Test session / New gear test

Cheetah CL-600X / Cheetah 12ft Stand / Cheetah RB 120


A friend of mine was nice enough to come over and let me give the gear a test. I must say.... VERY HAPPY with the way the setup performed.

How I performed... not so hot. LOL Rusty... missed a bunch of stuff... bad framing... bad compositions... didn't adjust to allow for more DOF in certain situations... and on and on. So... it was still a success as I can now pay attention to the things I missed and only grow from here. It's been 3 years since my last shoot.

HSS was great! Being able to shoot past 1/200th a second without an ND filter.... worth every $ I paid for the strobe/setup.

All in all, it was a fun day out...not a complete wash.... I suppose. Still working on some shots...

Some shots...

1

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/GRdz​Ak

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/G2FS​B1

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/G2FS​DL

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/G2Mo​sc

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/GXcy​SB

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/G2Mo​qt

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/G2Mo​ug

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/G2Mo​ra

Great light for sure. I think shots like this need a bit of oof elements showing depth so I like the kids in the grass better. The first two look like there is a flat painting behind them.

Yes, HHS takes flash photography to the next level!

Also, i love the little boys Buckwheat hair!

DThriller wrote in post #17999234
Great light for sure. I think shots like this need a bit of oof elements showing depth so I like the kids in the grass better. The first two look like there is a flat painting behind them.

Thanks I can see what you mean about the 1st two shots. I think I'll shoot them @ F/4.0 next time out. Going for the new "trendy" term... cinematic portraits LOL

Thanks again,
Hatch

Micro5797 wrote in post #17999272
Yes, HHS takes flash photography to the next level!

Also, i love the little boys Buckwheat hair!

It's just nice to not have to mess with ND filters... I hated using them... HSS gives me that freedom now... so happy.

He is a handsome little guy.

Thanks,
Hatch

Looks great, I think you have what you were looking for.

So how are you determining your HSS output with this setup?

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #17999346
Looks great, I think you have what you were looking for.

So how are you determining your HSS output with this setup?

Very best,

Thank you.

Well... the thing with HSS , you are taking an educated guess. You can't meter for it... so... I think the easiest way is to set your exposure for the background... maybe exposed a little under even... a 1/3rd of stop... then take a couple of test shots with the strobe. Slowly increase the power output until you get the look you are want.

Hope this helps
Hatch

Hatch1921 wrote in post #17999374
Thank you.

Well... the thing with HSS , you are taking an educated guess. You can't meter for it... so... I think the easiest way is to set your exposure for the background... maybe exposed a little under even... a 1/3rd of stop... then take a couple of test shots with the strobe. Slowly increase the power output until you get the look you are want.

Hope this helps
Hatch

Heya,

All good, was just curious what method you were using, I use HSS on my 600ws strobe too and I like HSS since it makes things simple, but at the same time, can make it complicated to get exposure perfect without lots of chimping. I actually recently went back to using ND filters with my strobe for this reason (that and saving time, shooting kids, I don't have much time), because I can reliably meter and get exposure right without taking a single image. I too meter the scene, and I prefer to keep it near 1 stop below normal exposure, allowing more pop. All personal preferences though.

Very best,

I like the posts on your website! Very helpful to those of us who have not done any lighting setups before period. Extremely instructive and to the point!

MalVeauX wrote in post #17999380
Heya,

All good, was just curious what method you were using, I use HSS on my 600ws strobe too and I like HSS since it makes things simple, but at the same time, can make it complicated to get exposure perfect without lots of chimping. I actually recently went back to using ND filters with my strobe for this reason (that and saving time, shooting kids, I don't have much time), because I can reliably meter and get exposure right without taking a single image. I too meter the scene, and I prefer to keep it near 1 stop below normal exposure, allowing more pop. All personal preferences though.

Very best,

I can see where it can be tricky... it's a new workflow for sure. I'm use to the meter and ND filters... and 1/10th stops... this is going to take some practice, but, I can see where it's going to be a lot of fun as well.

werds wrote in post #17999383
I like the posts on your website! Very helpful to those of us who have not done any lighting setups before period. Extremely instructive and to the point!

Thank you I'm right in the middle of merging both sites... and updating content. I'll post the link as as soon as it is ready. Here's a sneak peak... http://frankhatcher.fo​rmat.com/ the URL will change when it is live.

Thanks again, glad you enjoy the diagrams.
Hatch

I really liked that you posted a 'without' shot at the end. It really shows the difference the artificial light makes. Well done.

Congratulations on your new gear and these results! Thank you for taking the effort to post your impressions and results. Real nice!

Haiku_P0et wrote in post #17999537
I really liked that you posted a 'without' shot at the end. It really shows the difference the artificial light makes. Well done.

Thank you. I really wanted to catch her cracking up/smiling... it wasn't happening. LOL She was determined not to smile the entire shoot LOL Once she got on her trike... she was happy. So... I figured I would try to capture some shots without the strobe.

Thanks again,
Hatch

silvermesa1 wrote in post #17999606
Congratulations on your new gear and these results! Thank you for taking the effort to post your impressions and results. Real nice!

Many thanks. So far... initial results from the gear... very positive. Will it last.... hopefully so. Appears to be well built... time will tell.

Thanks again,
Hatch