Phottix Odins, monolights, and HSS

[wickidwombat]

yeah you are definately gonna need more powerfull lights than my lil 400ws ones for that

although i do have 4 i should give it a go with ganglighting them. it would probably take 40 speedlights to put out that much power. in a ganglight setup with no modifier it would be delivering optimal power with no loss from the modifiers too

however i'm not sure how much of a problem that will be with shiny cars
Just dont have any time to think about allocating a day to playing with this
this month anyway

I just think its a cool feature

 

[Maui5150]

These are NOT my images. They were clearly taken by someone more talented than myself Nevertheless, I would like to emulate a similar effect, where the ambient light is almost entirely defeated during the middle of the day when it's properly bright outside. You read right. These shots were taken during the middle of the day, not at night. Over-powering the ambient in this fashion, then throwing some light on the subject, can yield some dramatic results.

NO WAY!!!!

Those shots were taken during the day? Shocking!

 

[V8Beast]

Someone loaded up on their smartass pills today. Did you and risc get a package discount or something?

 

[wickidwombat]

Private thanks I'll take that as a compliment as i didnt want the flash blazingly obvious
bearing in mind this is the middle of the day with the sun directly overhead the shadows are hard and contrasty
I was trying to keep it all balanced and make it not look like i threw a ton of flash in there

could have used a reflector however the jetty is pretty narrow and not much room for an assistant to hold it
oh and also i didnt have an assistant

 

[V8Beast]

The simplest way to do the cars is with a couple of speedlights, $125 550EX's would do the job. I know that is not the cool answer, or the answer to every situation, but it is true.

Are you sure? I light cars with 550EXs all the time. They work fine when there's little to no ambient and if you turn the ISO way up. During broad daylight, the Speedlights are good for fill light on small sections of a car for detail shots, and that's about it.

 

[V8Beast]

Yep. My spread pattern is very similar to the patches of light seen on the cars in all four shots, don't you agree? The stairs in the second shot would need a big light, but all the rest could be blended from speedlite exposures, which lets face it, you are going to be doing even with big lights.

OK, I see what you're saying now. Yes, if you composite 5-6 exposures together, then the Speedlites will work in a pinch. When you have multiple pops of light on multiple sections of the car coming from multiple angles, it's hard to blend it all together while making it look natural and convincing. Removing all the hot spots would take about five years, too. With two AB800s, I can get better results in a single exposure. I don't particularly enjoy Photoshop, so the monolights are a much more appealing option

My shot is five stops under metered for the ambient at 100 iso and f8, that s a pretty dramatic ambient drop along with good iso and useful aperture, especially at the distances the car images are framed at.

Different colors and types of paint play a big role in how far a Speedlight will get you.

With a light colored, highly reflective metallic paint and no ambient light to battle, two Speedlites (on on side and one on front of car) works quite well, even at ISO 100 and f/8.

With slightly darker colors like this, again with two Speedlites, you have to crank it up to ISO 400 at f/8 even though it's 30 minutes after sunset at this point.

Throw in a darker color and more ambient light, and suddenly you need ISO 1250 at f/8. The ambient is three to four stops under in this shot.

Make it a black car, and now you need ISO 1600 at f/8, even though there's zero ambient light at this stage in the evening.

I love the Speedlites, but they definitely have their limitations. Power is really the secondary issue. The primary benefit of monolights for this type of use is that they give off a far more pleasing quality of light with more favorable fall-off characteristics.

But don't forget, any studio light using a faked HSS is only providing a fraction of its light power to the exposure, just like speedlites.

Good point. That's why going with my original plan of upgrading to two 1320ws White Lightnings and pulling the ND grads out of the attic might be the best option.

 

[jonathan7007]

V8,
Is there a battery solution that works for your outdoor use of two White Lightning monoblocks? How many flashes do these batteries offer as supplied by Paul Buff? (I realize that # affected by power settings on flash heads.)

I keep searching Amazon for a 1000' extension cord <grin>

 

[V8Beast]

According to Buff's literature, a Vagabond mini will power up to four Bees/White Lightning/Einstein lights. I'd imagine that recycle times would suck with one Vagabond and two of Buff's 660 or 1320ws lights, but they're cheap enough to where it makes sense to get one battery pack per light. I hate fiddling with extension cords

 

[V8Beast]

No HSS with the Odins and White Lightnings, but I'm pleased with the results nonetheless. I still had to crank the ISO up to 400 considering the black subject and the amount of ambient light I was working against, but that's why I get paid the small bucks ;D

 

[Loswr]

Great shot!

 

[jonathan7007]

V8, great to see you back!

I bought 4 Einstein heads and a single Vagabond, have shot one or two assignments that called for outdoor power. Looking for similar car challenges way out here on my Pacific rock -- just for fun... owners of great iron here have few commercial aspirations that require spending $$ for a car picture but it looks like so much FUN!

Einsteins put out a LOT of light. Having Balcar attachment standard opens some options past the Buff modifiers, but the Buff materials seem good. Your point about the second or third Vagabond sounds smart and might keep wires out of sight in a more complicated setups.