Working with strobes, for the first time

[JennyJenna]

Hey everyone!! I need your help.

I work for a cosmetics section in a major chain of stores here in Canada. I was asked to do some "Glamor shots" of the customers that received make-overs.

I have never worked with lights before, I have REALLY wanted to learn, just never had the money to purchase any or take a course.

I have found a store that I can rent two strobes, with umbrellas and stands.

I know its not something you just learn over night, but is there ANY kind of advice you can give me? I have no choice but to train myself in the matter of one night. I wish I could afford to rent the lights ahead of time to get used to them.. *sigh*

I have a Canon Rebel XTi. What should I set my camera to? Any particular settings?

THANK YOU in advance!!

[Mark_Cohran]

You're best off posting this section in the Small Flash and Studio Lighting forum but here is some things to keep in mind:

1. When using strobes, exposure is determined by the aperture and the ISO. The shutter speed has no impact except in the contribution of ambient lighting. Your shutter speed will need to be set to some value below the strobe synch speed (usually 1/160th or less).

2. Your camera will need to set to manual exposure mode. You set the aperture, ISO and shutter speed that your want/need and adjust the power output of the strobes to give your the correct exposure either via reading your camera's histogram or via an incident flash meter. You can't use your camera's built in exposure meter since it only reads the ambient lighting.

3. With two lights and umbrellas you can get good shots, but realize that the light falls off quickly so if your background is too far from your model it is going to go dark if you don't light it separately. Also, you have to decide how you want to set up your lights - main and fill, glamour lighting (both equal power and to either side of the camera, etc. Also, this means your models have to stay within a fairly confined space so the exposure and the lighting remain constant from shot to shot.

4. The closer to your model and the larger the umbrella's the softer the light will be

5. Be careful of shadows. Use the modeling lights to detemine where they will fall.

6. Finally, you need to determine how you are going to trigger the strobes. I don't think your XTi has a PC connection for the strobe synch cable, so that means you'll need a hotshoe adaptor or a Pocket Wizard setup (or something similar).


There is so very much more that can be said about this and it's not something you can learn overnight. I certainly wouldn't try to learn to do this just prior to a paid shoot.

[freebird]

Since your window for learning is so small I would suggest maybe constant light and not flash . Find a diagram for main light/ fill , set it up and take a reading and see how it goes. Trust me Im very new to this as well but Im learning some..lol I hope anyways.

Good luck
Chuck

[FlashZebra]

Hey everyone!! I need your help.

I work for a cosmetics section in a major chain of stores here in Canada. I was asked to do some "Glamor shots" of the customers that received make-overs.

I have never worked with lights before, I have REALLY wanted to learn, just never had the money to purchase any or take a course.

I have found a store that I can rent two strobes, with umbrellas and stands.

I know its not something you just learn over night, but is there ANY kind of advice you can give me? I have no choice but to train myself in the matter of one night. I wish I could afford to rent the lights ahead of time to get used to them.. *sigh*

I have a Canon Rebel XTi. What should I set my camera to? Any particular settings?

THANK YOU in advance!!
You may need a camera hotshoe to PC adapter to attach a sync cord to.

Do not leave the place you are renting these units until you are sure you have a way to fire them from your camera.

Take you camera with you when you rent them and have the store actually hook the set up to your camera to confirm you can get basic sync using your Canon XTi.

Enjoy! Lon

[JennyJenna]

Ok, so.. Im really really glad I posted this. What kind of lights would you all suggest? If not strobes?

[freebird]

I would just ask if they have constant lights/hot lights. And they are hot to work in them but easy to use. No sync cords just light em take a reading of your subject and shoot. Check your histogram and adjust if needed. The closer your lights the softer the farther away the harder. Main shouldnt be any closer than 4 feet about 7 feet high... 45 degree to the side and feathered . fill next to camera about 7 feet high

Good luck to you.

[SkipD]

Jenny, you need to be sure that you handle the white balance properly for whatever type of light that you will be using or colors will be all wrong.