The Nature, Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum - Fine Art Landscape Photography

22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees

Posted By: Jim Poor

22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/02/09 06:23 PM

Played with it today during a shoot.



Did just a hint of Orton on this one. Not sure if I like it or not just yet.
Posted By: psmith

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/02/09 07:45 PM

I LOVE the way the dog is trying to fake a smile
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/02/09 07:48 PM

LoL!


That's Sam. I took his first pictures when he came to the SPCA a couple years ago. He's been a frequent client of mine at holiday fundraisers and such since he was adopted almost two years ago, but today was the first day he brought his human along for the shoot.
Posted By: Jim Garvie

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/02/09 11:02 PM

So, explain how you shot this. Did you just use the Beauty Dish for your main light and another strobe for backdrop? Any fill? What was your setup?

Jim
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/02/09 11:24 PM

I used the Beauty Dish (AB800) as main from the left and had the subjects facing it. I started with it at eye level and then moved it more to the middle and higher (watch out for the ceiling fan in the studio!). I used the Diffuser cover as well as the direct light blocking thingy (technical term).

To camera right, I had another 800 with the small brolly box as fill turned way down.

Then I had another 800 with just the 7" reflector BEHIND the vinyl. I had to crank it up to almost full power to punch through the Vinyl and turn it pure white. Looking back, I probably could have used the 1600 back there.

Here's the Exif:
Camera Make: NIKON CORPORATION

Camera Model: NIKON D3

Image Date: 2009:12:02 12:01:19

Flash Used: No

Focal Length: 70.0mm (35mm equivalent: 70mm)

Exposure Time: 0.0040 s (1/250)

Aperture: f/8.0

ISO equiv: 200

Exposure Bias: 0.50

White Balance: Auto

Metering Mode: Matrix

Exposure: Manual

Exposure Mode: Manual

Photographer: JIM_POOR

Copyright: © Jim Poor www.jimpoor.com

Comment: (C)JIM_POOR
Posted By: psmith

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/02/09 11:34 PM

So did you shoot this in RAW and use ACR to convert? Because auto WB makes no sense to me for studio flash.
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/02/09 11:41 PM

Yes, I (almost) always shoot raw. Converted in Lightroom which is really ACR with nice trim.

Honestly, I hadn't even thought about setting manual WB. Just never occurred to me before this. (Smacking self in forehead!)

Exposure bias makes no sense either, but at least it has no effect in manual mode unless you have an on camera flash.

BTW, anyone want a D3? Santa came early today!
Posted By: psmith

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/02/09 11:58 PM

I dial in the Kelvin degrees in the studio and shoot RAW + JPG so I can show clients decent JPGs pretty quickly.

Yeah, I'd like a D3 if you'll throw some nice lenses in with it. I'll even pay for shipping.

New lights, new camera...no excuses, right?
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 12:04 AM

You do know that every raw file has a JPG in it that can be accessed just as quickly as downloading a card of RAW+JPG files right? I suppose I could do immediate viewing once I get things set up completely, but I probably won't be there for a month or so.

Yeah. Kind of anti-climactic at the moment since I don't have a dark venue to shoot until the 12th and it is raining cats and dogs out.

Haven't even turned it on yet, but I've got a lot of other things to get done before I can play with the new toy.

I don't know about "throw in," but I'm still toying with selling the 600 f/4
Posted By: psmith

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 12:40 AM

Quote:

You do know that every raw file has a JPG in it that can be accessed just as quickly as downloading a card of RAW+JPG files right? I suppose I could do immediate viewing once I get things set up completely, but I probably won't be there for a month or so.




Not even close with my workflow. The files are sent wirelessly to the view station. Just having a RAW file would increase the transfer about 5X.
Posted By: psmith

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 12:41 AM

Quote:

I don't know about "throw in," but I'm still toying with selling the 600 f/4



Throw in means "donate, in addition to the body".

Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 12:54 AM

I'm confused. Didn't you just say you shoot RAW + JPG? You've already got a RAW File in there. Do you have a way to send only the JPG out wirelessly while writing the RAW to the card?

I forgot you do the wireless tether thing.

Donation are supposed to go TO the Poorhouse, not from it
Posted By: Julie

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 01:26 AM

5600k works well for the AB lights. Auto wb will be all over the board and it is easier to start with it correct, even in raw
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 01:42 AM

Thanks. I'll have to try it out.

Why would auto WB be all over? I assume it would just set for the ambient which, aside from some crazy lighting situations like Sodium or Mercury Vapor should be fairly constant.

I haven't noticed any wild variations, but I'll have to go back and look more closely now.
Posted By: psmith

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 03:22 AM

Quote:

I'm confused. Didn't you just say you shoot RAW + JPG? You've already got a RAW File in there. Do you have a way to send only the JPG out wirelessly while writing the RAW to the card?



With my workflow, yes. I copy the RAW + JPG to my laptop, then transfer the JPGs to my viewing station. Within about 4 mintues I have a lot of backups on different media.
Posted By: psmith

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 03:24 AM

Quote:

Thanks. I'll have to try it out.

Why would auto WB be all over? I assume it would just set for the ambient which, aside from some cray lighting situations like Sodium or Mercury Vapor should be fairly constant.

I haven't noticed any wild variations, but I'll have to go back and look more closely now.



By all over the place, I think Julie means it will not be right.
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 05:04 AM

Ah, that could be it. When I hear "all over" I think about indoor dog sport places and phase shift.
Posted By: Julie

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 12:55 PM

I mean not right. Your camera is choosing the wb and the ambient light is not the same as the strobe light
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 12:58 PM

Got it. Thankfully, it is a simple one click fix but I'll definitely have to remember to set it manually. With my feeble mind, I'll probably forget to turn it back to Auto WB when needed
Posted By: psmith

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 01:02 PM

With our help you can ruin a whole day of indoor trials.
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 01:05 PM

HA! Just have to add one more check to my list.
Posted By: Jim Garvie

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 04:27 PM

Jim,
not sure I can see the effect of the fill light but overall I like the lighting from the Beauty Dish. I agree, BTW, with setting the white balance based on the color temp of the lights. Makes editing much easier even on RAW files.

Jim
Posted By: Marie Mitchell Photography

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 05:52 PM

I like the lighting that you got in this photo. I also use the 22 in beauty dish on my 800 watt AB. Initially I had it on the side of the table, but moved it directly in front of it and back about 7 feet.
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 08:24 PM

Thanks Jim,

Without the fill, the left side of the dog's face would have been more in shadow. Other than that, I had it turned way down, but you can see the second catch-light.

Thanks Marie,

When thing slow down a bit, I'm going to start some experimentation with it in different configurations.
Posted By: Julie

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 08:27 PM

Oh, I am not a fan of the orton on this. I don't like hair and dog fur melted. If you are looking for something for perfect skin, Mama Shan has "powders" that are awesome

http://www.photoshopmama.net/products.html?reload#goodies My favorite is the silk powder. I have the whole portrait pack and it is great.
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/03/09 09:00 PM

I think you're right. I probably should mask the Orton off of the dog. I'll check those powders out as well.

I've been trialing the bundle from Topaz Labs too. So far, I'm not impressed enough to buy it when the trial expires though.
Posted By: anthonym

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/05/09 01:40 AM

Interested in how you like the Alien bees. I have Elinchrom DLites and the light quality is very nice, but the build quality is abysmal (when you have an hour or so I'll tell you all the things wrong with them :-) -- also have Elinchrom Skyport remotes... equally as abysmal) Huge investment mistake!

Been thinking (quite heavily recently) of replacing with Alien Bees, especially with the Einstein when it comes out.

Anyway, I hear the ABs can have some color variations at different power outputs. Anything you would notice in "real life" when two or more strobe are at different power?
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: 22-inch Beauty dish from Alien Bees - 12/05/09 01:53 AM

Hey, long time no see. Check out my "Getting some real lights" thread for a bit of a discussion of my journey to the AB's and lots of opinions.

In general, I'm happy with them, but I've had less than stellar customer service on the ordering end of things.
© 2024 The Nature, Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum