Merry Christmas to me

[fatespawn]

So while I don't think it's a reasonable sort of thing to put on a Christmas list, I've decided that when I come back to Pittsburgh in January I'm going to have a studio-strobe with me. Hooray for a decent-paying job! My understanding is that 700 w/s is probably a good call and that a light+stand+umbrella will run me from ~$600-$800. nothingoth and krues8dr,

Comments

[mrjustice]

Hey man I need to get your phone number. I'd love to try and hook up with you guys when you're down for the holidays. Would love to pick your brain on the photoshop thing and maybe shoot with Laura if she's interested.
My number is 434-295-7316 give me a call and drop me your digits.

[fatespawn]

My cell is 571 239 6806. I've got a home number, but I have no idea what it is, which should tell you something about how often I use it.

Plans at the moment are extremely up in the air, mostly due to me not having seen Laura for more than a couple hours in the last week or so. But when her projects are finally all done in a day or two then that will change and I'll let her know about you wanting to shoot with her and we'll let you know when we'll be around.

[fatespawn]

Thanks so much for all of that. The AlienBees AB1600 looks possibly ideal. I was with Laura on a shoot with a guy who was using a 750ws inside a cramped hotel bathroom, so it seems to me that bigger is better as long as it has a dimmer. That same guy told me that anything below like 300ws is good enough for maybe head shots and not much else.
I'm going to look around AlienBees and B&H some when I get home and probably make a purchase in a day or two.

[nothingoth]

Yeah, a 500ws would be decent for you to start with, and if you get two of those you've got a pretty flexible setup. Whatever you get make sure the output is easily adjustable and the modeling light is proportional to the flash output (most modern Monolights will have this feature). Alien Bees might be a good call for you to start with, both the Beginner Bee and DigiBee packages would suit your needs. I might suggest you go with the DigiBee since it includes the wireless triggering, otherwise you'll have to invest in an on-camera flash to trigger the flash heads. And yes, a carrying bag. ;)

[fatespawn]

The DigiBee package does look pretty nice, although I might want to upgrade the lights. I dunno, I might need more advise from you on that point. My objective is to have a lighting setup where if I want to, I can basically not worry about having to be tricky and just have virtually shadowless (I should probably get a softbox to help with that) image without blur while the subject is moving. cosfrog.deviantart.com is a good example of the lighting quality I'm aiming for. If that level of brightness can be achieved with the B400 lights then awesome, but if I should invest in the B800 or B1600 then I'd rather do that now.

Thanks especially for making the point about the wireless triggering. I still just have the built-in flash and hotshoe and I'm interested in messing with as few adapters as possible.

[nothingoth]

Yeah, upgrading the lights wouldn't hurt at all. It is better to have too much and be able to dial it back, and have enough when you actually do need it. And as for virtually shadowless, that's kinda tricky but it can be done. But yeah, a 2 light setup would be pretty ideal. I would recommend when/if you get a 2 light setup that you first start working with the one light and then add the second light into the mix after you've gotten the hang of single light portraits.

[fatespawn]

Cool, cool. I think I'll probably go with the DigiBee with lights upgraded to B800 (I hesitate, but I don't think I'd get a whole lot more out of the B1600s and they're a lot more expensive). And I might add on a softbox. But I suppose that it might be better to just use a shoot-through umbrella for now, to save cash and also so I don't end up sitting in my living room with 50 new toys and no idea how to use any of them :-P

[ninetimestodie]

Mmm, snow. What's the building on the right? Church?

[fatespawn]

By right do you mean left? If so, then yes! There are tons of really amazing churches around my apartment. Everything to the right of the frame is dingy apartments and such.

[ninetimestodie]

We'll pretend I'm not an idiot, and yes, left! =D

[mother_thing]

God, that's such a great picture, and it makes me so homesick for snow.