Black blob problem

[JonB8305]

For instance, I fail to see how, if you are shooting in manual as you advise, you are ever at "the vagueries [sic] of in-camera metering from shot to shot." whether in a studio or not.

Vagueries is a legal spelling, according to Wiktionary, albeit a fairly rare one.

I assume what the author means is that in-camera metering gives you an overall measurement of the shot as a whole, but it will vary from shot to shot as people change angles and their tuxes reflect more or less light. Therefore, it isn't as ideal a tool as an intern walking around with a good light meter and taking measurements at various parts of your set.

That said, this is me speaking with my video hat on. I have no idea how you would do the same thing when using flashes without really annoying the heck out of your subject.

As for the other comment, the usual goal is to light and expose the shot properly so that you don't clip any important white detail and so that important dark detail doesn't get lost in the mud. What constitutes "important" white/dark detail, however, varies....

Will reflectors help me avoid the necessity of using a 4 light set up.

Depends on the look you're trying to achieve. I've seen a lot of nice portrait shots taken with only a key light and a fill. That said, sometimes you want a backlight on the person and/or a light on the background.

I'd be surprised if a reflector were ever useful as an alternative to a backlight or a background light, but you might be able to get away with using a reflector instead of a fill light in some situations. I'm not sure how well that would work in practice—it would depend in part on on the number of people in the shot, on how reflective the reflector is, and on whether you can come up with a position where it reflects enough of your key light or backlight to do any good without blocking the shot.

Damn I'm really trying to avoid buying another Profoto Kit. I need some back light alternatives.

 

[privatebydesign]

Jon,

Watch these videos to get an idea. If this guy can get a white seamless and subject illumination with ONE flashgun, I am sure, with a little more thought, you can achieve more with your current Profoto kit.

Relax, there is tons of info out there, but this place is basically Canon centric gearheads, not studio lighters.

http://www.zarias.com/white-seamless-tutorial-part-1-gear-space/

 

[privatebydesign]

"the vagueries [sic] of in-camera metering from shot to shot."

"Vagueries is a legal spelling, according to Wiktionary, albeit a fairly rare one."

There can be little doubt that in the context of the use by Aglet, he meant to write vagarities (irregularity) rather than vagueries (the condition of being vague). After all the light meter is never vague, it always reports the same thing, the exposure needed to achieve 18% grey. It could be considered to give irregular exposures if you don't understand what, exactly, it is metering; and certainly manual mode will overcome any irregularity in exposure values suggested by a reflective meter when shooting moving predominantly large light or dark subjects.

 

[dgatwood]

Damn I'm really trying to avoid buying another Profoto Kit. I need some back light alternatives.

If you were doing video shooting, I'd suggest picking up a $30 halogen work lamp from Home Depot and clamping it to a mic stand. Unfortunately, as soon as you add flashes into the mix, that sort of setup probably won't be very user-friendly.