Which modifier to get

Whippet

Whippet

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Tom
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Hi,

I have used speedlights successfully to light my paper background for high key shots at home for some time. I just used 2 flashes zoomed as wide as poss and it was acceptable.

I'm now about to get a set of 2nd hand Lastolite strobes x 4 with no reflectors or modifiers. What would be the best way to light the background?

I have a small space that my 2m background fits in. I don't have the space to use reflective umbrellas as they'd be too close for even lighting at 2 ft away from the side of the background...
Would I be best to use bare and flag the lights with cinefoil or buy a couple of wide angle reflectors? Or something else... I've never used strobes before so pretty clueless...

I mainly shoot dogs but will be doing some full length couple shots.

Thanks
 
Whatever that particular firm thinks it's called, it's actually a spill kill reflector.
It has limited value, basically as a barebulb flash, for STUDIO FLASH only. It doesn't so much direct light forwards as prevent light from travelling backwards. It would serve no purpose for lighting a background.

The best tool for lighting a background is a background reflector but again that's for studio flash only.
White reflective umbrellas are a good and cheap alternative, if as you say you don't have room for them then you probably don't have enough room to do white background shots anyway.
 
Maybe my post wasn't clear. I have success at lighting with my current speedlight set up within the limitations of my home setup. I am getting the above studio lights so wanted to know what would be best to use with them. Thank you for the link, looks exactly what I need. Doesn't seem to that much advice on studio reflectors for the beginner out there...
 
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Whippet said:
Maybe my post wasn't clear. I have success at lighting with my current speedlight set up within the limitations of my home setup. I am getting the above studio lights so wanted to know what would be best to use with them. Thank you for the link, looks exactly what I need. Doesn't seem to that much advice on studio reflectors for the beginner out there...
Click to expand...
Well, modifiers are in fact everything, so there should be a lot of info about them - but photography is one of those hobbies (and even occupations) where people seem to get hung up on the shiny bits and ignore the things that really matter.

And of course it doesn't help that modifiers are low-tech items that require no technical knowledge to sell, which means that most of the websites selling them have no idea what they're selling.
 
  • Hmmm, some contradictions online. Some sites say those modifiers are used to produce an even lit background and some say it creates just an oval of light on the background
 
Re finding info - I think the problem with trying to google for info is that the results get dominated by hits on how to use a stand alone reflector in a studio. And most beginner advice out there is for shooting with speed lights which is understandable.
 
And some just talk b*****ks
 
Haha! Sometimes its hard to sort the wheat from the chaff when you're inexperienced. Guess I best find some studio lighting training.
Thanks for the tip, modifier on order.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Whatever that particular firm thinks it's called, it's actually a spill kill reflector.
It has limited value, basically as a barebulb flash, for STUDIO FLASH only. It doesn't so much direct light forwards as prevent light from travelling backwards. It would serve no purpose for lighting a background.

The best tool for lighting a background is a background reflector but again that's for studio flash only.
White reflective umbrellas are a good and cheap alternative, if as you say you don't have room for them then you probably don't have enough room to do white background shots anyway.
Click to expand...

Try spill kills for background, you maybe pleasantly surprised.
 
Whippet said:
Hi,

I have used speedlights successfully to light my paper background for high key shots at home for some time. I just used 2 flashes zoomed as wide as poss and it was acceptable.

I'm now about to get a set of 2nd hand Lastolite strobes x 4 with no reflectors or modifiers. What would be the best way to light the background?

I have a small space that my 2m background fits in. I don't have the space to use reflective umbrellas as they'd be too close for even lighting at 2 ft away from the side of the background...
Would I be best to use bare and flag the lights with cinefoil or buy a couple of wide angle reflectors? Or something else... I've never used strobes before so pretty clueless...

I mainly shoot dogs but will be doing some full length couple shots.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I've used wide reflectors which work perfectly well and softboxes, also very good. Avoid umbrellas because they chuck light everywhere (even when used with a reflector), but they can be used if you have to.
 
I'm a cheap skate, its amazing what you can make with a cereal box and the dull defused side of tin foil ;-), have made a reflector spoon with just material and works brilliantly ! :-)
 
As Garry says that reflector is designed to stop light travelling back towards the camera and little else. Given the space limitation you will have light reflecting from everywhere else i.e. the walls, ceiling etc. so anybody recommending their use has not read what you have written about your set up. The purpose of all modifiers is to control the spread of the light so by working out what you want to light and equally as importantly what you do not want to light along with the distance from the light source to the subject it should be possible to identify potential modifiers.

Mike
 
Whippet said:
Hi,

I have used speedlights successfully to light my paper background for high key shots at home for some time. I just used 2 flashes zoomed as wide as poss and it was acceptable.

I'm now about to get a set of 2nd hand Lastolite strobes x 4 with no reflectors or modifiers. What would be the best way to light the background?

I have a small space that my 2m background fits in. I don't have the space to use reflective umbrellas as they'd be too close for even lighting at 2 ft away from the side of the background...
Would I be best to use bare and flag the lights with cinefoil or buy a couple of wide angle reflectors? Or something else... I've never used strobes before so pretty clueless...

I mainly shoot dogs but will be doing some full length couple shots.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I use 2 flagged wide reflectors. 2 softboxes works. What you want to avoid is light bouncing to the back of your subject. make sure the light on the back on your subject is 2 stops lower than your camera exposure to avoid white bleed/wrap/loss of contrast.
 
Thanks for the further pointers guys, do you mean I should meter the rear of the subject Jenny? ie face the meter towards the backdrop? I have been metering the background separately without the key light on.
 
Whippet said:
Thanks for the further pointers guys, do you mean I should meter the rear of the subject Jenny? ie face the meter towards the backdrop? I have been metering the background separately without the key light on.
Click to expand...

yes, that's exactly it :) Meter the back of your subject to make sure not too much light is reflecting from the lit backdrop.
 
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