DOF in a studio

donkeymusic

donkeymusic

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Hello,

I have been doing a lot of shoots, they have all been shot using F8 and many a time i think a shot would be best with a shallower dof; but to do so i would need to be changing the light setup for the new dof. If i am doing this shoot with kids then i can't reset lighting.

Just wondered how i get around this?

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks
 
Nd for the win, nothing too aggressive though. but watch out for the color cast on cheaper models. Should you find a cast make certain to set a custom white balance. This will help in the post process stage.
 
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donkeymusic said:
Hello,

I have been doing a lot of shoots, they have all been shot using F8 and many a time i think a shot would be best with a shallower dof; but to do so i would need to be changing the light setup for the new dof. If i am doing this shoot with kids then i can't reset lighting.

Just wondered how i get around this?

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks
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:thinking: Sorry if I'm missing the point here, but don't you just turn the lights down?

Paul
 
paul williams said:
:thinking: Sorry if I'm missing the point here, but don't you just turn the lights down?

Paul
Click to expand...

That's my thoughts as well. I was shooting today in my little studio f4-f5.6 with two flash heads.

Yesterday I even shot f2.8 with lights turned down. No filters used.
 
I don't understand why you can't change the lighting? Ok if you need to move lighting about then it could be a problem... I tape down the cables to the lights so nobody can trip over them so their position is set to a degree but I do move the key light by a few feet and up and down a lot depending on what the kids are doing (jumping, rolling about on the floor etc) it only takes a few seconds to turn a light down by a stop or two and roll the camera dial by 3 or 6 clicks (1/3 stop incr.) accordingly to maintain the same exposure on the subject , assuming you didn't move the light, I do use an RC3 remote to tweak BG lights just to save a bit of time but it's not essential by any means.
 
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I have a tiny studio space, so shooting at wide apertures should be a problem, but I just turn the lights down and I'm good to go at about f2.0 with softboxes - so I just don't understand all the ND filter stuff. Guess many people seem to have gone down the big is beautiful (ws) route perhaps?

As for me, in thirty odd years of using studio flash I've never needed more than 200ws (but that is a high quality 200ws) ;) unless I'm shooting out of doors of course.

Wouldn't mind one bigger head for effects use, but generally I manage OK with what I've got.

Paul
 
I can shoot f2.0 with softbox on the strobe if I need to (without ND filter). I originally bought the ND filter for outdoor use, to use shallower depth of field with strobes outdoors in bright sun. However I find it is nice to quickly drop from f5.6 to f2.0 by just adding the filter and not changing the whole light setup. :)

Both ways (adjusting power or ND filter) work, I guess it is just down to preference.
 
kokakaste2 said:
I can shoot f2.0 with softbox on the strobe if I need to (without ND filter). I originally bought the ND filter for outdoor use, to use shallower depth of field with strobes outdoors in bright sun. However I find it is nice to quickly drop from f5.6 to f2.0 by just adding the filter and not changing the whole light setup. :)

Both ways (adjusting power or ND filter) work, I guess it is just down to preference.
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Quicker for me to press the 'down' button on the remote/trigger rather than screw on a ND filter;)

Paul
 
I agree it works faster if you have the possibility to do so. I use Quadra pack, so I can control it's power from the transmitter. However the studio I use owned by the university use Bowens lights without any remote control. So not always I can control the power from the transmitter. :( In that case the ND filter is faster. :) (mixing both Elinchrom and Bowens lights)
 
My question was based on if i had a baby lay down and was shooting at f8 but then decided i wanted to get some shots at say f2 of the babies hands, then in theory i would need to re-meter, but you dont always get the opportunity to do so, so i wondered how i could easily do this with out disrupting where i am at.

I guess the best option would be to remotely change the flash head, but i dont have the option to do so, so was just looking for other options that would keep the lighting to the same level.
 
If you think about it, if you can't change the light power or move the lights then your only options are ISO or blocking some light entering the lens (ND filter).

In your example, if you set the lights for f8 ISO 800 then ISO 100 will give you somewhere around f2 (yes, I know...). Of course if you go in very close you could (1) block some of the light and (2) make the effective aperture different from the requested aperture.....
 
if it's that much of a dramatic change (f8 -> f2) then maybe your modelling lights might be enough?
 
its something i would need to play around with was just looking for some professional advice as im sure this must happen all the time.
 
paul williams said:
Bit an oversimplification surely?

Paul
Click to expand...

well, and spin your aperture and shutter speed.

My 50mm 1.4 pretty much permenantly has a 4 stop ND filter on the front of it for these exact reasons
 
When shooting in a studio environment during college I experimeted with narrow DOF & found that to compensate for the exposure I had my camera at 100ISO & a rather high shutter speed. I was working with softboxed & 'dimmed' continuous lighting rather than flash tho.
 
Am i getting this correct based on what i have read above, if my settings are 1/125th F8 ISO 100 for flash but my modelling lights are set to f1.8 for the same speed and iso i could just change apature and switch off my triggers and get the same lighting results ?
 
rljutter said:
Am i getting this correct based on what i have read above, if my settings are 1/125th F8 ISO 100 for flash but my modelling lights are set to f1.8 for the same speed and iso i could just change apature and switch off my triggers and get the same lighting results ?
Click to expand...

The light will still be the same size and shape, it will just be a different colour (and intensity).
 
To be honest, I have two settings on my camera - C1 is set to ISO400/f8, C2 to ISO50/f2.8 job done ! Switch the dial you get the reduced DOF no changes needed.

ISO400 on the 5d2 is no problem and this allows total flexibility.
 
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