Mag submissions 2011

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Crazy Fool

I use two AlienBee 1600s and a couple Nikon speedlights

Mar 3 2012 6:59PM

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Sklar

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Crazy Fool

Are you strobing a lot of those daytime shots, or not really?

Mar 3 2012 7:01PM

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Crazy Fool

None of the powder / bc ones, some of the park ones (where it's more obvious) and all of the urban ones I'm using strobes for.

Mar 3 2012 7:04PM

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Basement Dweller

b1600's for sports? impressive!

Mar 3 2012 7:11PM

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Sklar

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Crazy Fool

Makes sense

How are you getting such nice sharp shots with the background still properly exposed?
Are you using something to shoot at a higher sync speed?
I have always had the issue of blur at the 1/250 sync speed with a smaller aperture(number) or not having the BG exposed with higher(number) aperture.
Thanks

Mar 3 2012 7:13PM

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Crazy Fool

crank the 1600 to full power, it has a short enough t.5 to freeze action, and overpowers sunlight. because of that, if I expose for the ambient light, the parts of the frame that are lit with strobes are actually a little over-exposed. If I shoot into the sun and it's lighting shadows the effect of shooting strobes in the day is more apparent, as the background can be a little darker.

depending on where in the frame I'm positioning the action, I can sync up to 1/650 using Paul C Buff triggers on the d300. one of the advantages of nikon is they do better with sync speeds. Although, because the shutter travels in the opposite direction of a Canon, if I am only trying to illuminate the top half of a landscape oriented frame, I have to turn my camera upside down... haha.

Mar 3 2012 9:31PM

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Sklar

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Crazy Fool

i think i sort of get it, haha
i'm trying to wrap my head around this whole strobe thing
thanks for the help

Mar 3 2012 9:42PM

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Insane

Wow these shots are awesome! Some day I hope I can take photos as good as this! Haha

Also 1337, you said wow "alienbees for sports, i'm impressed", just wondering what do most guys use for sports? Just wondering so I can save up for the next few years... haha.

Mar 5 2012 9:04AM

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Basement Dweller

b1600's are great strobes, all alienbees are. But the b1600's have really long flash durations compared to the b400 and b800 (both of which i own). If you read about how to use flashes for sports, you learn that the duration of the flash is used to freeze the action. when the duration is too long, you dont freeze very well.

Mar 5 2012 2:29PM

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Crazy Fool

Which is why I pop full power all the time... haha. The duration at full power is 1/800, which is more than enough for any urban, and if I'm shooting long on a jump, or shooting wide and tracking the motion, I don't have issues with my subject or the background being offensively blurry.

Mar 5 2012 2:40PM

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Basement Dweller

thats awesome news to see that they work at sports (when used correctly) after being told that they stink. But if i'm going that powerful, I'd probably get an einstein instead :D

Mar 5 2012 3:00PM

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RileySnyderPhoto

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Ridiculous

My AB is a 1600 too but my key is a ranger which helps

Mar 5 2012 6:53PM

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Insane

Ok, that makes sense. I honestly didn't compare any of the flash duration's of any of the alienbee's. I thought you meant all alienbees for some reason, but that makes sense since the flash duration of the B1600's is longer, that Twoods fires them on full all the time. I've been doing some research on using strobes for sports and stuff lately. I'm still trying to remember everything basically haha. Thanks

Mar 5 2012 9:30PM

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Basement Dweller

I'm writing up a flash and off camera strobing guide for the NS photographers cult right now, I'll post a link to it in M&A as well. Should hopefully cover everything from basics to durations to setting up shots etc

Mar 5 2012 9:33PM

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Insane

Oh that's awesome! I'll definitely read it! I want to just be able to remember all this strobe/flash stuff because this seems to be the one part of photography that I can't seem to remember/ comprehend as easily. I'll get it soon though! haha

Mar 5 2012 9:38PM

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gravel

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No Life

Those are incredible. Love the corrugated pipe shot.

Mar 5 2012 9:44PM

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Crazy Fool

yea, just remember with most (I don't want to say all because not sure it's true) strobes...

Strobes that are brighter have longer flash durations (makes sense right?)
If you turn up the power on your strobe so it's firing at full power, it has a shorter flash duration than if you have it turned down (doesn't make as much sense).

SO, at full power, a B400 has a much shorter flash duration than a B1600. But, it is not as bright... Where if you stopped a B400 down to quarter power (something like that) it would have the SAME flash duration as a B1600 at full, but it would be WAY less bright.

if that makes sense.

Mar 6 2012 2:52AM

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