Copy Me Lighting Thread 3

Basically posted to refresh the "Follow me lighting technique" thread, as I believe it's a valuable resource

This one is at [user]HoppyUK[/user]'s request for a fully manual setup, rather than the CLS and High speed synch I used for "thread #2".
Hoppy has a definite point here, as manual control of strobes can be very daunting for the new user, and yet it's actually very easy to do.

Camera was set to manual at ISO 100 (it's a D3, which means it's actually set to LO3 or summat, as the legit lowest ISO is actually ISO200), 1/250th and f4 on the Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8 lens (pretty much my favourite lens for wedding work etc).

I wanted the highest natural synch speed of 1/250th sec so as to kill what little ambient lighting there was. I could have gone higher, but that would have necessitated the use of high speed synch and CLS, which as Hoppy pointed out in "thread #2", can defeat the object by making the strobe work a lot harder, but there are times when it suits the shot.
F4 basically for the strobe and depth of field. I wanted to slightly overexpose for the strobe, so as to gather enough light for the back of the dress without having to go to the trouble of using a reflector, and possibly over cooking the the atmospheric shot I was after.

The strobe was a nikon SB-800 set to manual at 1/4 power, with a Stofen which was to aid the "flooding" of the carpet surrounding the bride, but the 1/4 power would keep it within the frame rather than light the whole room.
The strobe was triggered by an SU-800 commander unit, allowing me to twiddle the power level of the strobe if needed. IR works great indoors and makes you grow very old very quickly when trying to use it outdoors!

Post processed with DxO Pro V6 and then Photoshop. Used Stuart Little's free workflow essential actions, followed by the vignette actions (Lasso 160px).
Location: Higher Trapp, Simonstone.

Very nice! Did I ask for all that?

I like the way the veil etc, while not only making the shot, has effectively been the diffused light source for the back and the train.

Clever

You had a very valid point Hoppy, and I'm sure DiddyDave would agree. Using off camera lighting manually is very daunting for any newcomer (and some old hands for that matter), but is actually very easy, especially in a digital age where it costs nothing to experiment.
Film is a whole different ball game
Making use of manual settings means you control everything about the scene. I'm happy to use either manual, CLS or a combination depending on what I'm after. One drawback about CLS is the way the metering may try to even out the lighting across the scene, which may not be what you want, such as in this scene. (Far more of the room would have been visible with CLS).
Thanks for making the suggestion

Lovely shot Michael and thanks for the insight.

When I chat to people about my photography they seem impressed that I do everything manually (inc flash), when the reality is that I'm just chickening out of iTTL and CLS. I genuinely struggle to understand what is going on in the iTTL-brain and therefore I sometimes get completely unexpected results when I do 'dare to try', which as you mention in both articles is not something you need on a tight deadline. You have a great grasp of what the camera is seeing and it's a skill knowing how to compensate for that without huge trial and error.

The subject of lighting facinates me and I always use a silly comparision that working with off-camera flash is like working with lions in a zoo. It's all about staying in your safe zone and achieving results through repeatition and experience. Try something new and you'll often get bitten, which can leave you dazed and more often than not confused.

Thanks for showing us the set up Michael. I've stuck to CLS with my SB600 so far but need to have a play with manual as well.

Hi Doug,
CLS is certainly very very good, and especially indoors where the infra red signal can be bounced around. However, making use of CLS can lead to unpredictable results as you say. The main problem is precise control of the background lighting, as the camera will always attempt to even up the lighting across the frame, reducing black shadows and harsh highlights. No good if you're trying to kill the ambient and make the room go dark as in this shot.
One very good thing about CLS, if you have three minutes to set up, shoot and take down, CLS will get the shot in the bag, usually first go. If using a commander such as SU800 or one of the flashes in commander mode, you can then flick over to manual and try for the "perfect" shot you envisaged. If you run out of time, at least there is one in the bag to play with. I often go this route at weddings, telling the bride/couple the first is a lighting test, although it's frequently a CLS shot to get one in hand before I start manipulating the settings manually.

Belt 'n' braces

Hi Alex,
If you are using an on board pop-up flash as a commander, you can set the SB-600 to manual using the pop up commander menu, and manipulate the settings from there (saves shoe leather!).

Seriously worth the effort for the amount of control you gain

On the CLS subject, one problem I did find with more complicated setups is that your limited to 2 remote groups, so I had to move the light sources further or closer for adjustments for a 3rd flash. Just a bit of a shame that I haven't found the right settings or Nikon don't support more than 2 groups.

3 groups are available with the SU-800, but yeah, the manipulation of the distance can work too
If you are using a flash as the commander, don't forget that is a group on its own (mostly ideal for fill etc, so reduce the output)

Mike, my 'model' will be back from christmas at her dads tomorrow, so want to give this a go, especially as also tend to use OCF manually too. However, could you confirm where exactly you place the strobe? It looks at eye level to the bride, but pointing slightly downwards, or have I got that completely wrong. I will probably have a play anyway, but would like to see where to start from.

Thanks

Hi Young Miss Yv

The strobe was at five feet, and horizontal. Basically, it's in line with the Bride's head, and therefore hidden by it (If you look carefully, you can see a slight increase in the light intensity around her head - deconstruct the image). The strobe isn't actually pointed down as such, possibly marginally, as there had been a shoot through brolley in use prior to moving into this room.
Put your strobe an equal distance from your subject as you are going to be from your subject (May have been easier to say: "put your model equi-distance between you and the strobe" ). That should give you a good starting point.

I turned off the room lights as much as possible, but being a hotel with two connecting rooms with blazing lights and lots of guests, the ambient light was still more than enough to see what I was up to.
Lowest ISO possible and highest straight sync speed possible with your camera (both to kill any ambient light).
Start at f5.6 and and strobe at 1/4 and see what you get. Bear in mind, my shot is helped by the veil, because as Hoppy pointed out, it diffused the light to help give some detail to the back of the dress, rather than leave it as a black outline. Start opening the aperture by increments if you get no detail in the subject.
I know you know all the above, and I'm not wanting to hand you an egg to suck. This is mostly for clarification and a starting point for anyone doing this for the first time.

One more hint, gel your strobe and set the WB to match your ambient. In my case, it was gel'd to CTO.
Why bother if I'm killing the ambient? Because, should the ambient actually manage a dying splash somewhere (bearing in mind the two well lit rooms camera left), it may actually be of use in the final image. If the flash was ungel'd and the white balance set to flash, I could have an orange drift on one side of the dress or veil, and that could be a complete pig to fix. Far easier to take the five seconds to gel the flash and match the WB to the ambient.
Once again, belt 'n braces.

Absolutely superb thread Michael, and I was very glad of he moer detailed explanation you posted as a reply to Yv, really helpful to me as a newcomer to this.
I'll be bookmarking these threads and dipping into them a fair bit I think. Just got to persuade Mrs Pip to dig out the wedding dress and pose for me know so I can practice!
Cheers,
Pip

I was examining the picture before I read your explaination and figured it was fairly obvious that you had the flash in front of the bride, but I couldn't figure out how the back of the dress was lit seeing as you'd killed the ambient. I thought there must be second flash involved at low power (or a reflector), and was really surprised to read that you did this with just one light. I now see how the veil works as a difuser and spreads a little light on to the back. Thanks for sharing the set up!

I would love to have a go at copying this, perhaps I can persuade my wife to try her dress on again...

MatW, I'd love to see you duplicate it. It really isn't as hard as it looks (unless your including the amount of effort to talk your wife into modelling!)