Flash rig that works

Seemingly most people buy the canon flashes for their G2... well I think they are too expensive for the limited use you can put them to. So here is an alternative rig you may find interesting. I attach a Hotshoe Isolater with a pc cord connection to my Main flash, in this case a Nissin 4800GT with Thyristor... (trigger Voltage 4.5) and on top of the hotshoe any small auto thyristor flash, in this case an Achiever 115a. This small flash is triggered by a slave cell so trigger voltage is not important. Now I have a rig that will produce terrific results with bounce flash... I can bounce from the side, behind or above AND get just the right amount of fill. Both flashes are on auto, Main flash on f5.6, slave on f2.0....Camera on Manual with an aperture of f6.3. Oh make a snoot out of cardboard and gaffer tape to stop any light from the main flash falling directly on the subject..... A REAL set and forget setup that has LOTS of options for better lighting and as everything is non canon its cheap too Not as cheap as the "Index card" but more versatile and powerful.......







MikeF

Oh and if you can find something like these little slaves.... then you have a studio lighting outfit that all fits in a gadget bag

MikeF

Sounds terrific Mike. I use an older Vivitar 285 with a hot shoe adapter and pc cord in an off camera postition similar to yours, but I like the idea of a smaller, less powerful slave on camera for fill. With your combo of bounce and fill I bet you get some good portraits,,, any examples?

I also have used one flash to fire several with peanut slave triggers into umbrellas. You can get some nice soft light that way.

Nice to see some creative inovations, I too hate to be tied into just one system. cheers bc.

BTW, speaking of cheaper alternatives, I found out a way to rig up my aux. flashes to a common "hot/power wheels, 6 volt battery, like you get in Walmart for those power cars. It gives me tons of flashes with no swapping out batteries and it's rechargeable. Great for remote shoots where you need lots of flash...power to the people.

I too would like to see some samples from that setup if you have any to show. I've already spent my money on a 420ex, but I'm interested in cheaper alternatives for slave setups.

Michael

James Colley said:

Sounds terrific Mike. I use an older Vivitar 285 with a hot shoe
adapter and pc cord in an off camera postition similar to yours,
but I like the idea of a smaller, less powerful slave on camera for
fill. With your combo of bounce and fill I bet you get some good
portraits,,, any examples?

I also have used one flash to fire several with peanut slave
triggers into umbrellas. You can get some nice soft light that way.

Nice to see some creative inovations, I too hate to be tied into
just one system. cheers bc.

BTW, speaking of cheaper alternatives, I found out a way to rig up
my aux. flashes to a common "hot/power wheels, 6 volt battery, like
you get in Walmart for those power cars. It gives me tons of
flashes with no swapping out batteries and it's rechargeable.
Great for remote shoots where you need lots of flash...power to the
people.

Click to expand...

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http://www.pbase.com/mooremwm
http://www.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=7178

Don't think I better post someone else so here's one of me just a while ago Flash rig as described with two other slaves, one for the hairlight (grey enough not to need one) and one for the background

MikeF
with apologies for the subject.

Looks pretty good to me. Will have to try your setup out. Thanks for the post bc

I love the rig, and the example. Wow.

How would you suggest I do the same, but with a 420EX? That is, would the 420 work as my main flash? In which case, I would purchase a small slave to sit on the camera?

BTW, I will be photographing chairs and stools that are built by my husband, and are to be sold. The photos I take of them with my G2 and 420EX have lots of shadows.

Lastly, would this two-flash set-up work, or should I purchase a few of those small slaves?

Any flash that has enough grunt and ability to bounce off the walls or ceiling will do just fine. I don't know the 420EX at all so cannot say. Having three sources is a must I'd say.... I regularly use five. The rig I described above is really only quick no brainer type of lighting setup... so I suggest you get a few slaves, at least three and play with them... your images will thank you for it.

For photographing furniture you might try using three lights. The main light in this case should be from behind the chairs so the leg shadow falls towards the camera at an angle. If you get it right then the frame and seat will be clearly detailed. Then a second light in front to balance and show texture etc of the chair, this maybe bounced off a wall say. Then another light to illuminate the background or if you wish to use a dark background then just illuminate a portion of it for depth.

That way you only get one soft shadow and it becomes part of the composition.

If you have other slaves you can use them to create effects or highlight details etc. Of course you could just bounce light everywhere but the resulting pic would be flat and lack "mood" and where's the fun/challenge in that

MikeF

blamejane said:

I love the rig, and the example. Wow.

How would you suggest I do the same, but with a 420EX? That is,
would the 420 work as my main flash? In which case, I would
purchase a small slave to sit on the camera?

BTW, I will be photographing chairs and stools that are built by my
husband, and are to be sold. The photos I take of them with my G2
and 420EX have lots of shadows.

Lastly, would this two-flash set-up work, or should I purchase a
few of those small slaves?

Click to expand...

Here is a quick example of what I mean by the shadows falling towards the camera. This shot was done with just one slave and the oncamera flash to trigger it.... the slave was placed to look like the sunlight from outside was lighting the chair..... more natural. So with just one off camera flash and a bit of thought one can do interesting things.... Note: The oncamera flash power was reduced by two stops

MikeF

Awesome MikeF. Thanks for the tips, and the example! I'll give it a try.