FITP Hi-light background thread!!!!

A quick Q does Graham send these RM or courier?
 
OH and while I think about it..Remember guy's if you are struggling with not enough speedlight flash power to light these just up the iso to 200 to almost double the output of the lights...
 
Onform - mine came DHL - FITP emailed me a tracking reference too.... did you not get one?
 
onform said:
A quick Q does Graham send these RM or courier?
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They're delivered by

dhl_van_pool_fail.jpg


:D
 
oh! I hope my hi-lite is not in the back of that van!!!!:razz:

Cheers Graham..(y)
 
onform said:
OH and while I think about it..Remember guy's if you are struggling with not enough speedlight flash power to light these just up the iso to 200 to almost double the output of the lights...
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Good point! If you are only getting say f8 on the background, set your main light to between f4 and f5.6 if you can. You dont need to have f8 at tyour subject. If your background is not white, lower the power on your main - Most say f8 beacuase that is where lenses are generally sharpest and most strobes have no problem getting that sort of power.
More than one way to skin a cat!
 
I have just bought 2m of white zip and a heat gun/glue.

My plan is to glue the zip onto the sides with no current opening and once it is al set/secure then open the zip and slit the material. The zip webbing/glue will stop the nylon fraying and the whole thing won't involve any sewing.

Should only take a few minutes - I'll keep you all posted on the results.
 
What sort of material are these made out of? Are all sides white internally or do they have reflective surface on the inside back?

James
 
Mine - the large one - is all white material front, back, top, bottom, sides with the exception of the corners (think the corners on a biscuit box) where the material is a thicker black material to add some structure and protection when fiitting the tensioners.

Tomorrow I am going to play with getting an even illumination using one/two speedlights and see how I get on.
 
Hodders said:
I have just bought 2m of white zip and a heat gun/glue.

My plan is to glue the zip onto the sides with no current opening and once it is al set/secure then open the zip and slit the material. The zip webbing/glue will stop the nylon fraying and the whole thing won't involve any sewing.

Should only take a few minutes - I'll keep you all posted on the results.
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Can you please show some pictures from the before, during and after of the adjustment?
 
Hey, im looking at getting the large hilite from FITP, was just wondering weather twwo flash guns would light the background and then one more through a shoot through umbrella to light the subject be enough?

Thanks
 
m18nye said:
Hey, im looking at getting the large hilite from FITP, was just wondering weather twwo flash guns would light the background and then one more through a shoot through umbrella to light the subject be enough?

Thanks
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Should be fine!
 
What would be the cheapest way of lighting one of these? I current have just one SB600 which I was hoping to use as a subject flash (via one of fitp's softboxes) so I should will only need to light the background?
 
brownjl said:
What would be the cheapest way of lighting one of these? I current have just one SB600 which I was hoping to use as a subject flash (via one of fitp's softboxes) so I should will only need to light the background?
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And there lies your problem. You really need a couple of lights on the background alone to get decent results and save a load of time post processing.

Either that or get a black sheet and use a single light on the subject. This was with the lastolite bottletop black cover for the 6x7 hilite 1 light on the subject (through a large octabox)

Matthew3.jpg
 
just got my large hilite tonight. i had a quick play. i have two speedlights. i had one inside the hilite, right on the floor at the front centre. Pointing at the back and angled up with the diffuser down. had it on TTL and +2 and it didn't do too badly at evenly lighting it. CLS works fine through the hilite.

was only messing for half an hour in total and need more time to sus out the actual subject and good lighting, but for now i don't see lighting the hilite as a problem..

one feature i never thought would so handy is the Nikon CLS with total control of 3 seperate groups of remote flash, all adjustable from the camera.the d90 rocks (y)
 
Which speedlight did you use to light it? SB-600, 800 or 900?

If you're using the popup flash as your commander though, you only get 2 groups (not including the popup flash itself, as you don't really want to be using that as part of your exposure, heh).
 
Kaouthia said:
Which speedlight did you use to light it? SB-600, 800 or 900?

If you're using the popup flash as your commander though, you only get 2 groups (not including the popup flash itself, as you don't really want to be using that as part of your exposure, heh).
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both are sb600's.

ah thats right A, B,C, with A always the inbuilt.

i have A set to -- using it as commander only. i had both the sb600's on B , so they were both on TTL +2ev.Next time they will be on indy groups so i can play around seperately. Foreground lighting was all wrong as i havent even given that much consideration. it was more to checkout the hilite and if i need to shell out straight away on another speedlight.

Al
 
Well, your popup is group "M" ("Master" and "Commander" are, apparently, interchangeable in CLS terms according to Nikon), then you have A & B for your remote flashes. If you're using an SU-800 or SB-800/900 as the commander you get M, A, B & C.

But, you can cheat using a TTL cable if you're using the SB-800/900 as a commander, and actually have it as a usable "group" of one flash, along with A, B and C. Sometimes I'll use the commander as the key light on a TTL cable to the hotshoe, then I can have a fill, background and hair/rim lights all controlled on separate groups.
 
OK,

I have added a zip to both the short sides using my hot glue idea. And..... it seems to have worked well.

Pic 1 - before I touched it:

zip1.jpg


Pic 2 - Zip glued in place

zip2.jpg


Pic 3 - Zip open and inside cut open

zip3.jpg


I got the zip from my local haberdashers and the hot glue gun from a local DIY place.

The zip was assembled with the two sliders put in place and I then glued one end to the right spot to form a starting point.

From there I glued the bottom edge being careful not to get glue on the zip teeth. Once that was good and set (5 minutes) I glued the top edge of the zip.

A good splodge of glue on each end to stop the zip fraying and I then opened up the fabric of the hilite to make the opening. I then put another splodge of glue on each end of the cut fabric to stop it fraying any more.

So FITP's hilites now have a modding community (y)
 
After I had modded the hilite I wanted to play a little more with lighting it.

The following shots are all red where LR detected blown highlights.

Pic 1 - 2 flashes at 50% f5.6 1/200th

2-flash-50-f5.6.jpg


Pic 2 - 2 flashes at 50% f8 1/200th

2-flash-50-f8.jpg


Pic 3 - 1 flash 50% f5.6 1/200th

1-flash-50.jpg


Pic 4 - 1 flash 100% f5.6 1/200th

1-flash-100.jpg



All flashes were aimed at the back middle about 40% across the hilite horizontally.

My conclusions is that two flashes is definitely the way to go. Light spill is a lot better and there would be a lot less PP to be done. It is possible to get a fair coverage with a single flash (430EX-II) but it will eat batteries and one side will not be that well covered. But as I said light spill will be difficult to manage on the one side.

I also reckon that with a bit of fettling Pic 2 (f8, 2 flashes) could be made to cover the whole hilite as the values are v.nearly blown (about 1/2 stop in it)
 
That's a very useful set of images. The only thing is it doesnt show how even it is. I appreciate the last one shows the hilite blown out but when shooting, you may get spill from the background (more from the right side than left)

Ideally get a meter to meter the light across the background. I just use my L358 pointed at the backdrop and take readings across it. Usually I aim for between f11 and f16 - Usually it's within 1/3 stops across the background.

I'd guess that your last one would be about roughly f11 or f13 on the left and maybe two stops more on the right side. Not very even.
 
I must admit you can get a good feeling for how uneven the last one is by looking at the walls on both sides. On the LHS the wall is only slightly over exposed, on the RHS it is totally blown out. Another good reason for using two flashes.

Problem is I only have two ! Leaving none for the subject.... I wonder how my wife would react to some studio flash heads turning up ?
 
Problem is I only have two ! Leaving none for the subject.... I wonder how my wife would react to some studio flash heads turning up ?[/QUOTE]

You think that is difficult I somehow need to convince my wife that I have always had a 2.4 m by 2m hilite!
 
stringy said:
You think that is difficult I somehow need to convince my wife that I have always had a 2.4 m by 2m hilite!
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Genius :D I must admit mine never noticed when I upgraded from the 40D 18-55 kit lens to the 17-85, I wonder if she would notice if it turned into a 24-70 2.8L ?

But how to hide a great big white tent thing - I know a friend who used to pop off to car boot sales and come back with bargains ("it belonged to a bloke who -err - emigrated and couldn't take it with him they only wanted 20 quid") to cover up the amount he spent on (in his case) fishing equipment.
 
You guys are nuts :) I buy and tell her it's my money! She doesn't speak to me for two weeks and I have a great time on my own with no distractions :)
 
WOOP WOOP !!! guess what just turned up...(y):D
 
EOS_JD said:
That's a very useful set of images. The only thing is it doesnt show how even it is. I appreciate the last one shows the hilite blown out but when shooting, you may get spill from the background (more from the right side than left)

Ideally get a meter to meter the light across the background. I just use my L358 pointed at the backdrop and take readings across it. Usually I aim for between f11 and f16 - Usually it's within 1/3 stops across the background.

I'd guess that your last one would be about roughly f11 or f13 on the left and maybe two stops more on the right side. Not very even.
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I'd second this. Possibly the most important bit of kit I have is my L408 light meter, I'd be well and truly screwed without it. I don't use a Hilite, I have a Photodeals collasible jobbie with train (It was the join with the train that put me off the Hilite) and even with two 250w lamps on the background, it's still hard work getting it nice and even.
 
Dman said:
I have a Photodeals collasible jobbie with train (It was the join with the train that put me off the Hilite) and even with two 250w lamps on the background, it's still hard work getting it nice and even.
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That's just a regular background lit from the front isn't it?

The thing with the hilites, is that you bounce the light off the back, not aim them straight at the front, which is what spreads the light to give a more even look with 2 lights.

If you're dealing with a flat background (not a box like these), I wouldn't try to do full length with less than 6 lights (or a pair of VERY tall & powerful vertical softboxes) lighting across each other if you want even illumination on the background.

That's how we always lit greenscreens for an even covering of light for chroma keying footage before this stuff came along.
 
My first attempt with the small background, lite with one Jessops 360AFD, triggered by a 550EX. I just used white paper for the floor, which was pretty effective, so I'll run with that for awhile. Alot of spill on the head, so I need to try and watch that. Very little PP, just painted over the edge of the background and some shadows.

I had two flashes for the background but unfortunately my YN460 II was not playing ball.

So alot more work required and hopefully I can get my YN460 II to be triggered from the 550EX.

Picture updated with white balance adjusted

4363096490_c0b9b120ab_o.jpg
 
Looks like somebody has their camera set on tungsten white balance before turning on the strobes. ;)
 
Kaouthia said:
Looks like somebody has their camera set on tungsten white balance before turning on the strobes. ;)
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It was on flourescent, so thanks for that, I had to check the camera to see.

Anyway updated the picture with white balance adjusted.
 
I can see she was delighted to be your model :) Maybe a tad under exposed and the background a tad over if it's spilling back. The secret is to have a white background. Not a totally overblown one where you lose control of the light.
 
I'm going to attempt to build my new pc tonight/tomorrow night so will have a play with the hi-light soon...besides my house is full of junk atm so no room even if i wanted to!!
 
I was lucky enough to meet the designer of the lastolite hilite at a function recently.
The topic of lighting the train came up, He said the best results (especially when shooting lowdown) was to lower the light and aim it slightly towards the floor (using a shoot through brolly)
Havent tried it myself, but who knows!
 
Kaouthia said:
That's just a regular background lit from the front isn't it?

The thing with the hilites, is that you bounce the light off the back, not aim them straight at the front, which is what spreads the light to give a more even look with 2 lights.

If you're dealing with a flat background (not a box like these), I wouldn't try to do full length with less than 6 lights (or a pair of VERY tall & powerful vertical softboxes) lighting across each other if you want even illumination on the background.

That's how we always lit greenscreens for an even covering of light for chroma keying footage before this stuff came along.
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Yep, two lights on the front to light it and one on the subject, it works well enough when doing upper body or sitting down shots, harder work with full length but nothing a bit of PS doesn't sort out in a couple of minutes. Not sure how I'd fare taking 6 lights into people's homes! What I do is simple though but anything on a bigger scale and I doubt it would be so good.

I'm not too keen on the blown out look that people tend to do with the Hilite, that's not to say I wouldn't have got one if it wasn't for the train issue though.
 
With 6 lights, we still only use 2 stands, and then Justin clamps or similar to put the 2 lights at the bottom & mid-height on the same stand (with big heavy sandbags on the base to stop it toppling :)).

Pain in the arse, and one of the reasons we rarely do full length, but sometimes it's just gotta be done.
 
Really thinking about buying one of these Hi-Lights with two YN-460-II
to light it. I will use it at first for taking pictures of my family - well my 2 year old and maybe my sisters kids three and seven...

My set up will be 2 YN-460-II on konig lightstands to light the background and then a 32in softbox or through umbrella with my sb600 to light my subject.

I am on a tight budget so hopefully the above will be sufficent... for now... What do you guys think?

The room I was planning on using this in is 4mx3m with highish ceiling (2.65m) Is that enough room to use the larger hi-light ok or would I be best going after the smaller of the two?

Cheers,

James
 
brownjl said:
Really thinking about buying one of these Hi-Lights with two YN-460-II
to light it. I will use it at first for taking pictures of my family - well my 2 year old and maybe my sisters kids three and seven...

My set up will be 2 YN-460-II on konig lightstands to light the background and then a 32in softbox or through umbrella with my sb600 to light my subject.

I am on a tight budget so hopefully the above will be sufficent... for now... What do you guys think?

The room I was planning on using this in is 4mx3m with highish ceiling (2.65m) Is that enough room to use the larger hi-light ok or would I be best going after the smaller of the two?

Cheers,

James
Click to expand...

All sounds good to me...take the plunge...
 
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