New to studio lighting, need a few q's answered.

Ok so lately I have picked up business wise and have been doing some natural light headshots for a few higher end clients in my area. Well one thing led to another and I'm close to lining up a contract for a major company and will be shooting over 100 employee headshots.

Obviously this is not goin to be done with natural light.

I have a budget of about $550.00 I want to spend on either :

1. 580 ExII

2. AlienBees, transmitter, reciever, and a softbox.


My question is what is the better course of action here. Also I have no idea about all these wireless triggers.

Can someone explain to me what exactly I'm looking at for one Alienbee, what will I need to fire this thing off wirelessly, links are appreciated.

Also what kind of softbox would I require?

Any reason I should just go with the dedicated speedlight?


Thanks everyone, and this will be used with a 5d markii.

There are at least 2 sellers of AB800 on POTN right now.
Get a big softbox, stand, trigger and reciever all available here: http://www.paulcbuff.c​om/
Get two of everything if you can afford it.
Will you be shooting indoors?
The speedlight will make you look like an amateur, even if you are not. Lets face it, pro gear implies pro results with this "major company".
Just curious:
How did you set your budget? It is limiting your options.
How did you price your services for this "major company"? Is it worth your time?

ChunkyDA wrote in post #14571348
There are at least 2 sellers of AB800 on POTN right now.
Get a big softbox, stand, trigger and reciever all available here: http://www.paulcbuff.c​om/
Get two of everything if you can afford it.
Will you be shooting indoors?
The speedlight will make you look like an amateur, even if you are not. Lets face it, pro gear implies pro results with this "major company".
Just curious:
How did you set your budget? It is limiting your options.
How did you price your services for this "major company"? Is it worth your time?

Yes it will be shot indoors.

As far as the budget it's not set yet, I have a meeting coming up in a few weeks with them to disscuss how we are goin to go about doing all of this.

Trust me this is def worth my time, I wouldnt sell myself short on something like this. It honestly came to me by dumb luck. Was shooting a headshot of a ceo and next thing you know we hit it off and he has me booked for the next month. Then from there he introduced me to alot of his real estate friends and I've been doing some nice real estate jobs as well. Business for me is picking up to the point I don't have a free moment anymore, and trust me i'm not complaining. I just know next to nothing about studio equipment, I have used it but have yet to invest in my own. I know I want the set up from the http://www.paulcbuff.c​om/ site. I'm just trying to figure out what the difference in the prices mean. I just need something that will enable me to pull this off and with the check cut from that project I'll be able to invest heavily into the best gear.

The only reason I'd pick a speedlight over a larger "studio" strobe is if extreme portability was a requirement. If you're shooting in doors and you're not going to need a battery, a monolight is a good option. Check out some other brands before you make your decision because purchasing lighting for the first time is like purchasing a camera for the first time; you're buying into a system and with all the modifiers and accessories, if can be expensive to switch.

I shot headshots for someone this past weekend with only speedlights. Used 3 of them. Here's a shot from the set.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.digitalmacd​addy.com …216104&k=7L6Vxn​c&lb=1&s=A

I would get a Bee or two and use a wire to one and slave the other if you are indoors and not moving around.

Note tho that with speedlights you only look like an amateur to other "strobists".

My last company had 40+ people profiled by a pro who used 0 lights and 1 reflector (I'm sure he had backup gear in the car tho).

Note that with studio strobes you look like a pro to everyone

ChunkyDA wrote in post #14576466
Note that with studio strobes you look like a pro to everyone

LOL
Plus with studio strobes you get free admission to the "Platinum Tier" threads here - meaning the ones dealing with studio strobes and the related sophisticated stuff.....

ChunkyDA wrote in post #14571348
There are at least 2 sellers of AB800 on POTN right now.
Get a big softbox, stand, trigger and reciever all available here: http://www.paulcbuff.c​om/
Get two of everything if you can afford it.
Will you be shooting indoors?
The speedlight will make you look like an amateur, even if you are not. Lets face it, pro gear implies pro results with this "major company".
Just curious:
How did you set your budget? It is limiting your options.
How did you price your services for this "major company"? Is it worth your time?

So Joe Mcnally look like amateur most of the time

Are you Joe McNally? Do people pay to attend your seminars? Of course lighting can be done with speedlights. My comment is related to AltgnJoey looking like a pro. I have no ides if his results will speak for the effort.

Why do you need to go wireless? Save that money and get a second AB, which will trigger from the first AB firing. Do you have a light meter?

Kaljam wrote in post #14577430
Why do you need to go wireless? Save that money and get a second AB, which will trigger from the first AB firing. Do you have a light meter?

Because potato!

Wires suck. Less to trip over and ultimately more convenient as set of triggers be. A person doesn't have to purchase PWs.

I did roughly 40 corporate headshots in 1 day a few months ago. It was brutal. Luckily I didn't have much post to do. I used 2 speedlights ( 1 shoot through for fill, 1 bounce for key) and a reflector (as needed). I have a Flashpoint background stand that sets up / tears down pretty quickly. I also carry around a fold up stool ( picked up at Target for about $15)

Here is one of the results. I remember him well. He's an old cowboy and when he approached the stool he said "I even cleaned out the horsesiht under my nails for this".

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lukx wrote in post #14576867
So Joe Mcnally look like amateur most of the time

^^^^^
I like...

chadci wrote in post #14583255
I did roughly 40 corporate headshots in 1 day a few months ago. It was brutal. Luckily I didn't have much post to do. I used 2 speedlights ( 1 shoot through for fill, 1 bounce for key) and a reflector (as needed). I have a Flashpoint background stand that sets up / tears down pretty quickly. I also carry around a fold up stool ( picked up at Target for about $15)

Here is one of the results. I remember him well. He's an old cowboy and when he approached the stool he said "I even cleaned out the horsesiht under my nails for this".

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And this was a husband and wife who are also a "team". He wore his toupee for the picture against my telling him not to as he doesn't wear it on a daily basis.

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Granted, they're far from perfect, everyone was pleased and I learned a lot. Studio strobes would of been a lot easier to work with, especially just to have modeling lights but speedlights did ok in a pinch.

The subjects seem a bit underexposed in the second shot. The first one is fine except that the subject falls into the background a bit. Needs more separation from the background in both shots.