Garage Studio Shoot (Pictures Added)

[My2Girls66]

Thanks for posting the picture of your setup The photos came out great!

 

[mabas9395]

Mark,

It looks like you used 5 AB's indoors with at most three close up subjects and two full body subjects. Do you think you could have done an equivalent job with the same number of Speedlites or did you actually need that much power?

Anything you learned about the lighting that you will do different next time?

 

[MarkBarbieri]

It looks like you used 5 AB's indoors with at most three close up subjects and two full body subjects. Do you think you could have done an equivalent job with the same number of Speedlites or did you actually need that much power?

I would easily have had enough power using only Speedlites. Three of the five strobes were AB400s and none of the five were ever driven past the half way point. I guess that the AB800s in the softboxes were probably outputting near the upper range of an SB800, but I could have used a slightly wider aperture with an SB600 and still been OK.

The primary advantages I had using the Bees over speedlights were the modelling lights, faster recycling times, and not needing to deal with batteries. The disadvantages, aside from having to own two sets of lights, were the power cords along the floor, and the reduced control over the lights at my shooting location. The Cyber Commander is supposed to counter that second problem, but I couldn't figure it out in the time I had before the shoot. It may be intuitive for someone with someone smarter or with more shooting experience, but I couldn't figure it out. Either that or mine wasn't working right.

The modelling lights are still really helpful to me. I struggle to visualize what will happen, so every bit helps. The recycle times aren't a big issue for the older kids that can pose. For the younger ones, you have to fire off a lot of shots quickly in the hopes that you'll catch a gas burp will contort their face into something that looks like a smile.

Anything you learned about the lighting that you will do different next time?

Let me start with lessons from the past that I applied this time.

First, we eliminated the light stands. Instead, I hung my background supports from the ceiling. It reduced floor clutter and was safer. My original plan was to semi-permanently mount them, but I scrubbed that because I changed locations.

I changed locations because of ambient light issues. With my old location in the garage, I needed to open the door to have enough shooting distance for groups. If you are shooting relatively wide angles, it is easy to get areas not covered by the background in the picture. That can be relatively easily cleaned up with content aware scaling in Photoshop CS4, but it's a pain to deal with in Lightroom. It's best to use a narrow field of view lens and move back until you get your entire subject. That didn't work when I was shooting in a single 20' garage bay.

There are two problems with opening the garage door. First, it subjects you to weather concerns. Second, it lets in a lot of ambient light. The ambient light isn't a problem during the exposure because the strobes are so much brighter. The problem with the ambient light is that it overwhelms the modeling lights. By having everything in the garage with the door closed, I could keep the garage lights off and see only the modeling lights. They aren't 100% WYSIWYG, but they are much closer.

With Speedlights, you won't have modeling lights, so you'll have to deal with the issue on your own. A good way to handle it would be to shoot tethered to a PC and review your shots that way.

Another big change was adding a fifth light. For a decent white background shot, you really want 3-4 lights. You need two on the background to white it out. You need a main light. You can use a reflector for a fill light, but I find it easier to work with an extra light. For a decent black background shot, you don't need the background lights, but you need a hair light. In the past, I would shift a light between background duty and hair light duty. Because the hair light is on a boom, that's a nuisance. Having five lights let me dedicate lights to tasks, so shifting from white to black backgrounds went quicker.


So what will I do different after this shoot? I'm going to try a bigger main light. I ordered a parabolic light from AB that can also be converted to a giant softbox. If that doesn't work well, I'll order a giant octabox. I think that a bigger light will give me a larger "sweet spot" for my lighting. That will help with group shots. It will also help with shooting very young kids that don't stay where you put them. I've lost a lot of shots because a kid with a perfect pose stepped to far forward or backward and ended up in ugly lighting.

I'd like a motorized backdrop holder. Changing backdrops is a pain. I'm guessing that motorized backdrops will be too expensive, but I'm going to look. Maybe I can make a manual chain driven system.

I'm looking at new backdrop and flooring options. I want to try using the painted underside of some vinyl flooring for a more durable backdrop. I want to try some new flooring options for a different flooring look. I also want to try some more creative backdrops. I'm tired of plain white and plain black (although several mom's commented on how much they prefer those to the school picture muslins).

I've learned a lot of retouching lessons since my last shoot. I used them on photos 5 & 6. The others haven't been retouched yet. I subscribed to the Kelby Training videos and have been working my way through the portrait retouching stuff. I'm also starting to look at the wedding stuff because a semi-pro photographer friend of mine has informed me that I'll be shooting his wedding this spring. It will either be in a small country church or in a flying B-17 bomber (he's been doing restoration work on one). I HATE shooting weddings, but it's hard to say no to a close friend. Besides, I like the irony of shooting his wedding using Canon gear since he's a big Nikon fan. He has an incredible collection of Nikon junk - D3, 600mm, 200-400mm, 14-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm, and enough speedlights to be seen from space.

OK, I'm rambling now. The main things I learned are that I'm in a rut and need a new approach so that I'll learn more. I learned that I want to get the kids out of the studio and do some location shoots. I learned that I need to spend some time figuring out my Cyber Commander.