New AlienBees set-up, pictures overexposed

Hey everyone, I just got my DigiBees kit yesterday, with a B400 and B800 config. I'm shooting with a Rebel XT, tethered to a laptop, Cactus wireless trigger tethered to my 430EXII. Lights are configured as such: 430EXII at 1 o'clock, B800 at 4 o'clock and B400 at 11 o'clock. All of the pictures i've been taking have been overexposed by about 2 stops. I've never used strobes before so I'm completely new to the set-up and configuration. I played around with it for about an hour last night and was finally able to get it to about the rights levels, but the colors seemed to be a little washed out. Any suggestions on how to shoot it so I would have to do little PP on the pictures? Am I shooting with too many lights? Here's an example:

shot with 50mm 1.8
50mm, ISO 200, cropped and PP from 2 stops over, f1.8 @ 1/60"

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In the second pic, I ended up turning the strobe around and bouncing the light off of the back wall and ceiling to reduce the exposure, which seemed to work well on subsequent shots. I dropped all light levels to their lowest power 1/64, including the 430EXII. Maybe i'm just working to too small of a room, I dunno. I removed the umbrella from the B800 and added the grid to it. Overhead light was off during the first shot. I believe I did have it on during the second shot I posted though.

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With studio strobe you should shoot manual.
Set your speed at or below the max x-sync of your camera. If you don't want any ambient contribution be as close to the max x-sync you can. If you want some ambient, lower the speed to your taste. Speed will not change the strobe exposure (they are way too fast).

Then adjust your aperture for the proper dof you want. Then adjust your strobe power individually for proper exposure.

If you are limited by your strobe power, you can change your ISO, use ND, diffuser.

How are you setting the aperture on your camera? Are you using a light meter? And why is your shutter speed so low?

I'll bump up the SS. 200" is the x-sync speed i'm assuming, because everything over that shows the shutter. I'm using full M, not AV or TV. no light meter.

suggestions on a decent cheap light meter?

Without a flash meter you can use the LCD blinkies on your camera as a flash meter.

Set the lights to a power level that you think is right. Put a crumpled white paper towel in the scene, and expose at F11 at 1/200 or whatever is the camera's max X sync. If there are blinkies in the white, stop down 1 stop and shot again. If there are no blinkies open up 1/3 stop and shot again. if no blinkies, open another 1/3 stop. If blinkies appear close down 1/3 stop. That is the proper exposure for that lighting setup.

A flash meter is much better, but without one this method works well. Now, since you have found the proper exposure for the light, whatever you put into the scene will be exposed properly.

cool, thanks for the tip David.

That's a lot of light for an apple!

Definitely use your sync-speed or close to it, unless your have a specific need to drag the shutter. Any reason for ISO 200 as well? Go back to 100!

Not sure what distance you're at, but your DOF @ 185mm for f/8 at 5 feet away is like .4 inches / 1cm in front and behind your focal point.. so even in that instance, at f8, your apple doesn't much of a chance of being all in focus. I'd try at least f11 at that focal length /distance if you wanted all of the apple in focus.

Also, you may have done this, I don't know, but usually most people start with one light, then shoot, then add in others. If you've got every single light there on lowest power, it's probably an indication that you have too much light, or the light is too close in. I know it's fun to set up everything you've got, but less is usually more when it comes to lighting.

Is that Suze Orman?!

The best way to deal with multiple flash units is to get yourself a good light meter such as the Sekonic L-358. With that, you can read the light from each individual light (by triggering one light at a time) so you can set the levels to achieve a desired balance. This is something that's nearly impossible to do without a meter.

HAHA, yes that is her! My wife was watching Oprah with the Octomom and she was on there for a financial intervention... I can just imagine what she'd say to me if I were to call and ask her advice on getting the lights...

I did back off of one light, only used the B800 for a bit. Like you said, I'll have to play around with it. I was thinking I had too many lights, but then, I see other photogs with several lights and their shots come out nice. I'll try the B400 first.... when I go on site though, I may need both lights since the rooms will be bigger and won't be able to bounce off of any walls or ceilings... I'll just have to test... Practice, practice, practice. I'll probably try again tonight.

If you don't want to use a light meter, stay in manual mode, set your shutter to your max sync speed, your ISO to something low, and adjust your exposure via the aperture. Want more or less depth of field? Then adjust the power on your lights (or alter your ISO) and modify your aperture. Also, consider turning off two of the lights to see how the one remaining one is contributing to the exposure. Rinse and repeat for the remaining two lights. Then turn them all back on and make sure your shot is still properly exposed. Turn on highlight warning on your camera (aka, the "blinkies", although this may not be quite as important since you're shooting tethered).

As someone else pointed out above, your shutter speeds are VERY slow and you're probably letting some ambient light in. I'm guessing you probably don't want that. You can confirm that you've "killed ambient" by turning off all your flashes/strobes and taking the shot. If it's completely black, then you've killed ambient and your exposure is being completely determined by your flashes/strobes.

Thanks guys, I've got two weeks to get this right! Looks like I'm playing (shooting) every night..

Guesswork will always be guesswork unless you use the exact same setup every time with the same size subjects in the same position. That's not going to get you very far.

As others have suggested, get yourself a light meter and get it right every time with zero guesswork.

BrandonSi wrote in post #12030333
That's a lot of light for an apple!

My thoughts exactly! Cut out the core and add some sugar. After about 4 pops it should be done and ready to eat.

I needed a subject and the apple was the closest thing I had within arms reach.... it was delicious this morning!