Studio... again!

[Steveo31]

Hey everyone...

I'm about to buy the White Lightning x800 (http://www.white-lightning.com/x800.html) for studio, slave, and portraits (indoor/outdoor) as well as a 24x36" softbox and stand. Now, I know a bit about Flash photography, but this is something new as it's not TTL (I know, I know...). I've never shot through the PC connector, nor metered from anything else but ambient/E-TTL.

So should I also invest in a handheld flash meter? I know a lot of this is going to take some experimentation, but always good to get your foot in the door ;)

[raztazor]

So should I also invest in a handheld flash meter? I know a lot of this is going to take some experimentation, but always good to get your foot in the door ;)

You will need a handheld flash meter as you will be shooting in manual up to the x-sync speed on your camera. All you do is set the ISO value into the flash meter and fire the flashes to get a reading for the f-stop. Key the f-stop into the camera and hey presto you have a perfectly exposed picture. If you change the position of the lights or reflectors then you should ideally take another flash meter reading. You can adjust the strobe's power output to change the f-stops if you want to experiment with DOF.

I would also recommend a remote firing trigger for the strobes that fits into the hot shoe of your camera as this saves another cable lying around.

I've attached a picture of my flash meter (with beautiful model). I used a snoot high up behind her on her right to slightly highlight her hair and a single light source with diffuser at about 45 degrees to her left. No reflector was used, hence the sharp shadows. This was a test shot and the model was playing around but I thought it would be quite useful to you.

I can't comment on the X800 flash unit as I've never used one but it looks good to me. You'll find the power range of 5 f-stops useful.

Finally, I'd recommend more than one light for indoor portraits maybe a snoot attachment as well and a reflector.