Strobist Lighting Setup Explained - Using Speedlights, white balance & gels

[Brodie]

Here is a little video explaining in full, the lighting setup I used for one of my latest photoshoots, being the Blue Gene band photoshoot. It should be a good little insight for those starting out with off camera flash and hopefully the hardcore strobist enthusiasts out there might learn something too.

I show you how I used 5 Canon speedlights to light an entire scene wirelessly using the built in master/slave modes of the speedlights. I also show how I used my white balance and gels to create a cool blue effect.

here is one of the photos I explain the lighting setup for:
http://www.brodiebutler.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/bluegene-0066.jpg

I take you through the complete lighting diagram.

The concepts apply to Canon and Nikon wireless flash units. I use Canon in this example.

Post any questions and i'll try my best to answer them!

Also let me know if it was helpful to you, and what else you would like to see. It you want more explanation on the simpelr things, or more in depth technical stuff.
Reason being is I'm doin a lot more of these videos/write-ups.

tKTOUxPz8_I

[macdog]

really good clip, thanks mate will have to watch it a few times, cant wait to buy myself some slaves n brellas

[Grumbly]

brilliant. the fact that you take the time to show us the setup and then walk us through it is great, well done and thankyou.

[scpleta]

fantastic tutorial! thanks for posting it. the tips are indeed very practical and easy to use. cheers!

[maccaroneski]

Really good thanks. I love to see how a great shot is deconstructed.

[jamalnic]

Fantastic Brodie. It's great to see how the lighting is all set up. A great effort.

Di :)

[bartt_06]

thanks Brodie! Very helpful vid. i often try and work out the lighting setup in a photo is, but having it explained like that is the best way to learn. thanks.

[Darvidanoar]

Nice one, Brodie :th3:

Very informative, thankyou.

[Brodie]

No problem guys. The video was a hell of a lot longer before I edited it. I just didnt know how much depth to go into.

Is there anything else I could include that you would like to see? Explain more of the basics?
I'm working on the next one already so your input is valuable.

B.

[maccaroneski]

One thing is maybe a little more of the shot and a little less of the lighting diagram - it was handy to have the image above the embedded video in the thread that I could refer back and forth to while the video was playing, but if someone is watching it "standalone" maybe they won't have that opportunity?

If you're aiming at a more beginner kind of viewer then maybe some more info or an image or two about the bits themselves (say when you talk about a blue gel actually show one)? Obviously if your intended viewer is a little more advanced then that's not necessary.

When I was starting out that was really helpful for me though - if you said "blue gel" to me I was imagining brackets and all sorts, whereas in reality it can be a 2c piece of cellophane velcroed to a flash. But now I'm at the point of wanting more of the technical stuff... maybe like what were the default settings that you started with? Again one valuable thing that I learned from the strobist site was "set shutter to sync speed, f5.6, and 1/6th power on the flash, shoot and check the histogram".

For me it was breaking that initial barrier which really helped me get started (i.e. cheap simple equipment and a formula to start with).

Hope that helps.

[MarkChap]

That's a great video Brodie, thanks for sharing

[Brodie]

One thing is maybe a little more of the shot and a little less of the lighting diagram - it was handy to have the image above the embedded video in the thread that I could refer back and forth to while the video was playing, but if someone is watching it "standalone" maybe they won't have that opportunity?

If you're aiming at a more beginner kind of viewer then maybe some more info or an image or two about the bits themselves (say when you talk about a blue gel actually show one)? Obviously if your intended viewer is a little more advanced then that's not necessary.

When I was starting out that was really helpful for me though - if you said "blue gel" to me I was imagining brackets and all sorts, whereas in reality it can be a 2c piece of cellophane velcroed to a flash. But now I'm at the point of wanting more of the technical stuff... maybe like what were the default settings that you started with? Again one valuable thing that I learned from the strobist site was "set shutter to sync speed, f5.6, and 1/6th power on the flash, shoot and check the histogram".

For me it was breaking that initial barrier which really helped me get started (i.e. cheap simple equipment and a formula to start with).

Hope that helps.

Some very valuable points there maccaroneski. I used to feel the same way you did. I remember not knowing what the hell a gel was and other concepts.

I did actually have some video of me showing the gels and how I use them and some other thigns but I left it all out. it was getting too long and too much. In the other videos I have actual behind the scenes footage and photos so you can see the setups and I talk through them. On this assignment unfortunately I didnt have any of that so I just used the lighting diagram.

I might do some universal basic videos on how I use gels etc too.

Thanks guys! I'll get cranking on the next one.

[Omytion]

What I particularly like is that you weren't tempted to warm the band up to the point where you got the (arguably overused) blue/orange effect. Gives an appealing edginess to it.

[Annalah]

Very well explained! Thank you!

[Brodie]

What I particularly like is that you weren't tempted to warm the band up to the point where you got the (arguably overused) blue/orange effect. Gives an appealing edginess to it.

Yeah I didnt want the guys to look warm and orange, I just didnt want them to look blue.

[exmrblonde]

Thanks Brodie - fantastic video for beginners like me...
Cheers

[NextPagePhoto]

Thanks, very informative.

[Lincolnbl]

Thanks for sharing. Its always difficult to visualise where strobes are placed to get certain effects.... maybe its just me but the camera right, flash left thing just doesnt sink in so well :o Thanks for the visual cues...for me anyway ;)