[Leica] lighting critique request

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

On 9/16/05 2:34 PM, "Eric" <ericm@pobox.com> typed:

> David:
> 
>> i am leaning toward the Alien Bees.
> 
> That's what I got.
> 
> http://www.alienbees.com/flash.html
> 
> The B1600.  13 ft light stand.  I can't imagine wanting to extend a light 
> up
> 13 ft...the 10 ft would be more than sufficient for me in terms of height.
> But I liked the idea of a larger footprint.  4 ft vs 3ft for the 10ft.
> Since I'm hanging a 5' umbrella off it, I wanted a stand that was as stable
> as possible.
> 
> I got the 5 ft translucent white umbrella.  (The 32 in one, too.  Just
> because like Mark said, it's like an elephant in an elevator.  :)
> 
> I'm just glad that 5 ft was the biggest umbrella alien bees has.  
> Otherwise,
> I'd have probably gone larger.  :)  I think this is really a good size.  
> Not
> *too* unmanageable, but it's like a good sized window.
> 
> --
> Eric
> http://canid.com/
> 
Makes of a real nice light quality from what I see on your shots but I bet
you'd have even better luck not shooting through but bouncing off. You'll
get a softer none shadow which works out will for lighting up a whole room
and not having your f stops changing too much from one side of the room to
the next. It might just work put it up against a wall where it probably is
anyway or you can put a back cover on it for a tad more efficiency.
Or if your wall is near white just use bounce flash. In other words the
wall. My favorite technique I've done family portraits this way the sitting
on the sofa vanilla varietals.
The whole wall which you've got lit with your head with a simple reflector
or a flat one or bare bulb pointed in that direction (the flat thing
prevents back spill directly onto your subject itself) becomes the light
source itself.
Or ceiling which tends to be white ceiling paint and also tends to be where
light fixtures as well are luminaries such as the sun and moon and Venus
tends to be fixated. In orbit of course. Around us.


Mark Rabiner
Photography
Portland Oregon
http://rabinergroup.com/