Portable Lighting Help

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Jonesy83

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Steve
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Hey hey,

I was wondering if I could pick your brains and get an idea of the type of lighting equipment I'd need to achieve something like the below by Kaylee Greer?

Kaylee-Greer-Photography-Podcast_015.jpg



I know she uses a beauty dish and I was wondering what sort of power I'd need to achieve something similar? Would something like the Godox Wistro AD200 do, or will I need more power?

Thanks!
 
Without knowing exactly the ambient it's impossible to guarantee. But...

What's on your side is that it's a short distance for such small subjects, which lessens the power you'll need.

My 'guess' from those images though is that it's a larger flash head and a reflective brolly (from the catchlights) but the stuff on her website looks like a BD.
 
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Cheers for the help Phil!

So do you reckon 200w would be enough, or would I need more power? I know you need 600w to over power the sun, so if i was shooting into the sun (like the image on the far right) or had the sun in the shot then would I need the 600w?
 
The '600Ws to overpower the sun' is a rule of thumb based on...
  • A large enough flash to subject distance for a full height human
  • Midday sun no cloud cover.

Loads of people use speedlights for similar to the above, but they're working round the limitations...
  • Beginning and end of day when sun is lower, light levels drop
  • Closer than full length human
The bottom line is that if you might want to do this in any conditions you might encounter, the more power the better, and if that's your plan, get a 600, if you're happy to compromise around your kit, save some money and get a 200. I bought a 600 and have only ever 'needed' it once.
 
soeren said:
Polarizer?
Click to expand...
Really :thinking:

Was that a guess? A suggestion? I don't understand.

The shots as posted clearly have a flash lit subject with an underexposed ambient sky. It's a common technique, the OP's question is how much flash power.
 
Cheers Phil, thanks for the help. I think I'll have a go at trying to get my hands on a 200w kit for now and see how I get on.

From what I've read about the technique you're bang on there too and it's underexposed a stop or 2 and then a bd.
 
Phil V said:
Really :thinking:

Was that a guess? A suggestion? I don't understand.

The shots as posted clearly have a flash lit subject with an underexposed ambient sky. It's a common technique, the OP's question is how much flash power.
Click to expand...
Well yes. That it's flash lit is clear but the sky although underexposed and helped on its way in Photoshop could also be partly the outcome of a polarizer especially #3 with the clouds. Then again the extreme wide-angle should have introduced some gradiation in the sky
 
Jonesy83 said:
Cheers Phil, thanks for the help. I think I'll have a go at trying to get my hands on a 200w kit for now and see how I get on.

From what I've read about the technique you're bang on there too and it's underexposed a stop or 2 and then a bd.
Click to expand...

You can work a GN out from sunny 16.

So in broad daylight, ISO 100 1/100 sec, f16 will perfectly expose your background, go 1/200 if it's within flash sync and you're a stop under, f22 and you're 2 stops under.

A speedlight with a GN of 60 gives an aperture of f16 at 3 feet (ish) say f8 with the BD, but it's probably lots less. You might just get it at that distance with the AD200.

Move the time to early evening and you can see that a speedlight will easily do it.

I don't want to teach my gran to suck eggs, but if you're familiar with sunny16 and the inverse square law, you can model all this on the back of a fag packet.
 
Whoops double, deleted
 
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soeren said:
Well yes. That it's flash lit is clear but the sky although underexposed and helped on its way in Photoshop could also be partly the outcome of a polarizer especially #3 with the clouds. Then again the extreme wide-angle should have introduced some gradiation in the sky
Click to expand...
Honestly, if you have a go at this, you'll see it requires very little help in PS. A little tug of the sliders in LR but this kind of thing always impresses a client on the back of the camera. ;)
 
Phil V said:
Honestly, if you have a go at this, you'll see it requires very little help in PS. A little tug of the sliders in LR but this kind of thing always impresses a client on the back of the camera. ;)
Click to expand...
Yes they are indeed amazing although a bit over the top for my liking, like the author stumbled and grabbed the sliders to prevent falling :D sorry not very polite but I couldn't help it. I actually did some shots with flash, bigstopper and 12mm (on apsc) some time ago, came out quite surreal. But yes I think I'll have a go with this. Got cat, check. Got flash, ad360 check. Got beautydish, we'll no but a 60cm octa will have to do check. Got flowers in the garden, check
And a 12mm samyang on my A6000
 
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I really shouldn't post this since it's essentially just a grab shot done with the 12mm samyang @ f/11, poorly focused, diffraction limited and cropped afterwards, shutterspeed 1/2000sek and lighted with godox TT685 in manual mode powersetting 1/1 zoomed to 24mm, distance around 1/2m. I did try with the AD360 and it can turn the sky almost black. The cat ran away :) edit. Also iso400:mad:
_20170517_190941.JPG
 
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With the AD360 @1/1 1/2000 f/22. Darned I messed up iso400 :mad: I never use iso 400 grr_20170517_192514.JPG
 
Thanks for the replies and help!

Phil V said:
You can work a GN out from sunny 16.

So in broad daylight, ISO 100 1/100 sec, f16 will perfectly expose your background, go 1/200 if it's within flash sync and you're a stop under, f22 and you're 2 stops under.

A speedlight with a GN of 60 gives an aperture of f16 at 3 feet (ish) say f8 with the BD, but it's probably lots less. You might just get it at that distance with the AD200.

Move the time to early evening and you can see that a speedlight will easily do it.

I don't want to teach my gran to suck eggs, but if you're familiar with sunny16 and the inverse square law, you can model all this on the back of a fag packet.
Click to expand...

Don't worry about teaching me to suck eggs and just assume I'm an idiot as i have a lot to learn =)

I'm familiar with the inverse square law, but sunny 16 is new to me so i'll get reading. Guide numbers are new to me too so i'll look up those, as I said in my other thread on studio lighting, it's not something I've played with before so i have loads to learn. I'm hoping to pick that kit up soon though (the seller has been away recently) so can't wait to have a play around with it!

Soeren, you need to tie your cat down =) I know you said you weren't that much of a fan, but the extremes in colour and wide angle lens give it a bit of a Tim Burton feel to me :cool:
 
sk66 said:
Jeeze, I was thinking ND's... but I guess the same applies to a polarizer (to a much lower extent).
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Yeah except the effect of the polarizer depends on angle to sun so with an extreme wide-angle the sky will turn out uneven in color.
 
soeren said:
I really shouldn't post this since it's essentially just a grab shot done with the 12mm samyang @ f/11, poorly focused, diffraction limited and cropped afterwards, shutterspeed 1/2000sek and lighted with godox TT685 in manual mode powersetting 1/1 zoomed to 24mm, distance around 1/2m. I did try with the AD360 and it can turn the sky almost black. The cat ran away :) edit. Also iso400:mad:
View attachment 102341
Click to expand...
I like this image but the colours needed a little help I thought so here's what I did to it. Hope you like.fix01.jpg
 
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