For you strobist guys, how the fck do you do it?! i got my sb600 workin wirelessly right now, it has a small softbox on it, and they still dont look any good. how are you guys doing it? aiming, settings, all the ****. help meh out

 

want to share some pictures?

 

Post some pics.

 

this one is pretty obvious as to where i placed my flash









and thats all after spending time in photoshop

 

using a single speedlight under those lighting conditions would be very hard to produce a good picture.

http://www.rigshots.com.au/howto3.htm

 

using a single flash and gettin even light is hard. i did this a couple months back by doing a 30 sec exposure and popping the flash all around, you can tell the light isnt completly even. and then i finished it off my doing a terrible job of cloning the bumper ha

 

WOW! thanks a bunch for the site! that helps a TON!




Yeah, i definitely need to get another flash. my sb600 isnt cuttin it. so i'll probably invest in one or 2 more of them or sb800's and some pocket wizards. i didnt get around to trying to walk around the car popping the flash, i was getting to frustrated last night. what kind of softbox do you have on your flash? and are you using a CPL or any filters?

 

No polarizer and no softbox. Just had the flash set to 1/16 power and counted how many times I flashed on each side to try and get it as even as I could

 

ah, gotchya. thanks for the info/tips man

 

no problem. i've upgraded to a JTL Moblight system now and it makes a huge difference. heres one i shot using those

 

Did you do any PP to the body of the jeep? Looks flat.

Any reason you went with the JTL over ABs?

 

the body of the jeep is just flat like that. and i went with the JTL's because thats what we use in school and they have battery packs and AC power. the only problem is they work off of infared so during the day its tough to get them to sync.

 

I use one flash all the time and I have no problem with it. Most of the time it is bare or bounced off a reflector, or through an umbrella however.


through white umbrella..


bare flash and it was... I guess dusk out.


one flash reflected into a silver umbrella.


hand held with a snap on diffuser


one bare flash into a gold reflector


two flashes starts to give you that "studio" feel


nothin spectacular but ... A LOT can be done with one flash.
I wish I hadnt sold my SB600

you just gotta play around and practice with it. takes time... believe me. my stuff is sub-par and 'n00b like' if you go looking through the "strobist" group on flickr.

 

yeah i've been on flickr religiously for the past year or two looking at stuff. I dont have a problem on the strobist thing on people as subjects. haven't really tried it but its been much easier. Cars are a pain in the *** to do with just one flash and a small softbox. I would LOVE to get a constant light setup as its MUCH easier to work with haha.


do you have any info on your setup? website or something?

 

I'll go into more detail when I get home.

 

these were the lights used http://www.jtl-lighting.com/JTL-Mobi...-Lighting.html

basically had the lights on stands with a silver umbrella in the front and a white in the back, i exposed to the background and then adjusted the position and power of the lights to get what i wanted. I shot in RAW so i could adjust the color accuratly. but it was basically alot of trial and error and position changing. i probably took 120 shots and i only used this one

 

trinitysrt, what camera are you using? thx

 

It's gonna' be really hard to fill that garage with one speedlight. However, I will suggest that you use a tripod and "slow sync" flash mode on the camera. The camera will adjust the shutter to get good background light while the flash gives a bit of pop to your subject. (TTL -BL on the flash will try to do the same thing, but you have less control.) Use TTL on the flash and adjust exposure compensation on the camera for the background, exposure compensation on the flash for your subject. Play around until you get the balance you like. Practice makes perfect.

 

the photo is over exposed....and its very obvious a flash was used. The best photos are the ones the have dramatic lighting......the trick is to not make it look like you used a flash to accomplish your goal.

 

there is more than one way to use flashes...