Studio with flashes

Hi there,

I am thinking about building up a small indoor home studio and was just playing around with my SB-600. Say you use two of these flashes in remote mode; one from the left one from the right, are these flases sufficient for most of the shots, or would this limit this to really close up shots?

i only have one sb-600 now, but i will think if a second one is good or it is better to buy a small starter set with softboxes etc.? and if so, do you have any recommendations?

-
Regards,
Hans

http://www.pbase.com/hansaplast26

Hans,

You will probably get a lot of responses on this but here is what I am doing. I have a D90 with CLS and a sb600. I purchased a couple of stands, a shoot through umbrella with flash bracket, and one of those big round multi reflectors that are really hard to put back into the bag. I also bought some black felt at a fabric store for a backdrop. I probably don't have more than $100 invested. I put the subject between the reflector (either white or silver) and the umbrella. It does a great job. But now I have a sb700 that I got for Christmas. I can use it for a rim light from behind or to light up a background. I will probably be getting a gray backdrop and another stand for the second flash before too long. I have a lot of experimenting to do.
--
Prentis
http://prentis.smugmug.com

I have used two SB-600 flashes with umbrellas to take well exposed pictures of a lineup of about 15 people. I don't think you would get that many in your home studio. The use of reflectors would help and an addition flash for a hair light would work great. I saw a posting the other day of someone who had purchased a muslin drop cloth and ironed it for a backdrop, help up with pvc tubing. It looked great. Just some ideas.
--
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
-- Max Ehrmann

Hansplast26 said:

Hi there,

I am thinking about building up a small indoor home studio and was just playing around with my SB-600. Say you use two of these flashes in remote mode; one from the left one from the right, are these flases sufficient for most of the shots, or would this limit this to really close up shots?

i only have one sb-600 now, but i will think if a second one is good or it is better to buy a small starter set with softboxes etc.? and if so, do you have any recommendations?

-
Regards,
Hans

http://www.pbase.com/hansaplast26

Click to expand...

Even if you bought a second sb-600, you would still have to buy softbox/umbrella, lightstands, holders, etc. For indoor studio use, AC strobes are much cheaper and manual flash works fine.

Hi Hans. There are many ways to set up lighting using speedlights off camera. An excellent place to look for information is http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/02/welcome-to-strobist.html
and the Flickr group linked with it http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/
If budget is an issue there's another Flickr group you might find useful
http://www.flickr.com/groups/diyphotographynet/

You might find it easier to start with just one flash and then add more. Many strobists use manual exposure for consistancy which means non TTL flashes can be used too.

I'm pleased the first contributor mentioned a shoot through umbrella since this is relatively easy to set up and use. You can buy a Tilt Swivel Umbrella/Flash Mount Adapter to fit on a light stand or tripod; this can also be used with several clamps. I prefer the models with a plastic Flash mount. If you use something like a stofen on your flash when using a shoot through umbrella you'll get a nice spread of light.

What do you want to shoot in your home studio? It would help others to give relevant suggestions if they know what your intended usuage is. There's a Lighting Technique forum here at DPR and it's an excellent place to ask questions, but as with asking about lenses it helps if you're specific about what you want to do and your available budget.

I recommend you browse through the Strobist.blogspot.com site, then go post questions in the Flickr Strobist.com forum if you need to. There's a wealth of knowledge out there that will come in handy when you set up a studio.

The short answer is that depending on what you need two SB-600s might get you most of what you need, but everyone will recommend you get additional units, and that you also step up with a few of them to get more power. There are other, sometimes, sometimes not-so cheap flash options (like Vivitars) with radio controls that will expand your universe. And don't forget that for a studio you will have to come up with diffusing/reflecting options like umbrellas, soft boxes and reflectors, and also back-drops, battery packs, etc.

I am in the process of conceiving a portable studio setup (already have 2 SB-600 and 2 SB-900 units), and it all starts getting complicated and expensive very quickly. Best to do some research up front.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's easy to argue about equipment and technique, but hard to argue with a good photograph -- and more difficult to capture one .



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