Could you please suggest a better method for focusing?

Thanks again for the detailed response,

regards,

Xenomer

Or is it possible that the material of the cheap softbox is not consistent and that causes the problem?

Is it possible that the reflecting surface (a silver colored alumnium foil) I used at the other side of the setup caused the problem? If yes, what kind of reflecting surface should I use to avoid such problems?

For about a year I used halogen lights for my home studio. This

Christmas as a present I got a studio flash kit. Even at my first

portrait shots I discovered that the color tones are quite different

from the shots I made with the halogen. Even with setting the WB

manually in the RAW converter, I weren't able to reproduce the same

tones I had with the halogens.

 

Yesterday I made a few object shots with a softbox attached to one

of the flashes. I used a white cardboard as a background, I set up

the flash with the softbox at the side of the object. I shot RAW.

During the post processing I was unable to set a correct WB for the

whole background. Even when I used the RAW converter's WB picker

tool. If i clicked on one end of the background the other end's WB

was wrong. If I click the other end, then this end is not white. Any

suggestions for the possible cause? (The only other light in

the "studio" was the modeling light of the flash dimmed to be just

strong enough for the camera AF function to work, so I think that

the reason is not other the effect of other lights)

You can use any shutter speed slower or equal to your cameras flash sync (X sync) speed. The aperture should be calculated as it was described above.

Before buying my studio flashes I used industrial halogens in my home studio. They produced quite faithful colors with the cameras WB set to tungsten, so I think that the color tempereture is roughly the same of these lights to those what the cameras tungsten setting is calibrated to.

Of course the sigma 10-20 mm and all the other "digital lenses" have quite a vignetting on fullframe bodyes. But if you take it into accont when you compose your photo... And during the post processing you crop the image to the appropriate size and correct the remaining vignetting with a suitable software, then you can get quite good quality photos with these 1,6 crop factor lenses on full frame bodies.

Thank you very much Edward. I have choosen the two second-hand studio strobes for Christmas.

At my home "studio" I currently use 500W halogen lights as "studio

lighting" with self-made softboxes, diffusers and reflectors. Due to

the heat effect of these lamps and because of the electricity need I

would like to ugrade my home lighting to flash lights. Currently I

own a Canon 580 EX flash what I use mainly outdoors but not in the

home studio. Now I have the money to buy 2 used 420EX flashes OR 2

used 420 Ws studio flashes. (About the same price.) Which one would

you prefer and why?