Portrait Lighting Troubles

I'm returning to portrait photography after nearly a twenty year break from it. "Back in the day" I used continuous lighting.

I now have a small studio area set up in my basement. My eldest son has been a great test subject for me as I work through different lighting setups with my speedlights.

My eldest son is now on a Caribbean cruise, and my husband and youngest son are not great subjects. They are now refusing to sit for me as I'm blinding them with my flashguns.

Okay. No one likes to be blinded. I get that. I have to make my setup more comfortable for my subjects.

I'm looking at either moving to a large continuous setup (using at least one these: http://strobepro.com …ar-1000w-continuous-light), and using my flashguns for hair lights, etc. Or, I might purchase at least one strobe with a modelling light (unsure of wattage).

One of the things I'm considering is that I have already made a considerable investment in my speedlights. My system is 100% Canon, and it is a mix of the new RF system and the built-in optical wireless system. I can't use both systems at the same time (it has to be one or the other), and what system I'm using depends on how many speedlights I have set up.

Is there anyway to use a strobe (wired or wireless) with either of my wireless flash systems?

This is the 400W of the brand I'll pick up if I go with strobes: http://strobepro.com …w-lcd-studio-strobe-flash. This is the 300W: http://strobepro.com …-300w-studio-strobe-light (but I think the modelling lamp is too low a wattage on that one).

I don't totally understand the triggering methods they're describing, or if it would be possible to use it in conjunction with my speedlights while making a minimal investment in extra gear.

Use 3rd-party triggers such as PocketWizards, Yongnuo or others.

Consider the fact that studio strobe is a fully manual power selection system. So use your speedlights in Manual mode as well, and think of them as if they were another 'studio strobe' system in use.
You can trigger the real studio strobe via PC cord
You can, in parallel, trigger the speedlight based lights with radio transmitter

Unfortunately there is no clue as to what model camera you use. If you have both a PC connector on the body, as well as the hotshoe on the top of the camera, doing the above is not a problem. If you have no PC conector on the body, you need a hotshoe-to-PC adapter in the camera hotshoe, like this one
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …sal_Hot_Shoe_Ad​apter.html
with the passthru of the ETTL signals so you can put the radio trigger into the adapter hotshoe.

When you raise the question, "one strobe with a modelling light (unsure of wattage)", I am not sure if you refer to strobe power, or you refer to modelling light wattage.

• As for strobe, you can get away fine with a very low power strobe, perhaps 100-200 Watt-seconds, for portraiture. If you are like most amateurs, and like to shoot portraits with large aperture for very shallow DOF, too much power prevents use of large apertures because the strobe outputs too much light!
  
• As for modelling light, if you shoot in a darkened room a 100W modelling light is OK, but it is easily overpowered by sun coming thru a living room window so you cannot see the effects of light placement. So I thing 150W is much begger. Pro units have 200-300W modelling lights.
  

Wilt wrote in post #17883122
Unfortunately there is no clue as to what model camera you use. If you have both a PC connector on the body, as well as the hotshoe on the top of the camera, doing the above is not a problem. If you have no PC conector on the body, you need a hotshoe-to-PC adapter in the camera hotshoe, like this one
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …sal_Hot_Shoe_Ad​apter.html
with the passthru of the ETTL signals so you can put the radio trigger into the adapter hotshoe.

Wow! Thank you, so much, for all of the great information! I'll go strobe.

I'm using my Canon 6D . . . so I'll just need the hotshot-to-PC adapter. I might even have one of those kicking around in my flash bag.

You can add a $44 Yongnuo YNE3-RX receiver to almost any strobe (AC, DC or speedlite) and add it to the Canon RT radio system, such that you can control it from an on-camera 600ex-rt, ST-E3-RT or 430exIII-rt. I mix speedlites and studio strobes on nearly every shoot (studio strobe for key light, 600ex-rt speedlites for kickers, hair, fill, etc.) The YNE3-RX receiver has a hotshoe for a speedlite to mount on it, a cold shoe underneath (and 1/4-20 tapped hole in it) to mount on your stand, and a PC-Sync port with a PC-to-1/8" mini plug cable to control a studio strobe via the strobe's SYNC input. Channels, Groups and 4-digit ID of the Canon RT system are fully supported.

Phottix Laso receivers can do the same thing, but are $100 each. Only benefit I can see is that they are smarter about going to sleep to conserve battery (YNE3-RX run down overnight if left on).

absplastic wrote in post #17883351
You can add a $44 Yongnuo YNE3-RX receiver to almost any strobe (AC, DC or speedlite) and add it to the Canon RT radio system, such that you can control it from an on-camera 600ex-rt, ST-E3-RT or 430exIII-rt. I mix speedlites and studio strobes on nearly every shoot (studio strobe for key light, 600ex-rt speedlites for kickers, hair, fill, etc.) The YNE3-RX receiver has a hotshoe for a speedlite to mount on it, a cold shoe underneath (and 1/4-20 tapped hole in it) to mount on your stand, and a PC-Sync port with a PC-to-1/8" mini plug cable to control a studio strobe via the strobe's SYNC input. Channels, Groups and 4-digit ID of the Canon RT system are fully supported.

Phottix Laso receivers can do the same thing, but are $100 each. Only benefit I can see is that they are smarter about going to sleep to conserve battery (YNE3-RX run down overnight if left on).

Awesome!

I'll use the PC sync hotshoe adapter until I can get a YNE3-RX ordered in.

Thanks again, everyone.

I picked up the 300W strobe, as the owner of the shop I picked it up at was concerned that the 400W might not actually dial down far enough for my tiny studio space. He also felt that I might have issues with the light bouncing off of walls and the ceiling with the 400W.

The 300W has an optical trigger, so I skipped the PC sync adapter and I'll just use optical for now. The downside to that is that I do need to actually trigger it with a flashgun, so I can't use the strobe on its own. I'll pick up the YNE3-RX when he has it in stock (it is something he normally carries, but he's out of them). With the Canadian dollar the way it is right now, ordering it in from the US won't be any great bargain.

I also picked up a new 36" octagonal soft box and a reflector arm.

Hopefully my test subjects will stop complaining now.

Just set the speedlight to 1/128 power (or whatever minimal power will trigger the strobe) and direct it away from subject or towards the strobe to trigger with minimal influence.

You can also further sensitize the optical sensor on the strobe by placing a mirror, white card... Aluminum foil near it to increase the optical sensors 'ability' to see. I've seen folks scotch taping a half a ping pong ball over the sensor to improve sensitivity.

Angmo wrote in post #17883589
Just set the speedlight to 1/128 power (or whatever minimal power will trigger the strobe) and direct it away from subject or towards the strobe to trigger with minimal influence.

You can also further sensitize the optical sensor on the strobe by placing a mirror, white card... Aluminum foil near it to increase the optical sensors 'ability' to see. I've seen folks scotch taping a half a ping pong ball over the sensor to improve sensitivity.

I had to crank the 600EX-RT to 1/16 power to get it to trigger the strobe. I'll try the aluminium foil or ping pong ball trick. I was able to kill the light from the flashgun and all ambient, but I did have to employ an absorber to the left of the subject.

I'm going to need a grid for the soft box I picked up for it, but I was able to turn out a pretty low-key image (I've been in a low key mood lately). So, I can work with it even though I'm not thrilled with my first attempts.

I'm not hearing a single complaint out of today's subject:

Little dude had lots of fun in front of the new softbox and strobe when he got out of school. He said "it doesn't blind me at all!"

He's a ham. I can't get anything serious out of him. I just let him do whatever he wants.

I have no idea how I'm supposed to rim light this kid. His older brother is easy . . . he'll sit still.