Portable studio using speedlights

I take occasional portraits with multiple flash units (manual mode) and umbrellas. I don't have a light meter, but I've never had a problem getting the exposure right. I just test, chimp, and adjust accordingly.

I meter would help, especially for setting main/fill ratios. I'll get one someday, but I don't think the lack of a meter should stop anyone.

Anyone who wants to get creative with multiple flash units should check out the Strobist blog. David Hobby has developed quite a following, teaching people to light, and he rarely mentions meters.

With film, a light meter was a necessity unless you had a polaroid back for previewing your lighting. With the cost of polaroid film, and the 70 second wait for each preview to develop, a light meter would save you time and money.

With digital, a light meter isn't essential for learning since you can preview your lighting changes as you go. Its nice to have if you have a complex light setup, but certainly not needed to learn lighting at all. As long as you can preview the image to see what adjustments are needed, you're all set.

I would put a light meter on the list 'after' getting a two or three light setup, some light modifers, etc.

On speedlight modifiers, they are very easy to make. Grids, snoots, diffusion, etc, so it shouldnt' be much of a limitation for a DIYer. For my lightweight location kit, its all speedlights, and I've got excellent light control with DIY grids, snoots, diffusion panels, etc, and the softbox mounting kits. The www.Strobist.com website, and his group on Flickr have many examples of home made modifiers that work excellent. I generally don't recommend speedlights because it costs you more than a similar monolight setup. But if you already have a few, you can do wonders with it.

I use my 580ex's all the time for both studio and on location lighting. I have the Impact stands and umbrellas that B&H sells as an accessory to the 580ex. I really like this setup and have had no issues with lighting this way. You can either use them in manual and create your own ratios, or use them in full e-ttl and let the computer brains do the work for you. The impact umbrellas work nicely to soften the light. I usually leave one flasa on the camera for control purposes and turn it off, although occasionally I leave it on and just aim it at the ceiling or behind me to add a little extra fill. As others have said the advantge to the system is the extreme portability. Very easy to take outdoors or to events and have it set-up and ready to go in only a few minutes. The e-ttl features and ratioing capabilitites can really make its use a no-brainer for quick work. i would post some pics, but I am typing from my work computer and don't have any examples handy.

Long and short is don't be afraid to move ahead with a speedlite set-up. Is it a replacement for studio strobes? No..but it can be a great set-up for anything from portraits to small groups and give high quality results.

AdamJT, do you trigger your flashes via cable or infrared?

Since he's talking about "leave one flash on the camera for control purposes and turn it off" and "use them in full e-ttl and let the computer brains do the work for you", I'd say he uses Canons wireless ...

Yes I do use the Canon wireless. Works well indoors and at short distances outdoors.

TXLEBER wrote in post #2861418
Interesting....out of all the threads I've read, not one has said that a light meter was a must have. Could you elaborate on why?

Thanks!

How else would you know how to control the different strobes? They need to each be metered separately if you want to be able to apply any creative approaches. There is no other way to measure them but with a light meter. I think many people starting out on a budget try to go with a "trial and error" approach, but this is very difficult to be consistent and repeatable with. It can also be very frustrating if you are trying to learn.

I'd also suggest you get a good book on studio lighting first to understand what I'm talking about. Maybe get the book first and that might help you decide what you want to get. The best one I've found is Amherst Press's "Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers" by Christopher Grey. It does a great job of explaining studio lighting in basic terms and then giving you real examples where they build up the lighting in a situation and show you the effects along the way.

Of course this all assumes you aren't going to set the Speedlites on ETTL and just let them figure things out.

convergent wrote in post #2868841
How else would you know how to control the different strobes?

Very easily, look at the LCD! Turn on your main light and take an educated guess for the setting. Take an exposure and look at the LCD. Too dark, turn up the strobe or open up the aperture. The reverse if its too bright. Once you dial that in, turn on the fill light and repeat the process. Then do the hair light, etc. Once you do it a few times and become comfortable with it, you'll setup your lighting and be able to pretty much guess at a decent exposure, and just tweak the lights accordingly, even on complex and creative setups.

Most entry level people I teach lighting to usually can't afford a flash meter at first. So I teach them how to setup lighting without using one, and they all do fine. Only after they can setup the lighting without a meter, do I introduce one and show them how to use it. If someone is a formula based photographer (ie, main light at f8 softbox, hair light at f11 snoot, fill at f5.6 softbox), I can see how a light meter would be very important, if not required. But I find formula based shooting far from creative to begin with.

By the way, I also recommend Christopher Gray's book. Another good one is Michael Grecco's book, which takes portrait lighting a step further and goes into many more creative and darmatic techniques for portraiture.

Well I guess we'll agree to disagree. Learning lighting is all about ratios and such. There is no way that you can discern a ratio from an LCD, and in fact I don't even recommend using the LCD for exposure without the complexity of strobes. If you are using strobes, there are multiple different exposures to be concerned with, and the sooner the mind goes to multiple exposures and ratios, the sooner they'll have any idea what they are doing. Its certainly possible to get a nice picture without a meter, but I think starting out learning the basics is the best approach. Given the choice of two strobes and no meter, or one strobe, a meter and a reflector... I'd recommend the latter.

sfaust wrote in post #2870059
Very easily, look at the LCD! Turn on your main light and take an educated guess for the setting. Take an exposure and look at the LCD. Too dark, turn up the strobe or open up the aperture. The reverse if its too bright. Once you dial that in, turn on the fill light and repeat the process. Then do the hair light, etc. Once you do it a few times and become comfortable with it, you'll setup your lighting and be able to pretty much guess at a decent exposure, and just tweak the lights accordingly, even on complex and creative setups.

Most entry level people I teach lighting to usually can't afford a flash meter at first. So I teach them how to setup lighting without using one, and they all do fine. Only after they can setup the lighting without a meter, do I introduce one and show them how to use it. If someone is a formula based photographer (ie, main light at f8 softbox, hair light at f11 snoot, fill at f5.6 softbox), I can see how a light meter would be very important, if not required. But I find formula based shooting far from creative to begin with.

By the way, I also recommend Christopher Gray's book. Another good one is Michael Grecco's book, which takes portrait lighting a step further and goes into many more creative and darmatic techniques for portraiture.

I do agree that we'll probably not see eye to eye on this, nor should we. Both approaches work well, both are widely taught, and one doesn't preclude the other.

You are also right that you can't determine a light ratio on an LCD. Nor can you determine the light ratio from an image or print. But one doesn't need to either, and thats my whole point.

Lighting ratios are a measurement system used to convey lighting intensities, and thus lighting setups so that they can be understood verbally among people. Much like Kelvin values are used to describe the color of light. As photographers we all know what warm afternoon sunlight looks like. But only through Kelvin values can we precisely and accurately describe the same exact light to each other. Yet, even without knowing the actual Kelvin temperatures, photographer day in and day out recreate that lighting with gels and strobes. They do it visually, and not numerically.

So if a photographer doesn't need to verbalize that light quality to another person, they don't need to understand Kelvin values at all. All they need is to reference their visual interpretation of the light, and with a few minutes of experimentation with the appropriate gels, presto, late afternoon sun.

The ratio of a shadow to the highlight isn't important, as long as the photographer knows how to adjust the strobe to achieve that effect that they are holding in their minds visually. If they want deep shadows, its well within any photographers capabilities to use the slider on strobe to remove lighting from the side they wish to create shadows on, and check it visually. They won't be able to describe it as a specific ratio, but they can easily match it their pre-visualization just as one can determine if a glass is half full visually without a unit of measure, and recreate it visually as well.

Some people learn better visually, and others learn better with formulas and setups. Eventually they will learn both, but the order is best determined by the individual photographer.

But to say one can't learn to light, and do it creatively without learning ratios is shortchanging a lot of very good photographers out there.

This was done without a light meter. I have no idea what the main/fill ratio was, but I bet I could recreate it without a lot of fuss.

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