Don’t Buy Lights Until You Know This
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- Опубликовано: 6 мар 2024
- If you need a bit of a crash course in all of the details of how light works, head over to here tinhouse-studio.com/product/l...
All of those fundamentals are covered.
For everyone else, this video is a very brief description as to how lights work and why we chose the ones we do for commercial professional photography. Looking at what power flash you need and how many watts (or joules) you might need as well as why we use certain types of photography lighting.
You can find me on;
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Tin House Website and WORKSHOPS www.tinhouse-studio.com/
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If you struggle with the inverse square law and all of that techy jazz, this old workshop I made might be for you tinhouse-studio.com/product/lighting-101/
just saw this...
Thanks for bringing 'Jiggery Pokery' back into the lexicon
Wow, a video about the light freezing motion vs the camera would be awesome.
The quality of your information you share and the crispness of your videos sets you in a class above most! Thank you for your time and energy and for caring enough to help us out
An overview on the use of polarised light and why you need to use it would be helpful.
Thank you Scott, for all you do. Thanks especially for adding "jiggery pokery" to my list of British terms that are absolutely delightful to say aloud. Right beneath "wheelie bin."
As an Elinchrome user for the past 10years, you still were able to teach me a thing or two.
I'd love to see that video on the reason fast flash vs high speed and why it's better. That'd be great.
I will look at making one. Just need to check what im saying is correct haha. I know that it works, but im not sure on my understanding on the why is 100% So I will check with someone first.
@@TinHouseStudioUK I totally get that and presenting factual information instead of what everyone thinks (joules and watts 😂) is always important.
@@TinHouseStudioUK After seeing this topic for years, with the minutiae of t.5 and t.1, what finally made it click for me was someone re-mapping flash duration onto a discussion of shutter speed in daylight. Every beginner photographer understands the effect of shutter speed on motion when shooting in daylight (or available light). Depending on the speed of the subject, a higher shutter speed will freeze motion. Flash duration serves the same purpose when there's no daylight (or available light). In other words, when the exposure is black.
The big trick was understanding that when explaining shutter speed or flash duration, people were using the same notation in fractions of a second, e.g. 1/50 or 1/8000. The language of "flash duration" is the same language for "stopping motion" as shutter speed. If asked a beginner photographer what shutter speed you need to freeze a dancer in motion in daylight, they'd (eventually) figure out that for perfect stillness, 1/500 is the ideal (that number's just an example). If 1/500 is the "number" you need in daylight with your shutter speed, it's also the "number" you need for flash duration. Your t.1 for shooting a dancer in a studio lit only by flash should be around 1/500. I'd seen and read that flash duration is the "shutter speed of your flash itself." Until someone made that metaphor as direct and literal as I'm trying to do here, I had never quite grasped it.
I know there's a little more nuance than that, but that explanation is what allowed me to understand that remaining nuance. Once I had that basic grasp of it, I could understand the language that explained the nuances.
@@davidturner5 What I have a hard time conceptualizing is how that makes my exposure correct if my shutter speed is fixed at 1/250th for example. If I'm at 1/250th to avoid HSS, but my flash is set to 1/500, isn't half the frame-generation going to be black, and half lit up? Or more extreme, 1/250th vs 1/8000th, the image is produced using 1/8000th of a second worth of light and 31/8000ths of a second of blackness. (32/8000 = 1/250). So in that scenario, why does the shot work at all and my model isn't dark considering that the vast majority of the time they're in total blackness (from the cameras perspective).
@@tmoore121 You're on the right track; it does make it harder to get a correct exposure. The whole idea of the importance of flash duration is relatively niche. Like any niche topic, it exists in service of relatively narrow needs. That's probably why it popped into Scott's mind when making a video about very powerful strobes. Most people never need this technique and, therefore, the very powerful strobes needed to achieve it.
Generally, flash durations get shorter at the lower end of a strobe's output. What all this "t.5" or "t.1" stuff measures is how much energy, i.e. how many watts/joules/light intensity, a particular strobe can produce in that time. As you've correctly intuited, that amount of light differs depending on the power of a flash. A 200W strobe at its lowest setting might only produce (and I'm guessing at this number) 20W of light at its fastest flash duration. (Never mind what "t" number corresponds to "fastest flash duration".) If you're camera's at its maximum flash synch speed of, say, 1/200, then there's a moment when the entire frame will be visible between the two curtains, but it's only getting a tiny bit of light from the strobe during that moment.
So you may be getting the motion stopping power of that 200W strobe at a fast flash duration at 20W, but that's not actually enough light to properly expose the image. But a powerful 3200W strobe on *its* lowest setting can produce (again, guessing the number) 200W of light intensity at its lowest setting. Depending on the conditions and your camera settings, 200W might be enough for a proper exposure.
Dunning Kruger in full effect here - the more you tell me, the less I realise I know 😂.
Thank you so much for this great free resource 🙏
I just loooove the beep of a scoro pack. I use profoto but I do love the bron aesthetic
I asked about this less than a week ago. Thank you!
That was a great summary!! Thank you Scoty
Glad you liked it!
Scot the value you giving is impresive . thank you for everything
Excellent commentary!!
Thank you!
Thanks! I finally get this now, even though it was explained to me years ago.
Great stuff, I thought this photography lark was easy, proof the more you know the more you realise the stuff you don't know!
Great video! Reminds me of my Norman P2000 packs I bought 15 years ago second hand. I really liked that system.
I used Lumadyne system for portable flash in the mid 90's. Felt like it was made in a garage
Thank you ... I have never used pro studio gear, and never bothered to find out exactly why the big packs .. I mostly assumed correctly that it gives you some needed capability or another. It was bewildering why so big so expensive but as soon as you said the inverse square law ...boom, of course. Great explanation.
I'm buying new lights on Monday and this totally changed what I'm buying. Thank you!
I’ll probably nerve use these in my life as hobbyist photographer but it’s still great info to have. Thanks
When doing people /fashion stuff, and you have to use softboxes and other modifiers with textiles it gets really horrible with white balance. You have to look at the age of the modifiers and measure their impact on WB and tint because this changes with age and same the flash tubes. I did a lot of fashion stuff with special textiles ... this becomes critical. And shure you have to use non-aged /speckled greycards before every new setup.
I use colour RGBWW LEDs these day since I’m usually shooting video too. It’s easy to dial in the colour correction to match the environment.
ThankYou Scott :) I bought My first Norman 2000ws. and 4 Heads- Studio Strobe Kit- in 1972 and learned as a 19yo how it worked by myself (no internet). Heard about softboxes (crazy expensive) I made My own using FoamCore and a scrim I hot glued the norman mount on it(the Art Directors loved what we got from it)..... People of today have no idea how lucky they are :) :) :)
I never thought I'd be interested in studio lighting, because I liked just using available light. But after taking a lighting class and now a portraiture class, I've come to appreciate how you can control the studio lighting. I'd rather take portraits with it, at least for now. I'd like to buy a light, was looking at them at the camera store yesterday, but I still don't know what to buy that I can afford - which is not much. So I'm going to try to make good use of being able to use the studio at school. Appreciate your videos. And yes, I need to go back and refresh my brain on the inverse square law.
Not a pro, but really enjoyed the lighting education. Thanks.
Solid video, as usual 👍. Flash duration and colour consistancy are what matters. Can't justify a Bron pack (yet), but have been using Siros 800L's for a number of years now. I don't want cables everywhere when i shoot on location, that's why I went with the battery version. Would sometimes like 1600Ws though, but not at 1/175 sec. 😉
Hey Scott, would love to hear you explain collimated light and parabolic modifiers and their uses.
watts as a term is fine but it is short for watt seconds, enjoy the videos
Commonly use pack light xenon flash as a continuous source for high speed video 🙂 The scores & Grafits are good kit.
Learned this the hard way. Had to get rid of the hot-spot on a purse and that meant more diffusion. Thankfully it's one item but amazing how much power you lose for product.
i would love to see you plan the light for a shoot on a bit of paper, calculating things and such, I do not do still life photos, though I do find the process rather enjoyable as I am more inclined to lean towards tech than lean towards creativity
Not sure I fully follow the reason the light must be 8-10 metres away to light evenly. Is that where the inverse square law comes in? I thought that was just to do with loss of light over distance.. there's more to it, it seems!
So at 10m away even if the light is coming from one side of it, it would light evenly across the front to back of the 1.5m table?
p.s. loving your content, thanks for making it.
Let's say the light is at 100% power one meter away from the flash. At two meters the light would be 25% power and at four meters it would be 6%. That means if you want to evenly lit an object that is long 1.5m. you would need to place it further from the light so that the difference in % is not that high. Between 1 and 2 meters the difference is 75% but between 2 and 4 the difference is only 19%. Extend that to the range 8 to 9 meters and there won't be much of a difference.
@@caesar8337 Ahh, thought so. Thanks for the concise breakdown.
Hey Scott any plans to make a video on grip equipment? Clamps, cardillini’s, magic arms, etc (assuming you use that stuff)
Wow, that 3200 Joule light pulse sent the video into an advert
( Joking, and yes, youtube switched to an advert just as the flash fired. )
Not a pro, but still found this a very interesting insight into the lighting setups that commercial photographers use on a daily basis.
Scott, you are about 1 week late :) I recently purchased a pair of Bowens Gemini 500 Pro. Guide number 85, 500W/s, 1/2900s. It uses same flashtube as the 1500W Bowens you described, just on lower requirement.
So far paired with Photon Europe 48UW umbrella softbox, 150cm Octabox arrived today.
Also I tested both lights for WB accurancy and for exposure consistency on different stops, but everything is ok.
Totally agree, Scott. Powerpacks are better than self-contained units, and Bron always inform the truly flash duration at T0,1 in its specs sheets. The other brands, at T0,5 instead. So, the relation of both is: T0,1 = T0,5/3 aprox.
Very informative. In what scenario would you light the table even? Is that even a thing in commercial photography? 8m distance seems like a nightmare in a (small) studio. And euh, more video of the dog, thanks. ;)
Id wanna know your most used forumlas you use. Like calculating inverse square law and so on.
3:45 That blast was so powerful, that screen went black and a new ad started running. T_T
Any thoughts on the best parabolic reflectors? And also, that multi-stack of lights at low power for fast duration - would it make sense if you really wanted to go mobile, to do something similar with speedlights since they're extremely mobile? Or is their power just not enough even with something like 15 of them all together? Also the cost now that I think about it seems staggering.
I remember when doing my photography A levels in the '80's the packs were the size of washing machines and twice the weight! 😆
Besides the power… What do you think about the old broncolor impact 41, I could get a used kit for £500. Worth the money for a small studio or better more recent light
So they are that powerful. My D-lite it can be too powerful for me but I'm really cramped so they have to be close. These must be beasts if most of that case is capacitors.
This Maybe why , when I've experimented moving the camera around to find the ' blur point', I've never really got any blur with the little Elinchroms hand held.
Still , they were a nightmare and still can be with not firing. And I need to superglue one back together.
Hi Scott. Technical question if I may. You said the 3,200 watt light must be at least 8 meters away to evenly light the 2 meter long table. Is that so you can get the strobe fall-off in the 1/64 (at 8 meters) to 1/100 range (at 10 meters)? Or in the 1/100 (10 meters) to 1/144 (12 meters) range were the strobe to be placed 10 meters away? Less roll-off meaning less shadows and a more even lighting pattern. Does that also mean the strobe is only putting out 50 watts effective light (3200 watts multiplied by 1/64) when it strikes the table 8 meters away? If so, that explains why you would need such a large strobe (as a 600 watt strobe, for instance, would only produce 9 watts effective light (600 watts multiplied by 1/64) from the same distance. Many thanks.
I spotted your yellow tether cable, is that from Cobra? and if so, how are you finding them? I was considering them compared to many of the other alternatives to tether tools. On a video related note, I was surprised that the max shutter speed was only 1/175th at 3200ws, my Elinchrom fives are rated at 1/250th at the full 522ws, I wonder does the scoro pack rate a faster ss at roughly 500ws equivalent?
Yes, it’s better than tethertools, not as good as area 51
Do you ever use Fresnel lights?
The dog's on the sofa again!
I acquired 3 Bowens Creo 2400 units from my old job. Are those considered legit pro?
How often do you change the bulb?
modelling bulbs are really random and heat related. Can be randomly on a shoot it goes. my bowens ones currently 10 years old haha. Flash tubes wise, ive never had one go in my whole career.
What’s that yellow cable?
How do you protect your eyes from damage when that 3200Ws flash turns on?
Don’t look directly at it when firing. I reckon I do it at least once a week haha
Thank you ❤
What will you learn from photography school/university that you wouldn’t learn from books and courses?
i got 2 pair of 200 what cheap flash , one pair got them or 20years the other 10 , not the most powerful , but they do the job , my studio is not that big is only 5x10m to photograph people or small stuff like shoes ,bags , jewellery they the work well , and at the end i can always rent if need something better
I love me some jiggery-pokery
3200 joules of energy is an insane amount. In mechanical terms, that would be both teams in a baseball match pitching balls at you or a single smallish rifle bullet. Is this more than you would use for photographing people?
Why would you have that much light? It’s about the sensitivity (ISO) of the film that you’re using that is why digital cameras don’t need that much light, that’s the easy answer without having to go into the physics of light!
Physics. Hard shadows need distance, distance eats light. Then modifiers, flags and scrims + bellows means at full what you still only get f8-f16 at 3200 watts. Then the bigger the set, the worst it gets which is why the 6400 watt heads that go into 2 packs exist. You can up the ISO to a point (ambient bleed) but it doesn't look the same as native ISO.
My no one cares thoughts on pack lights. I have a collection of regular Joe Godox lights and I love them and use them a lot, especially on location . However If I am working in a studio they got a couple hours before they run so hot they misbehave with multiple misfires or failing altogether. I use the studios Speedotron packs and I can pull off a 12 hour day of near constant heavy use. When I travel that's about 2 clients vs 12 clients difference per day.
I feel most of these videos are born from amateurs commenting things in previous videos without realizing that amataurs and pros require and pursue different things in photography.
The purpose of Flash Lights really was never to light in the dark... they do it but kinda crappy and you get the (well some people like it) horrible flash look... the Flash even small Flash Guns are meant to overpower the light from the Sun they're incredibly bright if you measure the light itself... That's why you don't even need a dark studio when using flashes (except if you want to direct the light in certain ways)
WTF! Sorry, I’ll shut up now..