Need to stop action with which flash? Canon or Alien Bee?

kymira wrote in post #16958486
thanks clearing that up

So let me get this right the B400 has a faster duration the higher the power, And is the opposite for speed lights?

How do I counter overexposure at higher power on the B400?

ABs and other voltage controlled strobes have longer flash duration as power is reduced. (Go to AB website, it has good specs on this for each light.)

Speedlites, along with a few studio strobes such as Einsteins) use IGBT to control power. This delivers shorter flash durations as power is reduced. Again, the Buff website has good specs to illustrate this for the Einstein.

Speedlites follow a similar slop when reducing power. If you want to stop water droplets etc. Your best bet is one or more speedlites at 1/4 power or less. Set things up so the ambient exposure is at least three EV lower than you plan to use for the droplet shots. Easiest way to do that is max x sync shutter speed. Low ISO and aperture around F8.

Speedlite at 1/4 power without a modifier will probably be enough light at a comfortable working distance. When I've done similar shoot the lights have been about 2 feet from the subject.

Here's a shot at 1/5000 sec, 135mm, f/5.6, and ISO 1600

HSS was used. 600 EX-RTs were used for the key, fill, and rim lighting. If you are just using one speedlight, pre-focus and keep the studio fairly dark. You shouldn't need to go nearly this fast on the shutter speed.

IMAGE LINK: http://s137.photobucke​t.com …14/ZIVN4549-Edit.jpg.html

IMAGE LINK: http://s137.photobucke​t.com …/ZIVN4549-Edit-2.jpg.html

In the above example, since HSS was used the 1/5000 second was the only action stopping resource. In the close up you can see that there is motion blur with the sand and to some extent the club head.

Slowing the shutter down to x sync, presuming the ambient was sufficiently low, and given the ISO I'd say it was, the speedlites at lower power setting could very well provide even better stopping power.

Here is a LINK that describes the flash duration of a 580EXII. 600EX-RT should be similar. Notice that at 1/4 power its 1/4000 and at 1/8 power its 1/9000. And gets faster from there.

losangelino wrote in post #16958521
combination of these: narrow aperture, low ISO, distance or direction of light and or nd filters (on lens or light).

thanks, very strait forward appreciate it.

Zivnuska wrote in post #16959499
Here's a shot at 1/5000 sec, 135mm, f/5.6, and ISO 1600

HSS was used. 600 EX-RTs were used for the key, fill, and rim lighting. If you are just using one speedlight, pre-focus and keep the studio fairly dark. You shouldn't need to go nearly this fast on the shutter speed.

IMAGE LINK: http://s137.photobucke​t.com …14/ZIVN4549-Edit.jpg.html

IMAGE LINK: http://s137.photobucke​t.com …/ZIVN4549-Edit-2.jpg.html

Wow very nice shot. Was this done in a studio environment?

dmward wrote in post #16959415
ABs and other voltage controlled strobes have longer flash duration as power is reduced. (Go to AB website, it has good specs on this for each light.)

Speedlites, along with a few studio strobes such as Einsteins) use IGBT to control power. This delivers shorter flash durations as power is reduced. Again, the Buff website has good specs to illustrate this for the Einstein.

Speedlites follow a similar slop when reducing power. If you want to stop water droplets etc. Your best bet is one or more speedlites at 1/4 power or less. Set things up so the ambient exposure is at least three EV lower than you plan to use for the droplet shots. Easiest way to do that is max x sync shutter speed. Low ISO and aperture around F8.

Speedlite at 1/4 power without a modifier will probably be enough light at a comfortable working distance. When I've done similar shoot the lights have been about 2 feet from the subject.

dmward wrote in post #16961727
In the above example, since HSS was used the 1/5000 second was the only action stopping resource. In the close up you can see that there is motion blur with the sand and to some extent the club head.

Slowing the shutter down to x sync, presuming the ambient was sufficiently low, and given the ISO I'd say it was, the speedlites at lower power setting could very well provide even better stopping power.

Here is a LINK that describes the flash duration of a 580EXII. 600EX-RT should be similar. Notice that at 1/4 power its 1/4000 and at 1/8 power its 1/9000. And gets faster from there.

Awesome.Thanks for all the links and info. I wont be using HSS like Zivnuska had in their golf shot, since my manual flash's aren't capable. But Im starting to get what you are saying. Im going to take your advice & try it out on 2 YN-560's on 1/4 power of less. I'll post back with my results.

kymira wrote in post #16962493
Wow very nice shot. Was this done in a studio environment?

It was done in a garage type environment with a large black drape in the background. BTW, it was water, not sand. The deformed droplets may be misinterprited as motion blur. Unfortunately, by the time I got my timing down, the young man had endured so much water spray that he started closing his eyes upon impact. It was a fun project, however!

I didn't really get the "splashes" I was hoping for, more like bubbles but I thought it was a pretty good learning experience. I think my mistake was not pouring it high enough to create impact.

The Canon 430 EXII has a t.1 duration of about 1/10000th of a second at 1/64th power according to this website: http://www.khousen.com …5bc68796521a7d2​f3c-1.html. The YN-560II seemed pretty comparable to that at the same power level and slightly shorter at 1/128th. I've tried them both with high speed shots and am making these assumptions based on the amount of blurring I saw.

So, it's more than enough speed to freeze falling water...but unfortunately not enough speed to stop something travelling faster than the speed of sound.

These pictures were all taken with a YN-560II at 1/128th power. The bullets were leaving the muzzle at an average of 1200 feet per second and only traveled 12 inches before hitting the objects. You can see that the debris was faster than the flash can freeze and can also see a little silvery blurry object which was the bullet too. But the pictures also show how you can use only the flash to stop motion. I had my camera set to take 2 second exposures for both of these:

patrick023 wrote in post #16964137
The Canon 430 EXII has a t.1 duration of about 1/10000th of a second at 1/64th power according to this website: http://www.khousen.com …5bc68796521a7d2​f3c-1.html. The YN-560II seemed pretty comparable to that at the same power level and slightly shorter at 1/128th. I've tried them both with high speed shots and am making these assumptions based on the amount of blurring I saw.

So, it's more than enough speed to freeze falling water...but unfortunately not enough speed to stop something travelling faster than the speed of sound.

These pictures were all taken with a YN-560II at 1/128th power. The bullets were leaving the muzzle at an average of 1200 feet per second and only traveled 12 inches before hitting the objects. You can see that the debris was faster than the flash can freeze and can also see a little silvery blurry object which was the bullet too. But the pictures also show how you can use only the flash to stop motion. I had my camera set to take 2 second exposures for both of these:

Im still learning the technical side of things, Can I ask why you chose a 2 sec exposure and how it generally effects shots like these.

kymira wrote in post #16964157
Im still learning the technical side of things, Can I ask why you chose a 2 sec exposure and how it generally effects shots like these.

I was shooting in my back yard at night so there wasn't enough ambient light to affect the exposure. I chose a 2 second exposure so I'd have extra time to aim and pull the trigger after clicking the button on my remote shutter release.

kymira wrote in post #16964049
I didn't really get the "splashes" I was hoping for, more like bubbles but I thought it was a pretty good learning experience. I think my mistake was not pouring it high enough to create impact.
...............

I used 2 Yongnuo 560's on each side about 2 ft from the subject. I believe the power was on 1/16, shot at f11- 200th/s @ iso100 (dark room w/ no ambient)
The lighting's a bit harsh but it wasn't really my main concern.

...............

Just a thought, but next time don't light it from the front; light it from behind the subject and let the light shine through. Or you can just light the background. This will get rid of the myriad specular highlights you have all throughout the liquid as well as getting rid of the one on the front of the glass. Bounce the light off of some white poster board or shoot it through some white diffusion material for softer, larger highlights as well.

ISO 100 f/5.6 1/160

patrick023 wrote in post #16964288
I was shooting in my back yard at night so there wasn't enough ambient light to affect the exposure. I chose a 2 second exposure so I'd have extra time to aim and pull the trigger after clicking the button on my remote shutter release.

ahh. Makes sense.

Scatterbrained wrote in post #16964436
Just a thought, but next time don't light it from the front; light it from behind the subject and let the light shine through. Or you can just light the background. This will get rid of the myriad specular highlights you have all throughout the liquid as well as getting rid of the one on the front of the glass. Bounce the light off of some white poster board or shoot it through some white diffusion material for softer, larger highlights as well.

thanks, that's a great suggestion.

abbadon31 wrote in post #16964469
ISO 100 f/5.6 1/160

How many speed lights did you use and what power?

kymira wrote in post #16964512
How many speed lights did you use and what power?

That was done 12/7/10
2 one in a 4" octa as the white background and one in a gridded strip. I have no clue what power setting it was from 3 years ago.

abbadon31 wrote in post #16964633
That was done 12/7/10
2 one in a 4" octa as the white background and one in a gridded strip. I have no clue what power setting it was from 3 years ago.

thanks for sharing