Is it possible to have to much light..

[Dennismc]

Hello,

I was wondering is it possible to have to much light? I picked up a three strobe kit to pratice with and even when only using on strobe on the lowest power setting, the images are blown out a lot, even in auto mode.

I am shooting in a small area, maybe 10x10 but can move the camera back to about 20 feet. Should I be shooting with a larger aperture here, and if that is the case, then how do I then get the DOF needed as well?

I have tried the 35mm 1.8 lens and the new to me, 50mm 1.8 af lens as well.

I know this is a rather short and vague post, but just hoping I didnt waste a 3 hours drive and 300 bucks for something that is unusable in my space..

If it helps this is the kit I got..
3 studio flash/strobe, softbox,3 backdrops, more - eBay (item 360232768932 end time Feb-16-10 07:14:56 PST)

[i speak in math]

For starters, try ISO 100, f/8 and your sync speed, probably 1/250th/sec with the strobe on lowest power. Post the image with the exif intact and lets take a look.

[Dennismc]

Originally Posted by i speak in math

For starters, try ISO 100, f/8 and your sync speed, probably 1/250th/sec with the strobe on lowest power. Post the image with the exif intact and lets take a look.

Thanks, I will do that hopefully tonight, have to break out the manual for the camera and learn how to adjust the sync speed.

Thanks again will update soon..

Dennis

[inkista]

You don't adjust the sync speed; it's a built-in limitation of the camera body. For the D40x, it's 1/200s.

Remember that your flash illumination depends on four things: the distance of the flash from the subject, the power output of the flash, your iso, and your aperture. And sure, you can blow it out ...just like ambient photography, you can always go past your limits.

If you don't want to touch the aperture, then you can lower the power, lower your iso, or move the flash farther away from your subject to lower the flash illumination level. If you're at your limits already, the only other possibilities are putting an ND filter on the lens, or ND gels over the flash.

Subject-to-flash distance is probably the main culprit if you're working in a 10'x10' space. That's not a lot of distance to work with.

[Dennismc]

Originally Posted by inkista

You don't adjust the sync speed; it's a built-in limitation of the camera body. For the D40x, it's 1/200s.

Remember that your flash illumination depends on four things: the distance of the flash from the subject, the power output of the flash, your iso, and your aperture. And sure, you can blow it out ...just like ambient photography, you can always go past your limits.

If you don't want to touch the aperture, then you can lower the power, lower your iso, or move the flash farther away from your subject to lower the flash illumination level. If you're at your limits already, the only other possibilities are putting an ND filter on the lens, or ND gels over the flash.

Subject-to-flash distance is probably the main culprit if you're working in a 10'x10' space. That's not a lot of distance to work with.

Thank you for the clarification there. Will have to try to find a better place for it, can use the beach house in another two months, little cold to be in there now.

Might try using only one strobe and the reflector on the other side..

Dennis

[Samanax]

Have you read the information over at the Strobist web site yet?

Strobist: 101

Strobist: 102

A lot of good information can be found at the following web sites too:

Flash Photography Techniques

dg28: techniques

Basics of Flash Photography Four Fundamentals we must know

[Dennismc]

Originally Posted by Samanax

Have you read the information over at the Strobist web site yet?

Strobist: 101

Strobist: 102

A lot of good information can be found at the following web sites too:

Flash Photography Techniques

dg28: techniques

Basics of Flash Photography Four Fundamentals we must know

Seems constantly. There is so much to learn with this, that I have them open almost all the time and read and re-read alot. I really wish that he would put them all in a PDF, or a book! I would love to be able to sit and read it and not on the computer. I bet it would be a good seller for him..

[SilverBullet07]

Originally Posted by Dennismc

Hello,

If it helps this is the kit I got..
3 studio flash/strobe, softbox,3 backdrops, more - eBay (item 360232768932 end time Feb-16-10 07:14:56 PST)

That light set you got looks real nice, how do you like it as far as the quality.

I would think a 10x 10 would be getting close to the limits but stepping down the apature should give the better results. Were you shooting at f1.8, is so start at 5.6 and move up from there.

[SilverBullet07]

After thinking about this more, I went out to look at those flash heads.

The ISO guide number at 1/1 is 160. I estimate that 1/8 power the guide number is somewhere around 53.

So if this is true.

F stop = Guide / Distance of Flash

or

Distance of Flash = Guide /FStop

so lets say your flash was 5 feet from subject.

Guide Number / Flash Distance = Fstop
53 / 5 = f10
53 / 10 = f5.6

This will give you an idea were to start at. If you add a flash side by side to shot as one flash, that increases the guide number by about 1.5 but I dont know what it does if there is distance between them.

If you had the one flash at 1/8 power, and you tried to shot with fill flash at 1/8 the lowest that set can go, on the other side, you would not seem to get the 4:1 orr 3:1 ratio that you need. So you would be better off to use a reflector.

As far as using one for the background turning it down to 1/8 you might get good results by adding the honeycomb and gel which might defuse enough.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by Dennismc

Seems constantly. There is so much to learn with this, that I have them open almost all the time and read and re-read alot. I really wish that he would put them all in a PDF, or a book! I would love to be able to sit and read it and not on the computer. I bet it would be a good seller for him..

Hobby hasn't, but van Niekirk has. Highly recommend his On-Camera Flash book. It's essentially that entire "Flash Photography Techniques" area of the Tangents site with a few added extras bound into a book that doesn't need its battery recharged.

And yeah, the Strobist blog is not particularly well-organized for a beginner to ramp up to learning what's going on.

My take is:

Start with Planet Neil. Especially if you're a Canon shooter. van Niekirk'll walk you through the basics a little more cleanly than Hobby will, and he's system-agnostic unlike Hobby or McNally. No sending Canon shooters up the wrong tree by telling them to just put the pop-up into Manual. AND he'll teach you about i-TTL/e-TTL, so that you can make up your mind and choose when you need to use it, instead of automatically disdaining it as something for wimps, like so many of the Strobist-only readers do, and never knowing how to use it.

Then, start with the Strobist's Lighting 101, but only read up through all the hardware gear posts (or, ok, maybe up to balancing flash/ambient), so you can ramp up for off-camera light, and pester the Flickr group with specific gear recommendations or issues.

Then, go through Lighting 102. About halfway through 102, you can then go through Lighting 101, 102, and On Assignment at will.

Seriously. I know it's counter-intuitive to work through 102 before 101, but what happened is that when Hobby started the blog, he assumed the only people who'd be interested in what he had to say would be pros who already knew how to use an on-camera light, but didn't know how to go off-camera. When he started up the second "course", he realized he's misjudged who was reading the blog and a lot of rank amateurs who'd never touched a speedlight were showing up, so he backed up and started out with more basic information, but then by the end of it, he was speeding past all the stuff he'd already covered. So, Lighting 101 starts out at 50mph. Lighting 102 starts at 10mph, and ramps up to about 75 mph. So, it's not really a 101->102 progression, as the naming would suggest.

The other really really useful tutorial that's out there once you start doing the off-camera studio-type stuff is Zack Arias's white seamless tutorial. But wait until you've gone through Planet Neil and at least a bit of the Strobist, first.