Share your lighting setups!

[IShootPeople]

I've got an idea buzzing about in my head that I want to work on in the near future, but it will require a small tabletop lighting set up - a mini studio, I suppose. That got me thinking, though, about what the rest of you brilliant photographers have as a set up. I've seen just some incredible studio-controlled lighting shots on this forum, so I would LOVE to see what you use as a set up, and the images that you have produced from there!

Kim

[nimitzbenedicto]

Hi Kim,

Perhaps you can give us an idea of your present set-up and lights you're using.
Plus some pix so far.

I'm interested in your thread because I'm just starting out with flash lighting.

Thanks

Vic

[dubaiphil]

A basic and portable speedlight based setup for me:

Nikon SB700 x 2
Nikon SB600 x 1
Pocketwizard MiniTTi x 3
Pocketwizard Flex x 1
Pocketwizard AC3 Zone Controller x 1
Lastolite Ezybox Softbox 30" x 2
Lastolite Umbrella kit 40" x 1
Various reflectors, snoots, gels, flags etc

[RustBeltRaw]

I shoot mainly action with a pair of 580EX II remotes (at maximum zoom) on Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 radios and a 600EX-RT on the shoe (mounted atop the transmitting radio) for fill light. Gels are crucial for whatever flash application you have in mind. Since you can match the ambient white temperature, they make it much harder to tell that you added light. Auxiliary battery packs are critical to keeping the cycle speed up and makiing sure your lights can last a full night.

Mine's a pretty chunky setup - hard to maneuver - and partially driven by the need to switch between long-range action shooting and short range crowd portraits (post-bout celebrations) in seconds. But it gives me shots like this.

[rpcrowe]

I basically use this setup for my dog portraits...



I will soon be shooting a great number of ladies purses which were donated to our organization for a "Purses for Pooches" fund raising event. We will sell the purses on eBay and the proceeds will go towards our American Maltese Rescue activities. I plan to use basically the same setup except that I have an assortment of various colored fleece material for the background and will use a color that complements or contrasts with the purse for the image. And, of course, I will include a WhiBal card to get my colors right for the purses...

Many photographers recommend shooting a group of images, like the purses, in JPEG rather than in RAW. However, I always shoot RAW. I like the control that I have when post processing in Camera RAW. IMO, it is easier for me to shoot RAW than shoot JPEG. This is especially true if I need to correct some distortion.

[nimitzbenedicto]

I shoot mainly action with a pair of 580EX II remotes (at maximum zoom) on Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 radios and a 600EX-RT on the shoe (mounted atop the transmitting radio) for fill light. Gels are crucial for whatever flash application you have in mind. Since you can match the ambient white temperature, they make it much harder to tell that you added light. Auxiliary battery packs are critical to keeping the cycle speed up and makiing sure your lights can last a full night.

Mine's a pretty chunky setup - hard to maneuver - and partially driven by the need to switch between long-range action shooting and short range crowd portraits (post-bout celebrations) in seconds. But it gives me shots like this.

Wow! Sharp and clear shot. Your setup sure is spot on.

Btw, watching the recent wimbledon on tv, the broadcaster mentioned something about flash no longer allowed and so too with other sports. Just wondering if they still allow flash there.

Thanks

[shreds]

I shoot mainly action with a pair of 580EX II remotes (at maximum zoom) on Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 radios and a 600EX-RT on the shoe (mounted atop the transmitting radio) for fill light. Gels are crucial for whatever flash application you have in mind. Since you can match the ambient white temperature, they make it much harder to tell that you added light. Auxiliary battery packs are critical to keeping the cycle speed up and makiing sure your lights can last a full night.

Mine's a pretty chunky setup - hard to maneuver - and partially driven by the need to switch between long-range action shooting and short range crowd portraits (post-bout celebrations) in seconds. But it gives me shots like this.

Just love the fascial expressions!

[nimitzbenedicto]

Just love the fascial expressions!

Hi,

Did you mean
Merriam-Webster online dictionary;

or fa·cia British : the dashboard of an automobile
— fas·cial adjective
See fascia defined for English-language learners »

can't seem to find "fascial" .
?

Thanks

[RustBeltRaw]

...the broadcaster mentioned something about flash no longer allowed and so too with other sports. Just wondering if they still allow flash there.

Can't say I've shot Wimbledon recently. But since it's outdoors in bright sunlight, and you'd have to place the flash pretty far away, you'd need a monstrous unit - probably a big studio flash with an extender. I believe some basketball shooters use lights up in the rafters to shoot players leaping for the basket, and ditto for football shooters with end zones. I suspect the problem's greater for tennis than most other sports.

Derby is not a professional sport, so photography rules are variable. Most leagues are okay with small flash, including Detroit. Players are mostly looking into the track, so they're not staring directly at the lights. I always tell new leagues that I'll shut down my flashes if they bother players, but the only "complaint" I've had was a league that asked me to move a flash out of a high-traffic area. The real Holy Grail is shooting from center rink!

[inkista]

I've used a trash can!





Sheaffer Touchdown.
Canon Powershot G9. @16.8mm (~75mm equiv.), iso 80, f/5, 1/125s.
Canon 430EX and 580EX triggered by on-camera ST-E2, Nikon SB-26 triggered by built-in optical slave.
$1.99 Ikea "Fniss" used as a light tent. [inspired by Ming Thein's setup for watch shooting].

Of course, that was the cheap gear. I scraped up the $10 to get myself a Sortera, for this shot:


Waterman 92. "moss agate"
Canon XT/350D+EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM Macro.
430EX and 580EX triggered with ST-E2. iso 100, f/2.8, 1/200s.

But with this shot


Parker Vacuumatic.
50D. EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM Macro. iso 400, f/11, 1/30s.
430EX and 580EX triggered with Yongnuo RF-602 triggers.

I pretty much didn't use a light tent--too restricting. Had the 580 on a stand with an umbrella, and used the 430EX bare and zoomed as tight as possible to get some nice shiny specular highlights.

[xpatUSA]

Heavy tracing paper, two LED 30deg floods, Philips TL950 overhead fluorescent, Panasonic GH1.




eBay shot - no composition or IQ needed ;-)

[PRSearls]

Here is my indoor flower setup. Pretty basic using a single soft box, a white foam core reflector and another one (usually black) for the background. I often use stack-focused images to get the detail I want using a 180 mm macro. The old Speedotron provides plenty of light. This image was white balanced for the room's tungsten lights; the strobe's daylight output gave the black foam core a bluish hue.



The final result, white balanced for the strobe.

[HenkB]

From 2 1/2 years ago. Just practicing on the morning cup of coffee with a single-flash scheme that seems to work for small objects. The flash is at the left and a reflector is placed at the right. A diffuser is placed between the flash and object so that the beam is cut off from the object, but no more. The greater light seems to come in from the right but the source is to the left. The direction of the preponderance of light brings out the texture of the milk froth and creme rather nicely. SB-800 in SU-4 (Nikonspeak for slave) mode triggered by an on-camera SB-600 in manual at very low level pointed at the ceiling which makes a negligible contribution to the exposure. Since getting inexpensive but reliable radio triggers I have seldom used optical slaving. Both camera & source flash set to manual. If you were to accuse me of an unhealthy fascination for doing more with less, I wouldn't have much of an argument to make.



Pull-back

[pnodrog]

A very interesting informative and practical thread.

[IShootPeople]

Wow, thank you everyone! I love seeing how different everyone's set ups are, yet they all produce such wonderful results.

I want to play around with some controlled lighting situations, mostly for flower, smoke and some glass photography. I just have some ideas dancing about in my head that will take me a little time to work through the concept of. Once I get my ideas down, I'm going to start gathering my supplies. Your posts have given me some great ideas on set ups, thank you!