I'm reading through the David Hobby's Strobist blog, specifically the "Lighting 101" course, which I am using as the base of my project to learn flash. In the beginning, he is talking about equipment to get started. These things include: camera (of course), speedlight flash unit [note: I use the term speedlight, strobe, and flash interchangeably], triggers of some sort, light stand, umbrella, and umbrella bracket. Of these things, I only have a camera and a flash unit.
I am learning that each of these components to a lighting setup serves a unique and important purpose. Obviously, the camera is what takes the picture and the flash is what supplies additional light to the scene. The light stand is basically a tripod just for the flash, which would enable me to place the flash in different positions off-camera without having to hold it.
Triggers send a signal from the camera to the speedlight to set it off. There are different types of triggers. The main ones are optical trigger, PC sync cord, and wireless radio trigger. My flash already has a built-in optical trigger, meaning that I can use the pop-up flash built into my camera to set off my off-camera flash. The downside to this is that the pop-up flash can interfere and create a poorly lit scene.
A PC sync cord is a wire that connects from the camera to the flash. This is a cheap way of setting off a wireless trigger, but it can be an inconvenience since there would be a long cable dangling around everywhere. Also, because my camera doesn't have a PC cord port, I would need to buy an adapter that fits on the hotshoe.
Radio triggers are my preferred route to syncing the flash to the camera. In this set-up, a transmitter that fits onto the camera hotshoe sends a radio signal to a receiver connected to the flash unit. This is the most versatile option, as there would be reliable wireless connection no matter what I try to do. Unfortunately, this is more expensive. The triggers I have been looking at, are anywhere from $10 (but from a third-party, lower quality brand in China) to $75. Pocket Wizards, which are the industry standard radio triggers, cost between $100-$200.
The umbrella is a type of light modifier. It is used to diffuse the light that is generated by the flash, spreading the light source from a few square inches to window-size. This softens shadows and creates generally flattering light. The umbrella bracket, mentioned above, is what connects the umbrella to the flash stand. Both of these things are relatively cheap in terms of photography equipment, around $30-40 total. I haven't purchased these items yet, although I just found a cheap ($18.95) umbrella at glazerscamera.com. Glazer's Camera is an awesome little photography supplier just north of Denny Park in Seattle, so I'll have to drop on by sometime soon.
Using an umbrella isn't the only way a photographer can change the light coming from the flash. Without using any additional equipment other than a stand (which may not even be needed depending on the set-up), bouncing the light off of a wall is a simple way to diffuse the light.
Hobby says that when using this technique, one should keep in mind the wall's color, since any light reflected off of that surface will take that color cast, and the flash's lens angle adjustment. This adjustment is like a zoom inside of the flash that controls how wide of a spread it has. Having a wide spread would give a wider area of light being bounced, and having a narrow spread would give a smaller lit area with greater light fall-off.
Another interesting way to modify the flash's light is with bare-bulb lighting. This involves sticking the speedlight inside of a lamp globe to create an orb of omnidirectional light. I feel like this technique may be impractical and not as useful to me, since my end-goal is to take environmental portraits, but I might give it a try later on.
My takeaway from today is that getting into flash photography isn't that hard, and there are create and innovate ways to use it. Coming up in Lighting 101 appears to be more technical info, which is the more interesting side to this :) .
Total time reading through: 1.5 hours
I am learning that each of these components to a lighting setup serves a unique and important purpose. Obviously, the camera is what takes the picture and the flash is what supplies additional light to the scene. The light stand is basically a tripod just for the flash, which would enable me to place the flash in different positions off-camera without having to hold it.
Triggers send a signal from the camera to the speedlight to set it off. There are different types of triggers. The main ones are optical trigger, PC sync cord, and wireless radio trigger. My flash already has a built-in optical trigger, meaning that I can use the pop-up flash built into my camera to set off my off-camera flash. The downside to this is that the pop-up flash can interfere and create a poorly lit scene.
A PC sync cord is a wire that connects from the camera to the flash. This is a cheap way of setting off a wireless trigger, but it can be an inconvenience since there would be a long cable dangling around everywhere. Also, because my camera doesn't have a PC cord port, I would need to buy an adapter that fits on the hotshoe.
Radio triggers are my preferred route to syncing the flash to the camera. In this set-up, a transmitter that fits onto the camera hotshoe sends a radio signal to a receiver connected to the flash unit. This is the most versatile option, as there would be reliable wireless connection no matter what I try to do. Unfortunately, this is more expensive. The triggers I have been looking at, are anywhere from $10 (but from a third-party, lower quality brand in China) to $75. Pocket Wizards, which are the industry standard radio triggers, cost between $100-$200.
The umbrella is a type of light modifier. It is used to diffuse the light that is generated by the flash, spreading the light source from a few square inches to window-size. This softens shadows and creates generally flattering light. The umbrella bracket, mentioned above, is what connects the umbrella to the flash stand. Both of these things are relatively cheap in terms of photography equipment, around $30-40 total. I haven't purchased these items yet, although I just found a cheap ($18.95) umbrella at glazerscamera.com. Glazer's Camera is an awesome little photography supplier just north of Denny Park in Seattle, so I'll have to drop on by sometime soon.
Using an umbrella isn't the only way a photographer can change the light coming from the flash. Without using any additional equipment other than a stand (which may not even be needed depending on the set-up), bouncing the light off of a wall is a simple way to diffuse the light.
Hobby says that when using this technique, one should keep in mind the wall's color, since any light reflected off of that surface will take that color cast, and the flash's lens angle adjustment. This adjustment is like a zoom inside of the flash that controls how wide of a spread it has. Having a wide spread would give a wider area of light being bounced, and having a narrow spread would give a smaller lit area with greater light fall-off.
Another interesting way to modify the flash's light is with bare-bulb lighting. This involves sticking the speedlight inside of a lamp globe to create an orb of omnidirectional light. I feel like this technique may be impractical and not as useful to me, since my end-goal is to take environmental portraits, but I might give it a try later on.
My takeaway from today is that getting into flash photography isn't that hard, and there are create and innovate ways to use it. Coming up in Lighting 101 appears to be more technical info, which is the more interesting side to this :) .
Total time reading through: 1.5 hours