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Strobes vs Continuous Lighting
DemiM wrote: lmao... Jan 10 06 11:47 am Link 41 Jan 10 06 11:47 am Link JMX Photography wrote: Camera shake while using continuous light? Did you turn them on before you shot? Jan 10 06 11:50 am Link DemiM wrote: as if we couldn't have guessed that (guffaw) Jan 10 06 11:52 am Link lll wrote: Exactly. Jan 10 06 11:57 am Link DemiM wrote: More positivies in using strobes? Why because YOU said so? Bottom line is they are both good, it depends 100% on your needs and what you are shooting. There are times when strobes won't do the job and times when hot lights won't do the job, to say that either is better than the other is just amatuerish.....GWC....it just all depends. Jan 10 06 12:01 pm Link BasementStudios wrote: exactly! you also bring up a great point that many strobe users forget, most light modifiers are available for BOTH light sources--like soft boxes. the bulk of the ones for strobes were actually based things designed for hotlights. Jan 10 06 12:20 pm Link Brian Diaz wrote: Thanks Brian. Those are some of the issues I have been thinking about. The Speedlights (thanks for reminding me of the more specific term) are definately more portable and they are wireless which I see as another huge plus. Jan 10 06 12:49 pm Link Mastrianni wrote: Easy now...he shoots with strobes you don't want to piss off the GREAT PHOTOGRAPHER....gotta love those GWCs. Jan 10 06 05:21 pm Link DemiM wrote: GWC Jan 10 06 05:24 pm Link DemiM wrote: Jan 10 06 05:29 pm Link DemiM wrote: You sir are a plain idiot...I've never in my life heard such amatuer dribble in my life. You don't have to like a particular photographer's style to respect their work, that's just moronic. Jan 10 06 05:33 pm Link BasementStudios wrote: ...and their undying allegiance to AlienBees (sorry, can't help it). Jan 10 06 05:41 pm Link lll wrote: Yes they do...and the GWCs are giving them a bad reputation. Funny...seems the two always go hand in hand too. Jan 10 06 05:48 pm Link Photofurnace wrote: I don't mean to be a jerk about it, but you should start a new thread, as it is a new topic. I'll answer there. Thanks. Jan 10 06 06:14 pm Link BasementStudios wrote: yes. Jan 10 06 10:56 pm Link every image in my port was shot with hot lights, have to throw away at least half even with image stabilized lenses, they often seem very soft, switched to strobes and the difference was amazing, sharp, clear tight images, probably never go back to hotlights. Jan 11 06 12:26 am Link i have an idea, why don't you try both systems (rent them) and see which one YOU like better.  Jan 11 06 02:25 am Link johnny olsen wrote: Or just use the sun and not even reflectors, right, Johnny? Jan 11 06 02:48 am Link This question has boggled my mind for a while now. I have only been shooting for 2 years. I use white lightning which is manufactured by the same company as Alien Bees. A light is a light is a light. I dont think it really matters if you are using super expensive strobe equipment or alien bees. Just get the light modifiers to control your lights. Sometimes I think the grass is much greener in the hotlight field. I don't know because I have never owned any. With strobes you really have to previsualize everything. Even with the modeling light because it really does not look the same in the final outcome. I think strobes have worked well for me. The sun has worked wonders too. Both in combination have been ideal. I am not a mathematician and I can't tell you about wattseconds and light temperatures. I do know this: 1. Some of the best pictures I have ever taken were with my $200.00 Nikon film camera and a disk reflector. 2. Stobes have a tough learning curve but can be portable and invaluable to your photographic arsenal. 3. Damn I wish I had some hotlights! 4. I have seen amazing pictures from photographers where they had no disk reflector, no strobes, no hotlight and let the sun work its magic and still have amazing shots. 5. There is no right answer. Its just two different paths. They both lead in the same direction.  Good luck!Jan 11 06 03:14 am Link Brian Diaz wrote: MEMasonPhotography wrote: That depends on how many lights you're using, the wattage of each light, the distance from the lights to the model, the size, ventalation, and temperature of your studio, etc. I would like to see a video/film done with strobes...how might that happen? Of course they use hot lights, they dont have any other choice, they are not freezing a particular moment in time with a single frame. So that point is moot! Feb 07 08 10:23 pm Link There is an article in Professional Photographer Magazine this month about cont. lights. I just skimmed it so far. It had some pluses with the cooler greener versions on the market. I think that all 'green' item come at a higher cost these days. If they would lower the overall operating cost I might consider them. ImageManufacturing.com Feb 07 08 10:56 pm Link MEMasonPhotography wrote: A lot depends on what you are shooting, and what camera you are using. If you are doing anything that needs to freeze motion, you need to check the maxium flash sync speed of your camera if you want to use strobes. My Canon is 1/200 and the Nikon is 1/250. Should be in your manual. If you need to shoot over the flash sync speed of your camera, you should go with constant lighting. Normal studio apertures will run from f-5.6 to f-16, depending on the depth of field you need. There are occasions that you will shoot a wider aperture when you need to fuzz the background Feb 07 08 11:09 pm Link I use strobes on almost everything. However, I often like to drag hotlight or ambient light into the photo as well. I get sharpness where I want it and smoothness where I want it and rarely have to do any real retouching. Feb 07 08 11:18 pm Link Photofurnace wrote: I tried the "Portable Studio" using eight (8) of the Nikon SB800's and the SU-800 Wireless Speedlight Commander. They eat batteries, the intensity just isn't going to give you the light you need, and the infrared triggering has challenges when you have lights placed where they can't get a clear signal. It is difficult to set speed lights to the correct f-stop, and I am not aware of a flash meter that will trigger the lights. Decent studio lighting will allow you to adjust each light individually in 1/10 of a f-stop increment, and then meter the set to to the exact working aperture. If I thought the speedlight would work, believe me, I would use them. But, I went back to lugging around my soft boxes, stands, light generators and a 220v Honda generator. The SB 800''s were lighter. ;-) I sold six of the SB800's on eBay and kept two along with the SU200. I haven't usd them for probably over a year. They are great for what they are designed for, but not for a portable studio. Feb 07 08 11:35 pm Link As a long time strobe user, let me make a couple of points. First of all, if you get studio type strobes (Alien Bees, etc) they come with modeling lights. This is how you see what you're doing. If you get on-camera flash units and use them off the camera, you can jury-rig a modeling light by pointing a hot (150w) spot into the same umbrella, or pointed at the model. It'll work, but its clumsy and not perfect. Better to get a studio-type strobe, and trust me, it doesn't take long to learn to see it correctly (some units, like my Normans and others, have modeling light ratio buttons, so you can emulate the strobe ration with the modeling lights). Strobes are lighter weight as well: I cannot now imagine the burden of carrying and setting up and finding the power for hot lights in most professional situations. Hot lights are great for certain purposes, like doing frozen blur shots, where you need the ambient to make a blur motion, and then fire a strobe to freeze part of it to add some sharpness where you want it. Can't do it any other way than with a mixture of strobe and ambient. Here's a point no one's mentioned yet, and that is the color temperature of the two types of light. Unless you have HMIs, ambient light is warmer - 3200° or so, while strobes are natively in the 5500° to 6000° range. (If you don't understand what that is, no need to read further). When you're mixing light sources (using flash at sunset, trying to use hot lights outside during daylight, using lights indoors with working table lamps and light coming in through the windows), you have to think about filter for color temperature correction, and which light source makes the most sense. Frankly, I'd rather be putting a sheet of 85b over my strobes and windows, rather than a sheet of 80a over my hot lights and losing two stops. Of course some people don't care and just let the color temps fall where they may, and find the best mix in PS later, but I'm speaking from a purest point of view for educational purposes. Finally, to the folks who keep comparing using hot lights in the movie industry, let me remind you that 1) there are typically a lot of crew members to turn those lights off as soon as the camera stops rolling, 2) they bring truck-mounted generators to power those lights, and 3) the exposure reading for a movie camera is based on a shutter speed of 1/48th of a second (if I recall, its been a while since film school), which would be way too slow for most of us. If you ever look at a single frame of movie film, you'll find its not as sharp as you think it is when you see it on the big screen. The 24 frames per second of the film give you the impression of sharpness that isn't always there. Feb 07 08 11:36 pm Link I use both. Depends on what you're shooting and what sort of effect and look your after really. Hell, sometimes I use both strobes and hotlights at the same time! Weeeee! Why pigeonhole yourself into shooting with one style of lighting? Where's the creativity in that? Feb 08 08 12:37 am Link Oh ya, to whoever said that REAL photographers don't use hotlights....BWAHAHAHA!!!! That's rich... Feb 08 08 12:41 am Link Why would someone bump a thread that's over a year old when we have a similar one that started today? Many of the people you're responding to are not even around any more. https://www.modelmayhem.com/p.php?thread_id=246766 Feb 08 08 12:46 am Link JMX Photography wrote: This is the real advantage. I shoot ISO 100 to 200 and f7.1 to 13 all the time with strobes. It can not be done with hot lights. Feb 08 08 12:47 am Link Craig Thomson wrote: LOL! Feb 08 08 01:03 am Link MEMasonPhotography wrote: Depends on the mood or theme/style you are attempting to achieve...dont forget sunlight ...its cheap... Feb 08 08 06:11 am Link Dmitri Markine wrote: Really good photographer tend not to say stupid shit like this Feb 08 08 04:51 pm Link A year ago I would have ( and likely did) responded like this: Hotlights are great if you're new, have little to spend and want to see the light as you shape it. I still agree with that assessment, as I learned my rudimentary lighting on film sets watching DPs at work. If I were learning from scratch, I'd start with strobes. Lighting with hotlights is easý if you've mastered "seeing" light that isn't there with strobes and a meter. Feb 08 08 05:03 pm Link Dmitri Markine wrote: PMSL. Feb 08 08 05:05 pm Link Strobes vs. Continuous Lighting? I was actually wondering the same thing, so I set up an experiment. I made a ring of gasoline and inside the circle I put a 1000 watt Photoflex softbox which faced a Lumedyne 500 watt flash with a battery, then I lit the gasoline and rang the bell waiting to see which one came out on top. About 45 minutes later they still were just staring at each other, both too intimidated to fight I suppose. So I went over there and kicked them both over. Turns out I'm actually better than both of them. Who knew? Feb 08 08 05:42 pm Link Ok, for seriously now: These are shot with Strobes:      And these with a Hotlight:         Both are great tools. Jake Feb 08 08 05:46 pm Link Jake Garn wrote: So you're a part-time real photographer? (your style is ROCKIN'! my friend) Feb 08 08 07:02 pm Link Yet another example of a simple question falling of its own weight! Feb 08 08 07:05 pm Link MEMasonPhotography wrote: Your models will appreciate the strobes, and so will you. I once did some product shots for my uncle, and I used my cousin's continuous lights. The camera may put on 10 pounds, but those hot lights can take them away! That is not a recommended diet plan! Feb 08 08 07:08 pm Link |
