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JohnRice · 04-16-2008, 08:00 AM

Sam, it's good to see you are experimenting with this.

One comment though. Saying this whole thing is "transformational" kind of demeans what many photographers have been doing for the last century. This is nothing new. In fact, being able to do it wirelessly with pocket strobes is nothing new. Minolta came up with a system capable of this 20 years ago.

Anyway, you keep mentioning the spectrals, but it looks to me that your ratios are OK. You just need to knock down the overall exposure by 1-2 stops and you will be fine. When you do this type of lighting you have to be willing to let the less (lower) lit parts of the subject drop farther than you might normally. It lets the effect of the lighting come out.

Also, I always notice that when someone is venturing into lighting, they don't backlight. Putting a light source maybe 20-30 degrees off center, behind and above the subject, aimed back toward the camera adds a fundamental highlight to the outline of the subject that makes a big improvement. Look at some good ads and see how rare it is for there not to be light directed toward the camera. Since your key light is on the right, put the backlight on the left.

04-16-2008, 08:00 AM	#2 of 11
JohnRice *John Rice* Member Location: Colorado Join Date: Jun 2000 Local Time: 05:57 AM Local Date: 10-13-2008 Posts: 8,409	Re: First attempts at wireless lighting Sam, it's good to see you are experimenting with this. One comment though. Saying this whole thing is "transformational" kind of demeans what many photographers have been doing for the last century. This is nothing new. In fact, being able to do it wirelessly with pocket strobes is nothing new. Minolta came up with a system capable of this 20 years ago. Anyway, you keep mentioning the spectrals, but it looks to me that your ratios are OK. You just need to knock down the overall exposure by 1-2 stops and you will be fine. When you do this type of lighting you have to be willing to let the less (lower) lit parts of the subject drop farther than you might normally. It lets the effect of the lighting come out. Also, I always notice that when someone is venturing into lighting, they don't backlight. Putting a light source maybe 20-30 degrees off center, behind and above the subject, aimed back toward the camera adds a fundamental highlight to the outline of the subject that makes a big improvement. Look at some good ads and see how rare it is for there not to be light directed toward the camera. Since your key light is on the right, put the backlight on the left. They flutter behind you, your possible pasts. Some bright-eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost. Last edited by JohnRice : 04-16-2008 at 08:02 AM.