Choosing Big Lights: AlienBees

The last installment of the Big Lights series is a look at AlienBees, a very popular line of studio strobes available in the US -- and recently, in Australia/NZ. But before I get into them, I will preface the post with this:

Early this fall when it came time for me to pull the trigger, I was having a very difficult time deciding between the Elinchrom Quadras and the Profoto Acute line. So I decided to go with a very comprehensive set of AlienBees.

Confused? Lemme explain…
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An Inexpensive Way to Learn

Having spent a significant amount of time deciding on which line of flashes I was going to marry, I realized that my main unknown was not so much the gear itself but rather my not knowing what kind of a big lights photographer I was.

My experience with the bigger flashes falls mostly in the neighborhood of nuking large areas -- gyms, large interiors, etc. And that is not the kind of thing I want to do, going forward.

I had grown much more comfy with my SB's than I was with my WL 600s, and that scared me. Not from a standpoint of inexperience but from that of not knowing exactly how to distribute what would amount to a big chunk of cash when buying lights.

So I decided I would date the AlienBees before deciding which flash system I wanted to marry. And who knows, if the AlienBees proved sufficient my wallet would come through the process largely unscathed.

And not knowing what I wanted, I bought ... everything.


Cheaper by the Dozen

By themselves, the lights and modifiers are inexpensive. But there are also quantity discounts to be had. Buy four flashes, as I did, and you get 20% off of every accessory you purchase at the same time. Which almost makes them free to test drive.

This is because, unlike your late-model digital camera which just lost $100 in value as you read this sentence, flashes hold their value very well. And new gear bought at a 20% discount will pretty much get you your money back on eBay whenever you are ready to sell. Which was my plan.

I bought three AB800s, an AB1600, stands, booms, strip boxes, a soft box, beauty dish, grids for the boxes and dish, tele reflectors -- pretty much everything that was for sale on the site, it seemed.

I did skip the remotes, as I am already full up on PocketWizards Plus II's. But when I was done I still had not managed to rack up a $3,000.00 total, as the 20% off added up to some pretty big savings.

And why not go crazy? My thinking was (and still is) that I could use them for months at almost no net cost. And if I liked them enough, I was done with my flash search.

It was a pretty heady day, getting the contents of a full studio delivered to the front porch by the UPS man. And over the last few months, I have learned a lot about AB's -- and about myself as a lighting photographer.


Likes, Dislikes

There is a lot to love about the ABs. At the top of the list, of course, is price.

You can get an AB800, with reflector, power cord and sync cord for $280.00. Which is about what it costs to see a movie in New York City. You can get the AB400 for $55 less, but that is a very small difference for one full f/stop. My advice is to skip it and go for the AB800.

This is ridiculous, silly cheap for a studio flash. So much so, in fact, that it has sort of blown the curve of what people think is an appropriate amount of money to spend on a big flash. Paul Buff sells direct only and manufactures by the boxcar load. He has created an entirely new business model in the industry.

Are they built like a Mercedes? No, they are not. But their service/repair policy is so generous that it does not really matter for many people. And they are sufficient for most uses, and that is what matters to their owners.

Buff also extends that "built good enough" ethic to his modifiers, with mixed results. Soft boxes, the dish, grids, and many other items I have found to be first rate and surprisingly heavy duty. The stands are serviceable, but are not what you would call confidence-inspiring. Also, his standard reflectors are ingeniously designed to accept a 7" grid without an accessory clip. But I would be happier if they were parabolic, rather than conic.

In short, the ABs allow you to jump in the pool for cheap. Try stuff -- heck, try it all -- and see what you end up using and/or liking. I especially like the Vagabond II, a $300 battery pack and pure sine wave inverter which will run (3) AC-powered AB800s on full power for 300 pops.

I bought two of them. I was like a shark in chummed waters -- I got that crazed look in my eyes that my wife gets when Ann Taylor has a 75% off sale at the mall.


What You Won't Hear

While I absolutely recommend experimenting in the shallow-priced AB waters, here is one thing you will not often hear said among AB owners:

"I just love the quality of the light..."

You hear that about Profoto, Elinchrom, Hensel, Broncolor, etc., But when AB/WL people start talking they usually come down to price and/or portability.

And you are not going to hear me rave about the gorgeous light quality either, because ABs do have a bit of quirkiness to them in that department. I can't quite put my finger on it or quantify it, other than to say that I am sometimes a little surprised by what I get from them.


So of course we did some testing. Here is a series, shot all of the way up and down the power range of a single AB800. They are not dead on, but neither are they grossly inconsistent. Maybe it's a UV thing? I really don't know.

And don't get me wrong -- I have been shooting assignments for months with these things with no complaints. And I still do not know if it is the lights themselves, or me not being fully used to them.

There are people (usually from expensive, prestigious photo schools) who turn up their noses and reject the AlienBees out of hand. That's ridiculous. They are the number one selling brand of studio flash, and for good reason. Similarly, there are people who are just as rabid in their support of the units.

I suspect that the truth lies in the middle somewhere. They are an amazing value, to be sure. But they are not the equivalent of a high-end Broncolor system, either.

And frankly, for the money I can live with a little quirkiness. I have some On Assignments coming up on which I used the AlienBees, so I will let you judge for yourself. It is a very subjective thing, light quality.


Want vs Need

What do I want? That's easy -- I want everything.

Which is pretty much what I bought. And exactly what I would not have been able to do with, say, Profoto. Not without knocking off a rich relative a commercial loan, anyway.

But what do I really need? That's a different story.

And that has been the most valuable part of my AlienBees experience -- learning what I need in a big light system as opposed to what I want.

Here's what I found out: Ninety percent of the time I shoot, I am going to be making a portrait and using two light sources. This is proving to be a transportable and predictable workflow from my speedlight shooting. Heck, it is probably because of my background working out of a waist pack that I have evolved that way.

Generally, it will be a restricted key and an on-axis fill of some kind -- ring, light off of a white wall behind me, umbrella behind the camera, whatever. Or maybe I will use ambient as a base and use one light as a key and other as a separator light. Usually as a rim light or a light on the background.

While sometimes I will use a third source, that is surprisingly rare. But having the third source gives you backup on the first two, which is very important. Any system you design should leave you without a single point of failure. Which is one reason I gravitate to monoblocs over pack-and-heads. And why six SB-800s in a small bag are more useful to me than one or two big monos.

Occasionally, I throw a lot of light sources at something. Just once in the last three months, shooting social media headshots for a local financial company, I used five sources. (But that was 3 AB800s, an AB ring flash and an SB800.) So maybe if I went with more expensive lights, I might have to miss out on an occasional job. Or just have to shoot differently. Or rent.

As an aside, the shot above was done using the three lights visible in the frame, and two more. The center light lit the background. The side lights lit each other. There was on-axis light from a ring. And an SB-800 on the ground shot a little up-light kicker to define the lights.

I may stay with the ABs, and I may not. But for less than the price of a single Profoto Magnum reflector, I have essentially been able to sort of "rent" a huge set of lights, stands and mods for months. That rental fee (net buying/reselling costs) was recouped many timed over on my first assignment with them. Which is why I am so pleased to have used them to discover how I want to light.


Learning from the Experience

Using what I learned from my drunken AlienBees gear orgy, I could now estimate with more confidence what I would need to buy should I decide to go with, say, Profoto.

I would want an AC pack, three lights (two regular heads, one ring) some pretty specific mods, and battery-powered packs to power at least two heads. And with the year-end specials Profoto is running, I am actually giving serious thought to pulling the trigger. If that seems strange, remember that I bought the ABs a while back, and that part of my reason in getting them was to evaluate both them and myself as a lighting photographer.

Here is the 40th Anniversary deal that is making me drool for Profotos: If you buy an Acute 600B (battery unit) or an AC-powered value kit, they throw in $1000.00 worth of accessories. Different countries have slightly different rules on the promo, so check if yo are interested.

This bonus appears to be stackable, too. So I could get two 600B packs, and an Acute 1200 value kit. For under $8k USD, that would give me two heads and the ability to run them on AC or battery power. My only single point of failure is the AC pack, and that is covered by the battery units.

And with the $3k USD in free accessories, I could get extra battery modules, a ring light head, a soft ring reflector (working with the Moon Unit has made that a must) grid reflectors and a Magnum reflector. I could get by with my ratty, 20-yr old White Lightning 7" grids that are pictured above. That is a setup I could live with for a long time. And I never would have been able to know that with any confidence without using a wide variety of AlienBees gear for several months.

Would I drop $8k for that? Absolutely.

And I am less concerned about the up-front price than I am about really knowing what gear I want to settle into. This is long-haul stuff -- a marriage. And I still have a month to decide before the special expires.

(Curse you, Profoto, for making the deal last up to the last minute of tax-spending season. That was evil. It's like a month-long test of fortitude, taunting me until New Year's Day.)


Back to the Bees

Do I regret jumping on the AlienBees? Not for a second. They have been very serviceable (not to say inspiring on all counts) and have provided some very valuable clarity for essentially no net cost should I decide to change horses. And I very well may stick with them for the long haul. I haven't decided yet.

If you have access to them (the AU/NZ distributorship is selling to surrounding Asian/Pacific countries, it appears) you can hardly go wrong as an entré into bigger lights. And given that they all have built-in slaves, they will definitely play nicely with your existing speedlights. (AB becomes main light, speedlights become fill/rim/background, etc.)


[UPDATE: The AU distributor of AlienBees confirmed that they are shipping to different countries, which will be good news for some of you who are outside the US.]


They are just so deliciously inexpensive. And with the (upcoming) "Einstein" versions, ABs get even more interesting as the light color issues are supposedly vastly improved. A lot of other improvements coming, too. I'll be keeping tabs on that.


Getting off of the Couch

Yeesh, I feel like I just went through a therapy session. And believe me when I say that is an honest a look as I can give you into my thought process on buying personal lights. And six months after I started, I am both well-equipped and yet strangely in limbo as to what I will do next.

So in some twisted way, I hope that this has been of at least some help. Hell, it probably just left some of you more confused. I am a little conflicted in that I now know enough to have prompted some questions I did not know to ask at the start of the process.

And I hope you AB/WL owners will sound off as to your experiences in the comments, good or bad. This is too important a decision to go on just one person's say so. Your opinions certainly will help others make better decisions.

Please share them with us.

Follow Up: Choosing Big Lights

Last winter, I blogged about the thinking behind choosing big lights.

There were a lot of loose ends, not the least of which was my purchasing AlienBees partly as a way of putting off making a final choice. How it all sorted out, after the jump. Read more »

Choosing Big Lights: Elinchrom

UPDATE: As I suspected would happen, there is some really good info already developing in the comments from Elinchrom owners. If you are reading email or RSS versions, be sure to check it out. And FWIW, I expect this ongoing comment discussion will be the best part of the post.
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One of my main considerations when shopping for more watt-seconds was to be able to work independent of AC power.

In this respect, Elinchrom gets strong consideration in the form of their two battery powered platforms, the Ranger RX and the new Ranger Quadra. A look at a very powerful battery flash, and it's baby brother, inside.
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The Ranger RX

The Elinchrom Ranger RX is one of two very popular battery "big flashes" among pros, the other being the Profoto 7B. At 1100 watt-seconds, a Ranger can deliver sunlight-blasting power from its very rugged, splash-resistant battery unit.

I know I ruled out the idea of choosing a flash based just on what other photogs had chosen, but two friends for whom I have a great deal of respect use the Ranger as their primary location big gun.

Joe McNally frequently uses them in conjunction with his SB-900's, with the Ranger as the lead light and the speedlights in supporting roles. He will often place the Ranger outside of a room or building to get that strong ray of (CTO'd) late-afternoon light in a pinch.

And Drew Gardner lights entire woodland scenes with them in broad daylight to transform the areas into magical little glens bathed in impossibly beautiful light.

They have power to burn, and are supported by a wide range of Elinchrom light modifiers. Both the flashes and the light mods have a very good reliability record among the people I know who use them.

They go head-to-head against the Profoto 7B, and the Ranger comes up the winner in one very important category: Watt-seconds per dollar. Which is, of course, a very big draw. Especially for those who plan to use multiple lights and thus will be purchasing multiple units.

You can plug two heads into one pack, with the power distributed either symmetrically or asymmetrically based on the pack model you choose.

One area in which they (formerly) came up short against the Profoto 7B was recycle time. I was speaking with Sports Illustrated photographer Peter Read Miller over dinner one night, and he gave me what I considered to be an excellent reason why he switched from Elinchrom Rangers to Profoto 7B's:

"I just didn't have six seconds of bullshit in me between shots," he said.

Fortunately, as long-time readers of this site well know, I am not bound by such limitations. I have a vitally unlimited supply of bullshit at the ready at any waking moment.

But to Elinchrom's credit, they have since introduced the Ranger RX Speed variant, which gets the recycle down to 3 seconds. That's pretty much a wash vs. the 7B's 2.8 second mark. So make sure you differentiate between the two models if recycle time is important.

In short, the Ranger RX is a big gun with an excellent reputation. In fact, one of its strongest competitors is its new baby brother.


The Ranger Quadra

One of the most interesting battery flash new entries to come along in years is the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra. It is small, cranks out 400 watt-seconds, has built-in Skyport remote power level control, has a daylight balanced 100-watt equivalent, LED modeling light -- and most important -- is incredibly portable.

Even with it's diminutive size, the pack can push two heads. Which means if you are not going with light-sucking softeners (soft boxes, etc.) you can drive two hard, straight heads with a single, small pack in a full-sun environment.

This is perfect for those hard light "key-and-fill against sunlight" portraits that I have been gravitating toward lately.

And the heads themselves are positively tiny -- actually smaller and lighter than an SB-800 -- so they have their own accessory standard. Fortunately, Elinchrom offers an adapter to get you to the (big) Ranger head standard. If you use both, this is obviously a required purchase.

In addition to the size, maybe the best other feature about the units is the LED daylight modeling lights. They are battery-friendly, which is sweet. Generally, batteries and modeling lights do not get a long very well. With traditional bulbs, they have to make them too dim to be very useful, and they still suck juice like crazy.

But the Quadra LEDs are easy on the batts, and have the bonus of being daylight balanced. This is a great feature for using them as continuous lights for video switch-hitters, albeit in low-light situations.

If you want to see more, you can check out Scott Kelby and Mark Astmann in full-blown Ron Popiel Mode in this video walkthru.


Check, Please…

So, what is it gonna set me back to go Elinchrom?

I figure I will need three light sources. If I am overpowering sun, I want to do so with key, fill and some kind of separation light.

And even though both the Ranger RX and the Quadra both have two-head packs, my preference is not to split all that power up. I would probably end up buying three heads and three packs. This would also serve as insurance should a pack go down. Also, all things being equal I would have extended shooting time vs. running three heads off of two packs.

So before modifiers (no small consideration, that) I would be looking at about $5,400.00 for three standard Ranger RX kits or a little more for the fast recycle models. Going with Quadras, the damage would be about $4,500.00.

I was actually a little surprised at how small the difference is. Dollars-for-wattseconds, you would think the big Rangers are the obvious buy. But it also comes down to workflow and how many pounds of gear you want to schlep.

With that thought, I would probably go all Quadras if going Elinchrom. Or maybe one Ranger RX and two Quadras.

Elinchrom offers a huge array of modifiers, so there still would be quite a bit of variability left in the full tab. But I would probably start fairly small and add modifiers as I need them.

So that's the first of three contenders. And not to ignore the built-in brain trust we have around here, if you use Ranger RX's and/or Quadras, please hit us with your thoughts (likes and dislikes) in the comments.
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Next up: Profoto

Choosing Big Lights: Profoto

If you are shopping for Big Guns, you cannot help but lust after consider Profoto. Among high-end pro shooters, Profoto is near ubiquitous. And there is usually a reason for that.

Several good reasons come to mind in favor of choosing Profoto, actually. And one pretty big reason not to -- inside.
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"The Light Shaping Company"


Those four words define a corporate philosophy that sets Profoto apart from many other strobe companies. They sell a bewildering array of light modifiers. And you have to respect a company that puts that much effort into trying to deliver such a wide range of light shaping tools.

The quality of light pushed into those tools is legendary, too. Which is one of the main reasons pros around the world seem to so often go for Profoto when it comes to choosing lights.

But another reason is the rental network. Profoto was very smart in engineering wide availability of their gear for traveling shooters via rental houses around the world. So you can rent what you need on location, or augment the specific Profoto tools you need for a shoot but do not yet own.

It is a powerful triple whammy: Quality light, shaped well and available everywhere. So what's not to like? Let's all just load up on Profoto and be done with it, right?

Not so fast, bucko. There is one little problem:


Profoto is Expensive.

Even the entry level battery pack and head is gonna set up back over three grand, absent special deals. And the fun just starts there. The packs are expensive. The heads are expensive. And then there are those beautiful modifiers.

The modifiers are as insidious as they are wonderful. They reach waaaay into your wallet, grab it by the short hairs and ask, "What kind of beautiful light would you like to make today, Dave?"

And that's a problem -- because you say, "Well, of course I want make alllll of the different kinds of pretty light today, Profoto!"

Then pretty soon you and your Chase Visa card are best buds. And shortly after that your kids are eating the dry, generic cat food because you can no longer afford to feed them the premium canned stuff.

Which of course would make this an easy "nossir, Profoto," except for then they start to work on your brain from the "logical" side.



"But my reflectors zoom, Dave. So each one is like having, say, three different reflectors."

So then you start to divide the price by three, and that oh-so-versatile "Magnum" reflector which costs like three hundred bucks or something starts to magically look like a mere $100 reflector. And now a hundred bucks for a reflector sounds positively frugal, like when you slow down to 70MPH from 100MPH and it feels like you can get out and walk.

And then who wouldn't want to belly up to the photo bar and buy one?

(What kind of reflector would you like to buy, sir? Oh, I'll be needing a *Magnum* reflector, please…)

And then there is the other value-added thing that starts to creep into your brain: The light mods work on all of the heads. Which makes this an investment into your long-term future, of course.


Know Thyself

So here's the thing. I am not exactly sure what light mods I am gonna be using most often, because I am only now starting to think more frequently in terms of big lights.

And if you do not know which light mods you will need, Profoto is a very expensive place to find out. With these prices, you need to have a conservative, go-slow approach to building a system. And even then, you are gonna have to have a plan.

My strategy if choosing Profoto would be to start with two basic light sources, small (zoom, remember) reflectors, and a Magnum. (Oh, and some gum, to not look too obvious when buying the magnum.)

Maybe grab two 7" grid reflectors, which presumably will take standard 7" grids. So the Magnum is your only real flyer here.


But What Pack and Heads?

Here, you have some choices. If you want to slide in bare bones and discover Profoto one light mod at a time, one relatively pain-free way is to grab some of the few remaining Compact-series moonlights. They can be had very reasonably -- especially in kit form. They are plug-in only, but some people have successfully powered them with Vagabond II's from Paul Buff.

But most important, you are in the door for not a lot. (The first hit of meth is always free or cheap…)

Your mods will continue to be useful as you get deeper into the system. And you have made a commitment to a system that is very much into non-obsolescence, which means that those dollars could be amortized over many, many years. Which means that your system could be a good value -- or downright cheap if you do not require a large number of mods or light sources.

(I know -- rationalizing…)


The Compacts are being replaced by the D1 system, which are smaller, more feature-ladened monos and are priced very attractively. They have great controls, and you can configure them with built-in remote systems for remote manual control, etc.

On a recent overseas trip, I met with a Profoto rep and asked him about battery power for the D1's. He basically winked and said that this is not something they have ruled out. Which means that there either is most definitely a battery coming out soon, or that he was blowing smoke up my skirt. Who knows.

But they are reasonably priced, and get you into the exquisite mod system with low damages. There is only one thing that bugs me about them: They have a recessed tube, with a small, "built-in" reflector.

I am sure they have their reasons, but this just seems counterintuitive to all of the advantages of the zoom light mods. I just don't get it. If you are already using D1's and can give us your thoughts, please educate us in the comments.


Acute Anxiety



But the choices don't stop there.

Besides the going-extinct Compacts and the new D1's, the other entry point into the system is the Acute system, which features a sweet, 600WS battery unit and AC packs whose prices won't give you a heart attack unless you actually stick your finger in a flash socket.

And they frequently run specials (there is one on now, until the end of 2009) wherein you can get a pretty good deal all told (free mods this time, free head other years.) So definitely cruise the specials if you are in the market.

If you want to go batts and AC, skip the smaller AcuteB head, and get the Acute/D4 head, which ships with the better reflector and can be used either battery or AC Acute packs. Then you can go for a 600B pack first and add an AC Acute pack later.

If you plan to use them heavily and for a long time, I would submit that there is excellent value in the Profoto system. If you choose to move up to the If-You-Have-To-Ask price levels of the 7B or other pro series gear, you can eBay your Acute stuff and all of your mods transfer. You could also use the two flash systems alongside each other, but they will not plug and play together.

The stuff holds its value very well, so think of it as rental fees over time and it starts to look palatable. See, I can rationalize with the best of 'em.


Head for the Light, Carol Anne…

I'll confess to having a major Jones for the Profoto stuff. The light quality, the mods, the longevity, the rugged build quality -- I'm getting' a little woozy just thinking about it.

The rental availability is not a huge draw for me, as I am almost always working local enough to drive whatever gear I need when shooting with big lights. But it matters to many others.

Going with Profoto for me would mean exercising some serious gear restraint at first. Not my strong suit, but it might be good for me for a change. Maybe two 600B value kits, and load up on free light mods with the special. I'd be in for about $6k.


[NOTE: The deal seems to vary a bit by region as to what purchases are required and how much free loot you get. Check with your home country dealers for best info.]


And I could always grab a few Profoto soft box adapters (which, um, cost as much as my soft boxes did) and transition in with some of my existing soft boxes. JoeyL did that, essentially sticking his 7B head into Paul Buff soft boxes. I am pretty sure someone in Sweden had an aneurysm over that one, but Joey liked the results.

Eventually, I might migrate to the "stimulus money" -priced neighborhood of the "pro" stuff. I must say it'd be a tad off-putting to drop $6k on the Acute and not get a "pro" label. My pro Flickr account cost me $25.00. Just sayin'.

Or I might be happy forever with Acute. Who can know for sure?

Either way, going Profoto for me would be a trip down the rabbit hole -- drugs priced separately, of course.

If you use Profoto and have sage words of advice for other readers, sound off in the comments. And if you have Q's, maybe you'll get some answers there, too.

Next week, we head back over to the cheaper side of the tracks.

How To...

The below are a collection of explainer posts on a variety of subjects—some specific, some general. But all, hopefully, helpful.

Read more »

Mono Monday: Choosing the Right Big Lights

Normally, I try to balance lighting technique, trends, gear and a smattering of general silliness on this site.

Apologies for fact that that Strobist is in somewhat of a gear-oriented spate of posts. There is a reason for that -- namely that I have gotten a little ahead of myself.

A few On Assignment posts are in a holding circle because they were shot with larger light sources. And before getting to those, I wanted to take a look at the process of how to go about choosing a big light system in the first place.

Recently, I revamped my kit after spending 20 years using the same set of well-worn monoblocs. I thought it would be a pretty easy process, but it turns out that there has never been a wider array of "studio" flashes than what is available today.

The purchase merited a lot of thought, and I figured some folks be able to benefit from the experience. More, inside.
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My old White Lightning 600's (pictured at left) have given many, many pops of trouble-free service. And last year I augmented them with an ABR800 ring flash, with the idea that a slaved monobloc / ring light would go with just about any system I would want to put together, WL/AlienBees or not.

And this kind of long-term thinking is very important, IMO, when considering a big lights purchase. It's a marriage, really -- or a very expensive fling if you screw it up. So you want to look at long-term costs, value and capabilities of several different systems before choosing.

And speaking of long-term value, I quickly decided that the money I could get for my used WL's would not come close to the value they would have for me as a backup bag. They are pretty fugly at this point. But they work, and I know them well. Which counts for a lot.

So as a backup, an auxiliary bag or as a loaner for colleagues, I would not be selling them.


So. Many. Choices.

I started like a lot people do, clicking around the web like a kid in a candy store.

First, I looked at photographers whose work I admired, and found out what they used. This was quickly discarded as a very poor way to choose a system, because I was clearly working under a completely different set of variables than would be any other photographer. We all shoot -- and light -- differently. What works best for Annie, Joe, Chase, etc., might not work best for me.

So, I decided to take out a sheet of paper and write down some of my considerations and priorities. And that yielded this:


1. AC powered or not, they must be battery capable. Or I would have to build into the budget a good, pure sine wave generator. (This Honda 2000-watt model seems to be the go-to for many shooters.) I have gotten used to being able to shoot without AC (mostly because of the speedlights) and that is not something I was ready to give up.

2. System integration would be very important. There are some very cool, one-off type designs out there. But I wanted to leverage the dollars I spent for the long term, which means that money spent on light modifiers (no small sum) would need to work across a wide range of system flashes if/when I evolved or upgraded.

3. I found myself to be surprisingly variable on price. Rather than just go by absolute dollars, I decided to estimate how much use I would give them over their lifetime and let that dictate the price I was willing to spend. Which is to say that, if needed, a more expensive set of flashes could end up being just as cheap (or cheaper) over the long run than would a less expensive set with a shorter duty cycle.

4. What will they be used for? Primarily, two things: Shooting people in high ambient level environments (i.e., competing with the sun) and lighting bigger scenes. These are the classic duties that speedlights just can't do very well.

5. And speaking of speedlights, I have found that I have a natural preference for monoblocs as compared to pack-and-head systems. I do not like the idea of losing several light sources if a pack goes down. Not that pack-and-heads were out of the question -- many good choices here, in fact. But I would essentially treat a single pack and head as a monobloc equivalent.
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So, those were the criteria.

After a lot of initial looking around, web cruising, brochure reading, etc., I came down to three brands which would get each serious consideration. In alphabetical order, they were Elinchrom, Profoto and WL/AlienBees.

In one way or another, they could all fit the bill. But they each also had distinct advantages and disadvantages over the other two systems. So over the next few Mondays we'll be looking at each of these systems in context with the others, in the same way I did when there were real dollars at stake.

Mind you, your variables when looking at purchasing big lights will be different than mine. But I hope my experience will be helpful as a template when you overlay your own set of priorities.

And so as not to restrict this conversation to my own decision process, I certainly encourage your input via the comments as well. As someone who recently went through the process, I can say with certainty that others will benefit from your experiences.

Recommended Big Light: Paul C. Buff Einstein e640

UPDATE, 1/1/2019: Nine years after its introduction, The Paul C. Buff Einstein e640 is still the best bang-for-buck monobloc in the world.



If you shoot small lights long enough, you will run up against some limitations. You might be trying to light big areas, or trying to get a combo of soft light with a large working distance. More likely, you might be trying to light against full sun. Or maybe some combination of the above.

Suffice to say that at some point you might want a big gun in your lighting bag. But choosing from the blistering array of options in the studio flash marketplace can be a daunting thing.

My recommendation, for photographers living and working in the U.S., is to buy a Paul C. Buff Einstein e640 monobloc flash. Here's why.


Oodles of Power



The Einstein ($499 factory direct) has 640 watt-seconds of power, about eleven times as much as a typical speedlight. That number can be deceiving, as all things being equal you actually only gain one f-stop of light for every doubling of the power level. But 600-800WS is a sweet spot for all but the most demanding subjects.

The group shot above (more detail on that shoot here) was key-lit to f/8 at ISO 200 with a battery-powered Einstein on half power. And that flash was reflecting off of a 60" white-backed umbrella, then going through a diffuser. So yep, plenty of power.

Just as important, the lights can dial down in power (in increments of 1/10th of an f-stop) to less than the equivalent of power of a single speedlight at 1/16th power. That's amazing, and is a feature I find super useful on a regular basis.


Portability

Einsteins can be plugged into the wall or powered by the company's $239 Vagabond Mini Lithium battery (sold separately). This takes the flash from being a studio light to an anywhere light.

The battery is well-designed (I have five of them) and delivers power through a 120v/60hz standard outlet. Which means it also can be used in a pinch to power other items or charge your phone when off the grid, or during a power outage.


Pulse Speed and Color Consistency

There are two qualities of a studio-style strobe which are not physically apparent, but are very important. These two features are pulse time, AKA "t.1 time," and color consistency. The Einstein employs a clever and unique solution to both that allows it to punch way above its pay grade.

The t.1 time of a flash is the all-in (okay, technically 90% in) time measurement of a flash pulse. In other words, how long does it take your flash to produce all of that light?

There is also a confusing (but much more flattering) measurement of a flash pulse called a t.5 time. That's the length of time it takes for a flash to delivery half of its light energy. (More info on understanding those measurements, here.)

Suffice to say that a the energy pulse of a flash ramps very quickly, but dissipates in a "long-tail" graph. So if the flash you are manufacturing has a crappy pulse time, you're probably gonna sweep that design flaw under the rug by quoting the t.5 time of your flash rather than the t.1 time — if you quote a time at all.

Put differently, the t.5 time is a bullshit, near-useless measurement quoted by flash manufacturers when they have designed a flash with a crappy t.1 pulse time. No lie: I have seen flash-pulse times of slower than 1/100th of a second. Not so great for stopping action without ghosting. Or even trying to balance against sunlight at a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second.

So that's one's quality. The other quality is color consistency.

For obvious reasons, you want the color consistency to be as tight as possible across the entire power range. This is especially true if you are shooting people or products. This is not an easy thing to design into a flash. Let alone doing good color plus fast pulse times.

To be sure, you can get flashes that have both action-stopping t.1 times and very consistent color. But those flashes will likely cost you upwards of ten times the price of an Einstein e640. What (Einstein designer) Paul C. Buff did was to split the control circuit in the flash, effectively making it a convertible unit. This was a brilliant move, and one of the main reasons this flash is still an object of lust more than nine years after it first hit the market.



Are you all about stopping action? Say, shooting sports, or freezing water droplets, like the above photo by Jarek Wieczorkiewicz (more on that here.)

Set in Action mode, the Einstein hits a t.1 time of 1/588th of a second at full power, and gets jaw-droppingly faster from there. At 1/256th power, it clocks in at 1/13,500th of a second. So yeah, it'll freeze water in the air.

Shooting catalogue stuff, or portraits? Switch to "Constant Color" mode for a color consistency of just +-50 degrees Kelvin across the power range. Check those numbers against your budget studio flash. Trust me, they're good.

The convertible design of the e640 puts it miles ahead of all but the world's most expensive flashes at a small fraction of the cost. But there are other things to consider, too.


Quality, Reasonably Priced Modifiers

Paul C. Buff sells a wide array of light modifiers for its full line of flashes. They are well-designed, and very moderately priced. This gives you the range to do what you need, and really helps to manage the "all-in" price of a flash system.



Starter example: the small dish- and cone-style reflectors (seen above) are almost laughably cheap, allowing you to inexpensively get the most versatility out of your unit. I have high-output telephoto reflectors (seen above at left) for sports, normal reflectors (middle) for hard light and umbrella reflectors (right) to create beautifully controllable no-spill light from a black-backed umbrella. They are $30, $20 and $13 respectively.

The company's soft boxes and dishes follow this ethic as well. This is what gives that powerful light the versatility to do what you want it to do, without breaking the bank.


Warranty and Factory Support

Here's where many budget flashes drop the ball. Factory support is key to the sustainability of any "big light" system. You'll find this out when you realize you have to send your bargain monobloc back to China for a repair.

The Einstein is factory warrantied for two years. Paul C. Buff doesn't use distributors (they sell direct, which is the main reason they are only fully available in the US.) Because of that, when you call the store, you are also speaking to the factory. They have built a 30+ year reputation for bending over backwards to support their stuff.

Which if course, doesn't really matter. Until one day when it really, really matters.


Longevity

Speaking of 30+ years, that matters as well. There are lots of studio flash brands out there that did not exist five years ago, and may not exist five years from now.

Big lights are a system you buy — and build — for the long haul. Plan accordingly.


Other Doo-dads

Yes, the Einsteins do things like remote control of power levels (with the appropriate transmitter/receiver combos) and multi-channel/multi-flash operation. But IMHO this is noise on the scale of importance compared to the items listed above.

A big flash can easily last you 20-30 years. Think of it like buying a car. I am more interested in the engine, reliability, safety and ease of repair than I am the cupholders and contrasting leather stitching.

Feature creep (and the related quick obsolescence) can a thing when it comes to big lights. And it is easy to get lost in the minutia of all of the fancy bullet points in the various product listings. This is a long-term purchase. Concentrate on the stuff that really matters.


What About PCB's Other Lights?

They're fine. But if you want an all-in big light, splurge and go for the e640. If you want something small and super portable, maybe look at the DigiBee.

But honestly, it's the convertible design of the Einstein that sets it apart from the competition and makes it worth several times its price. There are a lot of decent flashes out there. But the Einstein is a unicorn.


What About Outside the U.S.?

The only real downside to PCB lights is that they are only readily available in the U.S. Which is a shame for you other folks, really. And the flashes that will be available to you in a given country will vary widely.

But you can use the above as a template for helping you to choose from among the choices offered locally. What I would say is to really dig into the specs — especially color consistency and t.1 times. Then take a hard look at reliability and factory warranty/service. Then ask some local pros. Trust me, if they have bought a studio flash that turned out to be a piece of crap they will most certainly tell you about it. You'll have trouble getting them to shut up.

But hopefully, no matter where you live, this thought template will help you to make a better informed choice no matter which you buy.



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Choosing a Small Flash

UPDATE, 1/1/2019: Manual-only is still recommended as being most reliable, with fast/intuitive user interface. But radio-enabled 3rd-party flashes are adding new features and models all the time. Whatever you do, think twice before needlessly shelling out big bucks for your camera manufacturer's pricey, branded speedlights.
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Because small lights and big lights each bring a different set of considerations to the party, I am splitting my recommendations into small flashes (AKA speedlights) and big lights (AKA studio lights).

For speedlights, your first choice is deciding whether you wanna drive stick or automatic, meaning manual or TTL. I live in manual mode, which means I sacrifice some convenience for both better value and rock-solid reliability. Also, I am not held captive to "TTL tax" every time I buy a new piece of lighting gear.

Because if you want to maintain those TTL capabilities as you expend, you have to go with gear that works on that more complex, branded platform. In other words, once you're in, they pretty much have you where they want you.


Top Pick for Manual Speedlights



For manual speedlights, I recommend the LumoPro LP180, about which I go into far more detail here. It's built like a tank, syncs four different ways, has a fluid and intuitive user interface, a built-in gel holder and has a two-year manufacturer's warranty.

My favorite feature on the LP180 is, at the time of this writing, unique to LumoPro speedlights: it has a tripod female mount on the side of the flash. This may not sound like a big deal, but that thoughtful gesture allows us to put the flash very close to the shaft of a lighting umbrella — which will improve the quality of the light as compared to any other speedlight.

Alone, each of the above features are a nice extra touch. Together, they combine to make a value-priced manual speedlight that is head-and-shoulders above the competition.

That it costs about a third as much as you would pay for an OEM branded flagship TTL flash is icing on the cake. If you can commit to shooting manually, this is your flash.

A NOTE ABOUT MANUAL-ONLY FLASHES

A well-designed, manual-only flash has a zen quality to the user interface that no feature-ladened "Swiss army knife" flash could ever have. Because the latter has to include TTL controls and a built-in (brand-captive!) remote, and the various additional group and channel controls that implies.

So you can expect that TTL/remote-embedded flash to have menu trees, which is the natural enemy of fluid interfaces.

You know what's nice? Having a flash that I can reach up and dial in another 1.3 stops, while also tightening the zoom from 35mm to 50mm, without even looking at it. Because it is just up-down/left-right buttons, and that is super easy to do by feel without skipping a word in the rapport you are trying to build and keep with your subject.

If I could sum up the state of the art in small flashes in the past few years in two words, it would be "feature creep." You may think this is a good thing. But I really don't need a flash with Bluetooth® to tell me when my coffee is done. And while we are not there yet, at the current pace we probably will be soon.

The upshot of all this "progress" is that almost certainly, purpose-built manual flashes with lovely, intuitive user interfaces will be going away soon. The LumoPro LP180 is the last, best one out there. And even it won't be around forever.

Choosing a TTL Speedlight

TTL (as opposed to manual) stands for "through the lens" automatic control of the power output of the flash. It is a nice capability, but it is certainly not a necessity. In fact, I use manual about 100% of the time. But you might be different. If you chase your kids around the living room with a camera and flash or shoot parties and receptions, for instance, TTL can be a nice convenience to have for those occasions.

Just know that what you'll be giving up is a simpler, more intuitive set of controls. Even in manual mode, you're going to be navigating more menus and pushing more buttons while shooting.

If you are going the TTL route, at least do this: avoid your camera manufacturer's branded flash. They tend to be very good flashes, but they are insanely overpriced. For example: a single Nikon SU-5000 speedlight, with the Nikon radio needed to fire it remotely, will set you back over $700.

Welp, I guess that's just how much good flashes cost, right? NOPE. For that much money you could have gotten:


• (2) Godox TT685 manual/TTL/radio-enabled flashes, branded to your camera platform ($110 ea.)
• a Godox XPro series remote transmitter, branded to your camera platform ($70)
• (2) LumoPro LP605s strapped compact light stands ($45 ea.)
• (2) LumoPro LP679 umbrella swivel adapters ($16 ea.)
• (2) LumoPro LP735 3-in-1 compact umbrellas ($30 ea.)
• LumoPro 32" padded lighting case ($30)

This is a fantastic little portable two-light studio, with both manual and wireless TTL capabilities. The included LumoPro studio gear is warrantied for 5 years. And you have still have nearly $200 left over, compared to the price of one Nikon speedlight with a wireless transmitter.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Look, in 2019, we have been conditioned to pop off a little web research and head straight to Amazon. And Nikon would certainly love for you to go that route. But this is an instance where it really makes sense to pick up the phone and talk to someone knowledgeable to walk you through your options. (And no, that someone is not me.) Because the options are very camera brand-specific, and flash models are getting updated all the time.

In the U.S., try Midwest Camera Exchange in Columbus, Ohio: (866) 940-3686. Ask to speak to someone about small flash gear. Tell them, "I have [X] kind of camera, and I am interested in doing [X] kind of lighting work and I have [X] budget. What do you recommend and why?"

Just as in the example above, you'll likely end up with more appropriate gear, for less money.


How to Choose the Right Batteries

You roll your eyes, but I'm serious. While all AA batteries will work in your flash, some will work way better than others.

First, you shouldn't use alkaline batteries. In addition to being far less environmentally friendly than rechargeable batteries (and in the long run more expensive) they straight up do not work as well.

That's because alkaline batteries, while having a voltage of 1.5 volts each, do not deliver energy to your flash as fast as nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeable versions. NiMH batteries only have 1.2 volts, but still deliver current to your flash faster because of the internal chemistry of the battery.

Think of it as having a water hose with a wider diameter. Even with less pressure (i.e. voltage) it can push more water (i.e., current).

Second, some NiMH batteries are better than others. Always look for the words "pre-charged" on the label. And no, we do not care that they arrive pre-charged. But that designation also indicates that the batteries are the slow-drain variety.

That's right, some NiMH batteries will lose their charge by themselves as they sit on your shelf doing nothing. It's like having a glass of water but the glass has a small hole in the bottom.

As long as your batteries are NiMH and slow-drain, the only other variable is their capacity. That is measured in milhiamp-hours, or mAh.

I like to have 8 batteries (two full sets) for each flash. Since I can charge one set faster than I can drain the other set down, it's basically like having infinite power resources.

Here are two good value recommendations (AmazonBasics), with differing mAh capacities:

8 AA NiMH Slow-Drain Batteries, 2400 mAh

8 AA NiMH Slow-Drain Batteries, 2000 mAh


...And Charge Them Right



As for keeping your batteries charged, there are things to know there, too. First, NiMH do not have memory issues like older rechargeable batteries. So feel free to top them up any time.

But charging rates (i.e., how fast your charger can top them up) will affect the lifespan of your battery.

Yes, you can charge your batteries in 15 minutes with some chargers. But that needs a lot of current, and generates a lot of heat. And those unnecessary thermal cycles will shorten your battery's life.

If you ask your battery, it would much prefer to be charged slowly, over a period of four hours or so. But since you often don't have that kind of time, a good compromise is to go for a 1-2 hour charger.

Or better yet, one that you can switch between 1-2 hours, or 3-4 hours at the touch of a button. I use the Powerex charger shown above. It'll let me choose the rate for charging, charge two full 4-battery sets at once, and costs less than $40.



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SLC-2L-06: How to Light Indoor Sports

Today in Lighting Cookbook, some multi-budget solutions for lighting winter indoor sports—specifically in high school gymnasiums.

Lighting indoor sports opens up a whole new world as compared to trying to shoot available light. You can both freeze action and define the quality of the light in a much better way than the spotty existing overheads.

And for the sake of argument, let's assume only one rule: no on-camera direct flash. Because that looks horrible. Other than that, any lighting scheme is fair game for exploitation. Also, I don't have access to all of my sports archives at the papers so we'll be sticking to cookbook-type lighting diagrams to visualize placement and coverage.

Read more »

Choosing Extension Cords for Plug-In Strobes

Before considering an expensive battery pack or generator for your big lights, don't overlook the obvious. Extension cords are a cheap and reliable way to get power to your studio strobes.

A couple hundred feet of power cable and a little advance scouting will solve the vast majority of your location needs. But be careful not to skimp. Here's how to choose a good extension cord for your strobes. Read more »

SLC-0E-05: Light Your Home Like a Photographer

Long-time readers of this site are already familiar with my family, having watched my kids grow up in photos. Seen above, on the left, is my daughter Emily. You guys met her when she was eight.

She's seventeen now, and headed off to college next year. Which meant this is the last time we'll put up a Christmas tree while we are all living here together.

I have always tried take lots of photos around the holiday season. And even more so, now that the kids will be graduating soon. And as we have successively remodeled many of the rooms in our house, I have made it a point to pay special attention to the lighting.

Why? Because you can get a lot of bang for your buck when it comes how a room looks just by thinking like a photographer during the remodel. And another bonus is that your quick available light grab shots will look much better, too. Even if you are just using your iPhone to shoot it.

Take the living room, for instance. Before remodel, it was lit mainly by a small, four-bulb fixture attached to a ceiling fan. You can probably imagine just how flattering this wasn't. And it was something that bugged me enough to lobby to get rid of the fan just so we could have more of a choice about our lighting.

In the end, I got the okay. And I have long been happy that we did it. Here's a quick run-through on the decision process for this room, in the hopes that it'll inspire you to think about how you can use your lighting skills to improve the quality of any room you might choose to remodel in the future.
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Here's a photo of the living room as it exists now. Mind you, this is purposely shot available light, not as an artificially lit room.

But here it is, exposed for the room rather than for the light sources, to give you a sense of how the lights are distributed.

First and most important is the drum lamp hanging from the center of the ceiling. Remember the four-banger bare-lamp light I mentioned earlier? That's long gone, and replaced by what is essentially a soft box pointing straight down. It's three feet across; a legit beauty light.

And the arrangement of the room around the light means that anyone sitting in the room is sitting under a quality light source, and at a good angle. The only harsh place to be around this light would be directly under it. And you can't go there. Because guess where we put the coffee table.

So if you are sitting on the sofa or the love seat or the chair, you look good. When you're in the room the effect is not unlike sitting in a lounge in a nice hotel, where they have taken the time to design the light for the effect that they want.

And standing or sitting, pretty much anywhere in the room, a snapshot of you is gonna be reasonably flattering at the very least. And that's true whether it was shot on a purpose-built camera or a smartphone. To wit, the example at top of the page.

Over at camera right are two wall lamps, which serve to fill the shadows of the overhead "key" light—or to become pretty nice rim lights for someone sitting on the couch. No major surgery here, as the lamps came with conduit assemblies to run the cords right down the wall. They're just plugged in behind the couch.

At back are two "can" lights in the ceiling, washing down on the fireplace. They just keep it from going super dark back there. (And of all of the lights, they are the only ones that are built-in, and pre-dated the remodel.)

Two other items of note. One, the lights are all on dimmers. This gives us tons of control of both the absolute level of light and the lighting ratios between the different planes. You really can accomplish a lot of looks with a few different planned-out light sources and some dimmers.

And two, all of the lights are LEDs. Which means that this entire room—seven bulbs—totals only about 36 watts of energy consumption. And that is if they are on full-blast, which they almost never are. I just nuked them up to buy myself some exposure here. We normally keep them pretty subtle and balanced. But that also would look bad in a photo because a light cannot easily serve as both subject matter and light source.

But dialed down, I would guess we are typically lighting the room with around ten watts of power, total. It's just well-distributed.
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Remodel Like a Photographer

When choosing lights for a room remodel, here are some things to think about.

• If you can spring for a big, soft main source, splurge. You won't regret it. This could mean a drum lamp (we had ours made here) or a light that bounces off the ceiling. In our case, the main light does both. Unseen (from almost exactly my camera position) is a smaller version that hangs down over our dining table. The two light their assigned spaces beautifully and tie the double room together visually.

• Think of task lights as doing double-duty. First, they accent a room. Second, they fill the main light. Oh, wait, make that three—they can also create mood by dimming them down and using them without the main.

• LED bulbs are getting better and better—they have passed CFL lights—and will save you tons of money over their lifespan. Good quality ones are as low as $5 at Home Depot (these are Philips, FYI.) The room shot above is a poor representation of the light color/quality. That's because the lights are serving as both light source and subject. If I chose one or the other (as in the top photo) they would look good. And to the eye they look great.

• Dimmers on each circuit and dimmable LED bulbs will give you lots of options to shape the room. Just make sure to use modern "triac" style dimmers (most all sold today are this type). Those work best with LED lights and also don't just waste energy through resistors when you dim down.

• In the overall cost scheme of remodeling a room, decent lighting design (and the forethought of a photographer's approach to lighting) is about the best value you can get for your dollar. I've done this with every single room we have remodeled, and have been really pleased with the results.



FROM: Strobist Lighting Cookbook

Q&A Antonio Beverly: Light Direction, Freezing Motion and Duotones

Lots of good discussion in the comments and on Twitter about the Antonio Beverly shoot from earlier this week.

In particular, three questions involving light, motion blur and post processing: Read more »

Strobist Photos of the Year, 2007 -- 4th Place Winner

The year is almost gone. In fact, there are exactly five days left in 2007. Which means it is time to announce the SPOY winners. But before we get to the 5th-place winner, a little housekeeping is in order.

First of all, a few thoughts on the process of choosing ten winners. Amazingly not a single one of you attempted to find out how cheaply I could be bribed. (Answer: very.) But it is too late for that now... :)

It should be noted that any one of you may well have chosen many different finalists and different winners. Very likely, ten completely different finalists, truth be told. We all have our own internal biases, and certainly show up in something like this.

I initially narrowed down the pool to about one hundred wonderful images. Then I would go through them night after night, slowly weeding them down. There were photos which were very similar to other photos in the finals, so sometimes this was very difficult. But I wanted to avoid significant duplication within the final ten, so that became yet another criteria for thinning the pack.

Another criteria was inclusion of lighting information in the caption, or at least in the comments. Literally dozens of photos were culled using this criteria. Some of them would certainly have made the finals. But that is the primary rule of the pool, and also was one of the criteria for judging. This made a difficult choice between two otherwise great photos into an easier one.

On the process of choosing, I would again note that I winnowed the pool down to ten finalists, and Chase Jarvis chose the five winners, in order, from the final ten. Chase would have certainly chosen a different lot of finalists -- any of us would have.

Chase's selects probably would have been more conceptual and avant guarde, whereas I tend to go for classic, and well-executed. But that's what makes the world go 'round.

I would also note that I ran my list of semi-finalists and finalists by a number of other people, looking for feedback. So, while I am sure there will be Monday-morning quarterbacking on this one (uh, it started a while back, actually) please bear in mind the process through which the finalists were chosen.

Bell-curve-wise, we had in the finals photos taken by pros and by amateurs -- the greater numbers being with the latter. We had big lights and small lights represented -- again, the greater numbers being with the latter. And we had photos which have been very heavily viewed and commented upon right next to photos with minimal views and comments.

To those who think that many page views, favorites comments and notes is the mark of fine quality, I offer this counterexample.

Finally, I was heartened by the fact that Chase chose from the final ten exactly the first-place winner the photo I would have chosen. There was no ranking, hinting or prodding by me. Personal biases aside, I think some photos stand out no matter who is viewing them.

So, for the next five days, I will be posting a photo a day, with commentary from Chase and myself. Please join me in both congratulating the winners and thanking the sponsors (listed below) for upping the ante to make this so interesting.

The 4th place winner is after the jump.

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4th Place: Radiant Bones - All Hallows Eve

"Radiant Bones" was shot by Christopher Perez (AKA Smiling Monk) with a Canon 40D and a single AlienBees 800 flash.

Christopher is a self-described "engineering manager by trade and a photographer by passion." His photographic website is here.

As for lighting, the flash was placed inside a 3x5-foot soft box. Then, the already-soft light was spread around the subject through the use of three large white ragboard reflectors to preserve the delicate tones of the subject and backdrop. Simple, elegant and something that could be done with a single speedlight.



Chase Said:

This gets the nod as a testament to simplicity of lighting and setup and good, simple post production. Most photographers could not resist punching the hell out of the contrast on this shot in post - thus turning this shot into something that looks like so many of it's predecessor black and white skull shots.

This avoids that standard pitfall and seeks to pave its own ground. It's is a success in its subtlety and it's beautifully toned.

I Say:

The lighting, composition and post production on this photo all elevate it from a simple still life and give it an evocative and ethereal quality. I strongly agree with Chase on the tonal restraint (in both lighting and in post) adding to the final product.

From a lighting perspective, the use of soft, multi-directional fill allowed total control over the tonal range of a subject that was essentially composed of one tone. Just because there is a full range of pure black to pure white does not mean we are required to use it.

_____________________

Congratulations, Christopher, on the photo. If you would be so kind as to place into order your prize choices from the list below and stick it into a comment on your winning photo's Flickr page, it will greatly help to speed the process of distributing prizes to the five winners after they have been announced.


Thanks again to the following sponsors for contributing such great prizes:


• An AlienBees ABR800 Ringflash, courtesy AlienBees.

• A pair of Pocket Wizard Plus II's courtesy the MAC Group, facilitated by Midwest Photo Exchange.

• Elinchrom D-Lite 2 Kit, courtesy Elinchrom and facilitated by The Flash Centre.

• Two Nikon SB-800 Speedlights, courtesy Nikon USA.

• A Canon Powershot G9 Digital Camera, courtesy Canon USA, facilitated by Midwest Photo Exchange.


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:: SPOY Results Discussion Thread on Flickr ::

A Guide to Choosing Photo and Lighting Gear

NOTE: If you are just starting out and looking for "Strobist Gear," you should head over to the detailed information on building your first lighting kit in Lighting 101.
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The Gear Guide, indexed below, is meant to be a roadmap for photographers who want to plan their overall photo gear needs — and especially as it pertains to lighting. It is designed to help you avoid costly mistakes.

That said, the gear you choose is a very personal decision and no one can make that call for you. But what I can do is to show you what choices I have made for myself, and why.

Your choices may well be different. Perhaps way different. And that's cool. For myself, the choices listed below were hard-won by the experience of 35 years as a photographer, with 20+ years as a staff newspaper shooter.

Translation: Grad degree from the School of Hard Knocks. My choices may or may not be exactly yours, you'll likely not go hugely wrong having been guided by them:


1. Cameras
2. Lenses
3. Speedlights
4. Big Lights
5. An "In-Between" Light
6. Triggers
7. Light Stands
8. Soft Modifiers
9. Hard and Specialty Modifiers
10. Tripods
11. Cases and Carts
12. Books and More

Basics: How to Choose an Umbrella

Umbrellas are cheap (and very portable) light softeners. But there are enough choices available to make picking the right one a little confusing. Or worse yet, to end up with something that is completely a wrong fit.

Below are some of the pros and cons of each of the major types of umbrella. You'll find that choosing is easy, once you figure out how you will be most likely be using it.Read more »

Packing Light for Central America

I am headed to the Arenal volcano area of Costa Rica, for a shoot at an ecological institute and for some fun with the family. I have been before, and am looking forward to dodging sticks thrown at us by the howler monkeys.

It is easy to pack when going on a trip just for fun -- a good point-and-shoot and maybe a slaved speedlight. Ditto packing for a straight shooting trip -- bring everything you think you might need.

But this trip is a hybrid of sorts, so I tried to get as much versatility as possible into a single small bag and shoulder sling. For my one-bag eco shoot I'll have five light sources, a stand/umbrella kit, a boom, and all of the light modifiers and grip gear I think I'll need -- plus backups on the critical items.

So, how much crap can you fit into a small bag? . . .
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My Limit: One Domke F2 Bag

The Domke F2, seen above, is the standard news photographer bag. I have five of them, most of which are threadbare from many years of hard use. They are not huge, but will swallow up a decent amount of gear. My goal was to get everything into one Domke bag with the standard, 4-square divider -- except the stand kit which will go over the other shoulder. That was a bit of a challenge, as the gear would also include a laptop and storage for photos.

I'm no Chase Jarvis (holy crap!) so the only pack donkey I have to consider is myself. As always, the idea is not choosing what to bring but rather choosing what to leave at home.



So, here it is, unpacked. You can see a bigger version here.

Starting with the body and glass, I am bringing one D300 body (bottom left) which gets me 12 megapixels in a small package. Ditto the glass -- one lens. On the D300, a 24-70 gets me from moderately wide to portrait length. And the Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 is scary sharp and far and away my favorite lens.

As a backup for the body and glass, I'll have a Canon G9 (bottom center). Not ideal, but it is only a backup. It also serves as an (extreme) macro and video in a pinch if I need it plus a voice recorder. The SC-17 TTL cord (upper left) can tie the G9 into a multi-light, off-camera setup very easily. If needed, it'll give me ultra high-speed synch, too.

At bottom left are three SB-800's, one of which is always used as a key light and keeps a 1/4 CTO warming gel permanently attached. You'll remember I said five lights -- that's three speedlights, the pop-up on the D300 (which make a great on-axis fill in a pinch) and whatever ambient is available for my photo. Always consider the ambient as a additional light source.

The last major item is a netbook -- a neat little Acer Aspire One which I picked up for $325 on Amazon. It has a (tiny) solid state hard drive, runs a very stable Linux, and has proven to be quite reliable.

I won't be using this for image processing. It is just for email, website upkeep and Skyping with the house sitter, etc. Speaking of that, I will only have limited net access on the road, so please hold off on all but the absolute most urgent messages until I return. I hope to moderate comments at least once a day, but we'll see how the net access goes.

Next to the netbook is a small 250GB hard drive, a card reader and about 40Gb worth of compact flash cards. I will use the netbook to move the complete shoots onto the portable HD, and keep a second copy of only the loose edit of the best stuff on the cards, erasing all of the crap as I go after offloading to the HD. There is no better way to conserve space than to erase crap as you go.

This gives me one copy of everything -- utter crap and loose edits -- and two copies of anything that has any potential at all. And the second copy of the edits (on the CF cards) is more stable than a second HD.

Starting at left and working right are various power and connector cords, and a set of earbuds for my iPhone and Skyping. My backup for net access is the iPhone, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. Hard to work down a pile of emails quickly with an iPhone. On the two AC cords (netbook and D300 charger) I used Honl speed straps as cable ties, getting me a little double duty there, too.

In the center up top is a Honl shorty and two spaghetti snoots. Dead center are Pocketwizards -- just two, as I can sync the other SB's with their built-in slaves.

Next door is a charger (and extra batt) for the G9, and a small barn door for the SB's. The G9 will take up zero space, as Susan will be carrying that as her camera. (Heh.) Tucked next to the PWs is a dual-point Sharpie, with 2 feet of gaffer's tape wrapped around it. I have no idea what I will use this for at this point, but experience tells me I will almost certainly use it.

The (strapped) stand kit includes a single shoot-thru umbrella, and is held together by two ball bungees, which I am sure will find several more uses during the trip. The stand will work on it's own, but I also expect to use it as a voice-activated boom. The whole thing is light, so all I need is a scrounged helper to save the weight and space of a real boom.

At top right are two more light mods -- a Ray Flash (because it is the smallest of the ring flash adapters) and a LumiQuest SB-III. Having second thoughts on the ring -- might leave that here. Between the snoots, umbrella and the SB-III, I can get a variety of looks while taking up very little space.

Last but not least are two Justin Clamps, which don't pack so well. But they are very useful, so hard not to include. I saved the space in the bag by clamping them onto the strap on the outside.


Advice From a Real Travel Photographer

... which would not be me.

I love to travel and shoot, but Bob Krist is the real deal. His first travel assignment for National Geographic was documenting the separation of Pangea into the five continents that we all recognize today.

Bob has shot travel professionally for the last 30 years, and wrote the book(s) on the subject. His latest is Travel Photography: Documenting the World's People & Places. If it were a college course would best be described as a Survey of Travel Photography.

It is a cover-the-bases book which takes a systematic look at travel photography, from what gear to pack to shooting advice to digital asset management on the road. It is aimed at amateurs, and not so technical when it comes to photographic technique. There is a chapter on light, and some material on off-camera flash, but its strength is that it allows you to be sure you are considering everything.

We sometimes bore down so far into our specific areas of interest that we miss the forest for the trees. The thrust of this book is that it will keep you from completely screwing up the photos from a big trip because of some dumb little thing you would fail to consider.

If you travel a lot and want a look into a long-time pro's approach to travel shooting, it is well worth a read. But I also have been using it as the answer to friends and family members who have asked me for photo advice before a big trip. Those are exactly the guys who are likely to miss something critical (like on-the-road image backups, for example) and Bob covers all of the bases.

If you are already a digital photography stud you might find this book a little basic. For those folks, I would steer them to an earlier book, Spirit of Place, which can be hard to find now. But even then, if you have a friend who is heading out on a big trip I can't think of a nicer thing to do for them than to point them to Bob.

Choosing Cases and Carts

You can't exactly put this stuff in your pocket. And what you get to carry it around will be largely driven by, well, what you care carrying around.


Location Speedlights

Most of you will end up using two small lights with stands and mods and a modest bag of camera gear. Not that there's anything wrong with that. You can do a ton of cool stuff with two speedlights. I have gone far past that level of gear in the past, and often to my regret.

If that's you, grab the shoulder-slung camera bag of your choice. Then augment it with this:



The LumoPro Padded Lighting Case is cheap ($30), lightweight, protective and perfect for a two-speedlight lighting kit. It'll carry two compact stands, speedlights, mods and various doo-dads perfectly.

Note, it might feel a little big if you are using a one-light kit. After all, a one-light, all-compact kit could probably fit in a chess bag. But the various additional "necessaries" all take up space. Or if you want to bring along a full-sized stand, or a larger light mod like a 60" Softlighter, you'll appreciate the extra room.


Camera Systems



For traveling with cameras, for protection and convenience I'd take a serious look at ThinkTank bags.

Basically, you can't go wrong with ThinkTank. They are fantastic: well-researched, well-designed and well-built (and frequently updated by the thinking photographers who design them.) I have several, absolutely love them and I recommend them without reservation. You can get anything from an SD card wallet to a rolling coffin.

For a camera/laptop backpack (not a roller) I'd suggest looking the Airport Essentials case, which is pictured just above. It's my desert island gear carrier. As a Fuji shooter, it doubles as a carry all and go-to travel bag for me. By far, it's my most-used travel case.

If you are a DSLR shooter, you might want to step up to something a little bigger/deeper. But I actually like that the Essentials case forces me to winnow down my gear a bit when traveling.

Still, it holds a good amount of stuff, very securely. It's also the perfect size to curl up with on a plane in coach. Just put it on your lap, wrap your arms around it and rest your head atop it on that Toys-R-Us pillow they give you. That's the best way I know to sleep on a plane.

If you need more capacity (or wheels) step up to any of ThinkTank's bigger rollers without hesitation. They are all solid choices. And again, as far as capacity they go pretty much from "mirrorless cameras" to "I need to move a body."


Studio Invasion



I hesitate to even bring this up. But one day you may find yourself looking at a pile of bags and light stand slings and rollers and you may start thinking, "I need a cart to do all of this in one trip."

Let me first say that I do not envy you. And second, also say that I have been there myself. Not full-blown McNally-ladened, but too much to carry in one trip. By a long shot.

When that day comes, you'll start thinking about a folding cart. And rather than endure all of the mistakes (and wasted money) that I did, I am going to suggest you go straight to a Rock-n-Roller MultiCart.

Why MultiCart? Solid build, folding, expand to a big size if needed, can be a dolly, can hold a board to double as a digital tech's desk on set—you name it. They rock. And roll.

They make several sizes, but I recommend either the R-8 (smaller) or the R-12 (bigger).

If you have not yet heard of them, that is because they were originally designed and marketed for the music industry. (Those guys hump a lot of gear around, too.) But increasingly, they have been adopted by backache-plagued photographers everywhere.

They are highly functional, versatile and built like tanks. Either of these will likely be the last cart you ever buy.

As a bonus, you will likely (and hopefully) use them more around the house than you even do for work. At least I hope so. Because it kinda sucks to travel with that much gear in tow every day.

But if you are gonna, this is your cart.


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