Need a little help with off-camera lighting

[Ottor]

I "Was" going to expand a little and get some off-camera lighting.. I dont know much about "Slave" flashes or other lighting extras, but I was going to learn...... Then.... - I get the news that all State Employees are getting a 16 hour/month furlough until July... That puts the crimp in things for now.. (At my hourly wage, that actually hurts a lot right now.)

So - I need to go as cheap as possible (For now)... Any suggestions as so some flashes, triggers that I can use with a Canon 450D ? I currently have a Promaster 7400EDF that, I believe, won't work in a system - Some are triggered by other flashes, and some are radio triggered - any of those choices better in your opinion? - Any suggestons on a small system that will get me a little more experience in learning about other lighting options than just an on-camera flash ??

Thanks,

[OsmosisStudios]

Some vivitar 285HVs, ebay radio triggers and some stands. Go nuts.

[inkista]

As long as the Promaster fires ok and you have manual control over the flash power, you can use it off-camera with cheap radio triggers. I'd recommend going for Cactus V4s or RF-602s (eBay). It's about $40 for a Tx/Rx set (costs about the same as a sync cord; and Canon's pop up doesn't work well with most optical slaves). If you were thinking of slightly more money, then blowing cash on another manual flash like a LumoPro LP120 ($130), Cactus K-36 (aka Vivtar 285HV), or whatever the cheap Yongnuo flash of the week is, might come in handy. Also a lightstand, swivel, and umbrella.

The basics for a Strobist set up is laid out in this youtube video,



and the source of all knowledge is the Strobist blog itself.

[jengallardo]

I'm just beginning with Flash photo off-camera too and I found the Strobist.com blog extremely helpful (especially the video posted previously).

Since you are using Canon equipment, I'd also recommend checking out Speedliting - Speedlighting - Learn Flash Photography - Canon Speedlites - Nikon Speedlights - Off Camera Flash - Speedliters Intensive - Syl Arena which is all about using Canon Speedlites.

Also, another good site I've found in my research is www.studiolighting.net. The guy who runs that website is the self-proclaimed "Prince of Cheap" so he usually suggests do-it-yourself options / good investments if they do cost a bit more.

I hope this helps and I look forward to seeing your photos! Unfortunately I don't have any photos yet to show for my research, but I will post my trial and error on my flickr page here.