FITP Hi-light background thread!!!!

Remember to drop the speedlights wide angle glass...my 550EX fills the smaller one fine...and the FITP flash does so at full pelt and wide angle...

STEVIER
 
wundaweb is an iron on fabric glue. you could use it to attach velcro. my main concern would be something at the ends of the slit to stop it spreading over time.
 
If you have the sandwich of material...dont cut all the way up or down...then throw a bit of needle & thread at each end...SORTED...!!!

STEVIER
 
Waiting for my large FITP Hi-lite to arrive this morning (re-delivery). Has anyone got any results with it, that they can post yet ?
 
Mine should be with me by Mon hopefully..
 
Ok - had a really quick play with it this morning. Using my daughter as a subject and she wasn't in the best of moods for it - but here we go. I was using a single 540ez flash fired into the highlite and then a 430ex through a brolly as the main light - not ideally what i want to be using but good enough for a test.

First pic before as off camera:

highlite1.jpg


I expected the train to be quite grey and also had some problems with creases across the bottom of the highlite - but obviously this is a small subject close to the ground so it becomes even more noticeable.

After a bit of dodge tool in PS:

highlite1edit.jpg


I'm reasonably happy that it will do what I hoped - which is basically be more portable and useable in small areas than my current background solution using paper.

When I get some more time I'll set it up properly but I would imagine that 2 flashes would give a much more evenly lit background - but as for the train (this was a lastolite one) I think there's always going to bit a bit of post required. Obviously a bit of fill light would also be required too!
 
This shot shows you what it was like before the key light. You can see clearly that the 540ez is having a hard time lighting it all evenly. But then it was on 1/2 or 1/4 power - I cant quite remember - I would imagine I could do a lot better given a bit more time to set things up. Still not too bad. I think that the creases would dissapear with a flash lighting the other side of the highlite too...

highlitebeforekey.jpg
 
How did you arrange the flash in the side? was it just pointing straight over at the other side? pointing towards the front? or bounced off the back sheet? Did you have it set to its widest setting for maximum spread?
 
Kaouthia, It was pointing straight at the other side - it was zoomed out to 18mm with the diffuser panel down in front of the flash. (wondering what effect a stofen would have here!??).

Is it better bounced slightly off the back do you think?
 
From what I understand, you're supposed to angle the flashes to the back wall, then it bounces back to the front to create a more even illumination without hotspots.

See in this video about 55 seconds in.

[youtube]QiKTz5aPqg8[/youtube]

I don't have the room at the moment to set it up here (without the wife yelling) to play around with it and test, so hopefully those who've had success evenly lighting these with speedlights will be able to jump in. :)
 
I can see that would make a difference and would also mean I could up the power without creating too much of a hotspot. I'm also struggling with room at the moment but will try and have another play - I'm sure that I can achieve much better than my first attempts above but thought I would post them up so that others can learn from it. I'll post some more results when I've had a bit more time to play with the setup.
 
Jchaplin said:
This shot shows you what it was like before the key light. You can see clearly that the 540ez is having a hard time lighting it all evenly. But then it was on 1/2 or 1/4 power - I cant quite remember - I would imagine I could do a lot better given a bit more time to set things up. Still not too bad. I think that the creases would dissapear with a flash lighting the other side of the highlite too...
Click to expand...


With a large box like this you really do need 2 flashes to evenly light it. I have powerful studio lights lighting and I prefer 2 lights - small flash won't be able to light it evenly from only one side.

Also with your subject on the floor, you can light the box from pretty low down.

Also in your edit, your shadow has a very hard edge. Try and feather your selection a little more. This softens the transition.
 
Yes I'm fairly sure 2 flashes would be required... I'm currently looking at some Lencarta studio flash kit which would leave both my speedlights free to light the box.

Edit: Re your edit - I would normally have some fill light set up which would naturally soften the shadows but yes I can see in this case I would need to achieve that in post. The shots above really were just a tester and don't represent a setup I would typically use.
 
Jchaplin said:
Yes I'm fairly sure 2 flashes would be required... I'm currently looking at some Lencarta studio flash kit which would leave both my speedlights free to light the box.

Edit: Re your edit - I would normally have some fill light set up which would naturally soften the shadows but yes I can see in this case I would need to achieve that in post. The shots above really were just a tester and don't represent a setup I would typically use.
Click to expand...

I might try and light the box with my flashes - didn't bother because I have 3 strobes but sometimes I could do with a hair and fill light too. More practice required :)

Good luck and keep posting. PS I point my strobes towards the back of the box and the reflective white material spreads the light out. Not sure what colour the background is with yours?
 
Thanks EOS. Not sure what you mean by 'what colour the background is with yours?' Do you mean inside the hilight? In which case yes - next attempt I'll be aiming them toward the back a bit so hopefully it will spread it all out a bit more!
 
Yes that's what I meant :) Don't bother with the stofen - just losing power! Into the back and if your subject is on the ground, look at the area you are shooting and concentrate on filling that first.
 
EOS JD, do you use a meter to set your background lights or just chimp it as you go??
 
i have managed to be one of the first people to pick up one of FITP's large hilites second hand lol.

i have sold a lens to fund a second sb600, so i now have 2x sb600's c/w konig light stands and ball heads etc etc and i have one of FITP's 33" brollies.

do i have enough equipment to have some success with the hilite?

one poking inside the hilite and one infront of the subject? or do i need two flash's to successfully light the hilite?

Al
 
seventythree said:
i have managed to be one of the first people to pick up one of FITP's large hilites second hand lol.

i have sold a lens to fund a second sb600, so i now have 2x sb600's c/w konig light stands and ball heads etc etc and i have one of FITP's 33" brollies.

do i have enough equipment to have some success with the hilite?

one poking inside the hilite and one infront of the subject? or do i need two flash's to successfully light the hilite?
Al
Click to expand...

On information provided I would say you do require two strobes/heads, you could well get away with one with the smaller version.
 
cheers, so if i exhaust my sb600 fleet on the hilite, should i then be considering another for the subject, or would the camera onboard be sufficient?

cheers, Al
 
TBH as Hilite would be mainly used indoors...Been considering buying a single plug in flash...Cheap of course...

Lets the flashes run on battery at reduced power...so more use...got extra rechargables but dont want to have to keep replacing them...

Cheap plug in flash...any ideas recommends...

STEVIER
 
Jchaplin said:
EOS JD, do you use a meter to set your background lights or just chimp it as you go??
Click to expand...

I meter across the background to get it as even as I can. - One light is not enough to do this.
 
seventythree said:
cheers, so if i exhaust my sb600 fleet on the hilite, should i then be considering another for the subject, or would the camera onboard be sufficient?

cheers, Al
Click to expand...

Don't use the camera flash! Not sure it will work anyway as TTL is not the way to go. You need to be fully manual.

If you were buying a flash, I'd have advised buying a strobe rather than a hotshoe flash - You can get kits for not much more than the price of 2x SB600s.

Get another light or try with one in the background but be prepared for some Ps work.

2 lights in the background makes a big difference.
 
THE-BIG-MAN-SAYS said:
TBH as Hilite would be mainly used indoors...Been considering buying a single plug in flash...Cheap of course...

Lets the flashes run on battery at reduced power...so more use...got extra rechargables but dont want to have to keep replacing them...

Cheap plug in flash...any ideas recommends...

STEVIER
Click to expand...

One is not enough to light a white background. look at some cheap 2 light kits if you can. Really is worth the difference.
 
I don't want to be the voice of discontent, but if you are doing any volume with these things, surely you will be heading for a breakdown with the amount of post processing on those floors?

There HAS to be a solution which allows you to get this right in camera, and not require ANY processing. Otherwise, your shoot time is going to be doubled at least with the amount of work required on each file?

I have built one of these in the studio and now have it processing free, but my floor is hardly portable. If you can find a reflective white or see through material which is highly portable, then you are into a winning setup.

Also I can't see how these could possibly work with only one BG light, at least not properly?

Gary.
 
Gary,

Agreed - it looks like a lot of post required from the current images posted, but I think with a little work it will be possible to achieve much better results. Although I'm not sure its realistic to get a portable & completely post-free set up - but I'd bet we can get pretty close!. My examples that I posted are miles away from this - but then they were done with just two speedlights. I've got some more lights turning up this week so should be able to light the thing properly!

Out of interest how many lights do you use in the studio to achieve processing free results?

Jeremy.
 
Jchaplin said:
Gary,

Agreed - it looks like a lot of post required from the current images posted, but I think with a little work it will be possible to achieve much better results. Although I'm not sure its realistic to get a portable & completely post-free set up - but I'd bet we can get pretty close!. My examples that I posted are miles away from this - but then they were done with just two speedlights. I've got some more lights turning up this week so should be able to light the thing properly!

Out of interest how many lights do you use in the studio to achieve processing free results?

Jeremy.
Click to expand...

Three minimal, four optimal....so four :D
Two in the backdrop.
One in the OCTOBOX, off to the right.
One in a shoot through brolly, left.

The studio is a touch unconventional, and it really shouldn't be working, but it is thank god. It's literally 4 metres x 4 metres, and I have over 3,000 watt's blasting with each shot! There are quirks I am having to work around, but as long as I am fairly strict in the way I work, I am literally taking my images from the camera, straight to the TV for viewing.

What I will say, they are only processing free in terms of suitable for a selection for purchase....they all require editing if bought obviously, there could be dirt on the floor (scuff marks etc), dust / hairs on clothes, the white balance might need tweaking - I might want to change crops etc. The fact is though, when you are getting paid to do it, it's worth it. Before I got my studio working this way, I was spending between 1 and 5 hours per shoot on processing for the viewing. Not good.

I still need to post a full setup guide for the studio, and various examples.

Gary.
 
I'll be in a position to use 4 lights later in the week (albeit using 2 speedlights for the hilight, not powered strobes) so I'll post some more pics and see how close I can get. I guess for me I'm not doing (or planning on doing!) large volumes of work so I can get away with spending a little more time doing my PS than you can.

Be interested to see your setup guide - have been watching your studio/shop thread for some time!

Jeremy.
 
These have been taken from the camera and about 10 seconds dodge tool on the LHS. The large FITP hilite was lit by a single 430II flash on full power with wide angle lens being used. Flash was pointed towards the middle back of the hilite.

The slightly unwilling subject was being bribed with dried mango so I did not have much time to refine the lighting.

Basic setup - hilite lit as described, subject lit by speedlight into a brolly above and to left of camera about 5 feet from subject. Subject about 4 feet in front of hilite.

Anyway - fairly chuffed and am confident I could get better results with more time and possible use of a reflector/3rd light to the right of the subject.

Here goes:

Key light - 1/8 power

hl1.jpg


Key light - 1/4 power (and a bit closer) overexposed.

hl2.jpg
 
Jchaplin said:
I'll be in a position to use 4 lights later in the week (albeit using 2 speedlights for the hilight, not powered strobes) so I'll post some more pics and see how close I can get. I guess for me I'm not doing (or planning on doing!) large volumes of work so I can get away with spending a little more time doing my PS than you can.

Be interested to see your setup guide - have been watching your studio/shop thread for some time!

Jeremy.
Click to expand...

I have been completely anal about getting it in camera, as I can't afford to employ a processing person, and I can't afford to take that kind of time with the risk of no sale...I have enjoyed it, several 16 hour days building then rebuilding the studio, numerous phone calls (AliB and her famous melons, woodsy!), for morale support - I almost jacked in the "no processing" idea and accepted defeat once or twice. It got to the stage where I did not want to shoot as a result of the work required.

Anyway, a few pics on way.

Gary.
 
1
1np.jpg


2
2nppn.jpg




Both processing free. You can see the floor in one really starting to come into play. I would have no problem showing these though for a viewing, and really if one were to be purchased, I would gladly spend as long as needed to get it finished. I don't think I would change much, just reduce the reflections with the dodge or a soft edged erasure, then use levels to make sure the BG is completely lost...

Edit, I would perhaps recover some of the blown area on the kids jumper, but not fussed either way...
G.
 
Hodders - looking like a good start and proves that it quite likely can be done - I suspect that the real challenge will be the floor!.

Gary - what floor covering have you used in the studio to get those reflections looking so good?

Jeremy.
 
I've taken a half day hoping mine turns up!
 
EdinburghGary said:
I don't want to be the voice of discontent, but if you are doing any volume with these things, surely you will be heading for a breakdown with the amount of post processing on those floors?

There HAS to be a solution which allows you to get this right in camera, and not require ANY processing. Otherwise, your shoot time is going to be doubled at least with the amount of work required on each file?

I have built one of these in the studio and now have it processing free, but my floor is hardly portable. If you can find a reflective white or see through material which is highly portable, then you are into a winning setup.

Also I can't see how these could possibly work with only one BG light, at least not properly?

Gary.
Click to expand...

Gary

PP on the floor takes me anywhere from 20 seconds to one minute max! I appreciate that might be a minute longer than you want to spend but for most of us it's not a problem. When I did the nursery images it was more of a pain when I was editing 800+ images although many of them did not incude the floor in the shot.
 
EOS_JD said:
Gary

PP on the floor takes me anywhere from 20 seconds to one minute max! I appreciate that might be a minute longer than you want to spend but for most of us it's not a problem. When I did the nursery images it was more of a pain when I was editing 800+ images although many of them did not incude the floor in the shot.
Click to expand...

I guess that's my point, if you are shooting 1,000 frames a week, that's an additional 1,000 x 30 seconds to a minute required per week, it all depends on the number of shoots & number of photos you want to show I guess.

For me, floor PP took longer too, was never comfortable with it and ended up spending several minutes fixing what I felt ought not to be broken in the first place. I was spending at least an hour per shoot, which is insane.

Gary.
 
EOS_JD said:
Gary

PP on the floor takes me anywhere from 20 seconds to one minute max! I appreciate that might be a minute longer than you want to spend but for most of us it's not a problem. When I did the nursery images it was more of a pain when I was editing 800+ images although many of them did not incude the floor in the shot.
Click to expand...

Another way to think of it. If you spend an hour shooting, and want to show 50 images....that's 25 minutes at best, perhaps an hour more work...so you have potentially cut your "hourly rate" in half...

I think there mist be an in camera solution...

G.
 
EdinburghGary said:
2
2nppn.jpg
Click to expand...

This one seems to have quite a bad overexposure issue Gary. Is it recoverable?

Also you have to be aware that very few people using these items have a studio and few if any will be running a full time studio. A small bit of PP work is not an issue to most of us but I can see that in running a studio, you need the setup to be as PP free as possible (time=money).

There's a video on youtube where a guy uses a couple of cheap strobes pointed directly at the floor to burn out the floor. If I had a spare light I'd probably use my rotalux strip box to light the floor but as it stands it doesn't really cause me any great issues.
 
EOS_JD said:
This one seems to have quite a bad overexposure issue Gary. Is it recoverable?

Also you have to be aware that very few people using these items have a studio and few if any will be running a full time studio. A small bit of PP work is not an issue to most of us but I can see that in running a studio, you need the setup to be as PP free as possible (time=money).

There's a video on youtube where a guy uses a couple of cheap strobes pointed directly at the floor to burn out the floor. If I had a spare light I'd probably use my rotalux strip box to light the floor but as it stands it doesn't really cause me any great issues.
Click to expand...

The background itself comes all the way back into the shot, nothing has been lost.

Definitely understand it's less of an issue if not full time, but it nearly burnt me out completely in my opening weeks. When I had my busiest stint, I was struggling to cope with the processing queue, Monday was a nightmare...

G.
 
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