playing with strobe

This was one of the play setups at Amherst.
Glasses filled with colored water were placed on a spring loaded table.
The basic technique is focus, turn out the lights, open he shutter and
release the spring to move the glasses then fire the strobe and close
the shutter. You get an interesting effect.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/_DSC1285%20original.jpg

Even though i pressed the shutter, the image is not really mine because
I did not Since I did not create the setup. my role was purely mechanical.

So I played with PS and came up with this:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/_DSC1285%20processed.jpg

One can certainly get some interesting effects using strobe as the
source light.

Hopefully this will provoke a photography discussion.

--
PeterN

PeterN wrote:
This was one of the play setups at Amherst.
Glasses filled with colored water were placed on a
spring loaded table. The basic technique is focus, turn
out the lights, open he shutter and release the spring
to move the glasses then fire the strobe and close the
shutter. You get an interesting effect.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/_DSC1285%20original.jpg

So there was someone else in the room that set up all the lights,
focused the camera, pushed the buttons and twiddled the knobs?

Looks to me like *you* are fully to blame.

The picture is unimaginative, lifeless, but useful for learning.

Even though i pressed the shutter, the image is not
really mine because I did not Since I did not create the
setup. my role was purely mechanical.

So I played with PS and came up with this:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/_DSC1285%20processed.jpg

This is really cool!

One can certainly get some interesting effects using
strobe as the source light.

Hopefully this will provoke a photography discussion.

Are you using speedlights or studio strobes? A studio
setup with several strobes would allow for a lot of
creativity! A background light with some kind of a
pattern and using colored gels would be nice. Then
putting snoots and grids on at least a couple of lights
to get more contours and shadows would work too.

Lights can be a lot of fun if you have the room for a
"studio".

Right now I'm fussing with ideas that so far are only in
my head, thinking of using the great outdoors as the
studio, and doing things with multiple stobes. The big
problem is the weight of such a kit. Take an hour to
set up, take a few shots, and take an hour to repack it
for travel. In the same two hours I could take 100
interesting shots of other things, gawk at 30 nice
looking ladies, pet a dog or two, eat something that
tastes good... or better yet I could take a nap!

I have lots of motivation, but my creaky old bones don't.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

On 8/5/2016 10:26 AM, Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
PeterN wrote:
This was one of the play setups at Amherst.
Glasses filled with colored water were placed on a
spring loaded table. The basic technique is focus, turn
out the lights, open he shutter and release the spring
to move the glasses then fire the strobe and close the
shutter. You get an interesting effect.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/_DSC1285%20original.jpg

So there was someone else in the room that set up all the lights,
focused the camera, pushed the buttons and twiddled the knobs?

I focused and pushed the shutter. But that is immaterial. It was not my
setup or interpretation of the scene.


Looks to me like *you* are fully to blame.

The picture is unimaginative, lifeless, but useful for learning.


Yep! That's why I even bothered. There ar others in that series, but
unless I put something of myself into the image, it certainly isn't
mine. Similarly, if I took a picture of the Mona Lisa, it certainly
would not be my picture.

Even though i pressed the shutter, the image is not
really mine because I did not Since I did not create the
setup. my role was purely mechanical.

So I played with PS and came up with this:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/_DSC1285%20processed.jpg

This is really cool!

Thank you.

One can certainly get some interesting effects using
strobe as the source light.

Hopefully this will provoke a photography discussion.

Are you using speedlights or studio strobes? A studio
setup with several strobes would allow for a lot of
creativity! A background light with some kind of a
pattern and using colored gels would be nice. Then
putting snoots and grids on at least a couple of lights
to get more contours and shadows would work too.

Was shot with dual ordinary strobes.

Lights can be a lot of fun if you have the room for a
"studio".

Yup.


Right now I'm fussing with ideas that so far are only in
my head, thinking of using the great outdoors as the
studio, and doing things with multiple stobes. The big
problem is the weight of such a kit. Take an hour to
set up, take a few shots, and take an hour to repack it
for travel. In the same two hours I could take 100
interesting shots of other things, gawk at 30 nice
looking ladies, pet a dog or two, eat something that
tastes good... or better yet I could take a nap!

It's simply a matter of individual preference. Some might never look at
the original of my image again. I prefer to spend some time and see if I
can turn the original into something interesting to me.
That's on of the the beauties of this hobby. The only harm I can do to
someone is give them sore eyes.


I have lots of motivation, but my creaky old bones don't.


I know the feeling.

--
PeterN

PeterN wrote:
On 8/5/2016 10:26 AM, Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
Are you using speedlights or studio strobes? A studio
setup with several strobes would allow for a lot of
creativity! A background light with some kind of a
pattern and using colored gels would be nice. Then
putting snoots and grids on at least a couple of lights
to get more contours and shadows would work too.

Was shot with dual ordinary strobes.

What does "ordinary strobes" mean to you?

To me a strobe runs directly from AC power, and the
output light power is usually controlled by the
magnitude of the voltage the capacitor is charged to,
which is always allowed to discharge completely when
fired. A speedlight runs on DC from batteries and the
output light power is controlled by the time interval of
the flash, which except at full power is cutoff long
before the capacitor discharges.

Speedlights are erratic in both color and exposure.
Strobes are more consistent, but they have longer flash
duration than a speedlight for the same power output.
Which is to say that for stopping motion in the way you
did, a speedlight can sometimes be required; but when
using combinations of multiple lights the color casts
from different lights at different powers can be a
problem that strobes are not as bad at.

Speedlights get bluer at lower power and strobes are
more red. Some strobes, like the Einstein model from
Paul C. Buff, use a combination of those two methods of
controlling the output and can be really nice.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

On 8/5/2016 1:05 PM, Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
PeterN wrote:
On 8/5/2016 10:26 AM, Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
Are you using speedlights or studio strobes? A studio
setup with several strobes would allow for a lot of
creativity! A background light with some kind of a
pattern and using colored gels would be nice. Then
putting snoots and grids on at least a couple of lights
to get more contours and shadows would work too.

Was shot with dual ordinary strobes.

What does "ordinary strobes" mean to you?


The type similar to the ones I use on my camera, like my SB 800.



To me a strobe runs directly from AC power, and the
output light power is usually controlled by the
magnitude of the voltage the capacitor is charged to,
which is always allowed to discharge completely when
fired. A speedlight runs on DC from batteries and the
output light power is controlled by the time interval of
the flash, which except at full power is cutoff long
before the capacitor discharges.

Speedlights are erratic in both color and exposure.
Strobes are more consistent, but they have longer flash
duration than a speedlight for the same power output.
Which is to say that for stopping motion in the way you
did, a speedlight can sometimes be required; but when
using combinations of multiple lights the color casts
from different lights at different powers can be a
problem that strobes are not as bad at.

Speedlights get bluer at lower power and strobes are
more red. Some strobes, like the Einstein model from
Paul C. Buff, use a combination of those two methods of
controlling the output and can be really nice.



--
PeterN

Floyd L. Davidson:
What does "ordinary strobes" mean to you?

To me a strobe runs directly from AC power...

To me a "strobe" runs on battery power. My Profoto B1 500AirTTL
"Off-Camera Flashes" run on battery power. They are full-featured,
radio-controlled, 500WS studio strobes, not small, low-power
camera-mounted strobes. I also have three of those, Canon 600EX-RT's,
which certainly have their place, as well.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

Davoud wrote:
Floyd L. Davidson:
What does "ordinary strobes" mean to you?

To me a strobe runs directly from AC power...

To me a "strobe" runs on battery power.

Okay, what do you call all those studio flash units that
run on AC power? :-)

Technically a "strobe light" is any triggered flash. A
speedlight is a subset of strobes that can be mounted
physically directly on the camera, as a builtin or on
the hotshoe. It's all sort of an arbitrary set of
distinctions.

Which is why I asked Peter what it meant to him.

My Profoto B1 500AirTTL
"Off-Camera Flashes" run on battery power. They are full-featured,
radio-controlled, 500WS studio strobes, not small, low-power
camera-mounted strobes. I also have three of those, Canon 600EX-RT's,
which certainly have their place, as well.

Certainly the Profoto B1 and B2 models are strobes.
They are among the now growing number of battery powered
strobes. Godox, for example, and others now have low
cost strobe lights with built in batteries. These are
all enabled by the existance of Lithium batteries.
Sealed Lead Acid batteries are something like 3 or 4
times as heavy for the same power.

So I guess that is no longer a good way to make a
distinction!

However, "low-power camera-mounted strobes" are
speedlights to most people. The SB-800 that PeterN
mentions is a speedlight, but obviously some people call
it a strobe and some don't.

And the real point was that Peter might be interested,
if that sort of photography really gets his attention,
in checking out different lights (call 'em strobes or
whatever).

Obviously for someone who uses Profoto strobes the
concept of extra functionality is important! The
average camera user is perhaps a little horrified
at the idea of spending that much money, but for
work that pays the rent it's a no-brainer too.

It's an odd thing for me, as I have never really cared
to use flash. But I own maybe 15 on camera speedlights,
mostly older models but also 1 SB-600 and 1 SB-800. And
I have 9 studio monolights (all PCB) ranging from the
ABR800 ring light, to four Einsteins and one UltraX3200,
with at least 1 Ultra600 and 2 Ultra1200 units.

Consider that a SB-800 puts out something like 80 Ws of
power, and the X3200 is like 1320 Ws, or about 16 times
as much! I got the X3200 for one specific purpose, as
it now drives the fiber cables that I use to light up
things on a macro bench. It has a lot of light, but it
also has a very long pulse duration and wouldn't stop
motion for pictures like those Peter posted.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

On 8/6/2016 2:07 AM, Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
Davoud wrote:
Floyd L. Davidson:
What does "ordinary strobes" mean to you?

To me a strobe runs directly from AC power...

To me a "strobe" runs on battery power.

Okay, what do you call all those studio flash units that
run on AC power? :-)

In common jargon, the studio or camera mounted flashes would be "flash
units", differentiated from strobe lights that are capable of
full-powered flashes at multiple times per second.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strobe_light

http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowl...peedlight.html

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/speed-light

Technically a "strobe light" is any triggered flash. A
speedlight is a subset of strobes that can be mounted
physically directly on the camera, as a builtin or on
the hotshoe. It's all sort of an arbitrary set of
distinctions.

I don't think that how or where the units are mounted differentiate
their designation as strobes or speedlights except, possibly in limited
jargon.

--
Best regards,

Neil

In article , Neil
wrote:

What does "ordinary strobes" mean to you?

To me a strobe runs directly from AC power...

To me a "strobe" runs on battery power.

Okay, what do you call all those studio flash units that
run on AC power? :-)

In common jargon, the studio or camera mounted flashes would be "flash
units", differentiated from strobe lights that are capable of
full-powered flashes at multiple times per second.

in common photo jargon, studio flashes are often called strobes (to
differentiate from continuous lights) while on-camera flash is usually
called just that, a flash, either built-in or external.

in non-photo jargon, a strobe light is a rapidly flashing light that
flashes multiple times per second.

some camera flashes can rapidly fire for a stroboscopic effect, but
only for a very brief time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strobe_light

http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowl...essories/what-
is-a-speedlight.html

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/speed-light

speedlight is a nikon trademark and speedlite is a canon trademark.

pentax, olympus, sony and everyone else can't call it that.

long ago, pentax called their external flashes strobonar:
http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Strobonar

using the term 'speedlight' generically to mean on-camera flash may be
common, but it's wrong and it's never two words, 'speed light', as
written above.

Technically a "strobe light" is any triggered flash. A
speedlight is a subset of strobes that can be mounted
physically directly on the camera, as a builtin or on
the hotshoe. It's all sort of an arbitrary set of
distinctions.

I don't think that how or where the units are mounted differentiate
their designation as strobes or speedlights except, possibly in limited
jargon.

that limited jargon is called photography.

http://improvephotography.com/5898/speedlights-vs-strobes/
http://scottkelby.com/studio-strobes-vs-small-off-camera-flashes/
http://jakehicksphotography.com/late...-better-speedl
ights-or-strobes
http://www.stevenjosephphotography.c...photographers-
steven-joseph-photography-the-8-advantages-of-using-speedlites-vs-studio-
strobes-strobist/
http://www.discoverdigitalphotograph...difference-bet
ween-speedlights-and-studio-strobes/
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse...161/N/42945511
76

nospam wrote:
In article , Neil
wrote:
In common jargon, the studio or camera mounted flashes would be "flash
units", differentiated from strobe lights that are capable of
full-powered flashes at multiple times per second.

Not true, as any of them would be called a flash.

in common photo jargon, studio flashes are often called strobes (to
differentiate from continuous lights) while on-camera flash is usually
called just that, a flash, either built-in or external.

Or they are commonly called either a speedlite, a
speedlight, a speed lite, or a speed light.

in non-photo jargon, a strobe light is a rapidly flashing light that
flashes multiple times per second.

It need not be able to flash multiple times per second,
only multiple times.

some camera flashes can rapidly fire for a stroboscopic effect, but
only for a very brief time.

Most can do that for a significant amount of time, like
all day long for those powered by AC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strobe_light

http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowl...essories/what-
is-a-speedlight.html

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/speed-light

speedlight is a nikon trademark and speedlite is a canon trademark.

pentax, olympus, sony and everyone else can't call it that.

That is totally false. Nikon *uses* the term "speedlight" and
Canon *uses* the term "speedlite", but neither of them has ever
registered those terms as trademarks (it would almost certainly
be denied anyway).

Other companies can use those terms too (and have). They generally
don't because they don't want to be confused with Canon or Nikon.

Yongnuo uses both Speedlite and Speedlight. Nissin at least uses
Speedlite, and probably uses Speedlight too.

long ago, pentax called their external flashes strobonar:
http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Strobonar

using the term 'speedlight' generically to mean on-camera flash may be
common, but it's wrong and it's never two words, 'speed light', as
written above.

More of your great imagination. All these various ways of using
the term have been in use for decades now.

Technically a "strobe light" is any triggered flash. A
speedlight is a subset of strobes that can be mounted
physically directly on the camera, as a builtin or on
the hotshoe. It's all sort of an arbitrary set of
distinctions.

I don't think that how or where the units are mounted differentiate
their designation as strobes or speedlights except, possibly in limited
jargon.

that limited jargon is called photography.

That is one thing you did get correct!

http://improvephotography.com/5898/speedlights-vs-strobes/
http://scottkelby.com/studio-strobes-vs-small-off-camera-flashes/
http://jakehicksphotography.com/late...-better-speedl
ights-or-strobes
http://www.stevenjosephphotography.c...photographers-
steven-joseph-photography-the-8-advantages-of-using-speedlites-vs-studio-
strobes-strobist/
http://www.discoverdigitalphotograph...difference-bet
ween-speedlights-and-studio-strobes/
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse...161/N/42945511
76

I only looked at a couple of these, the both agreed with
exactly what I said to start with. What's the point
though... we can find somebody on the Internet that will
say anything. The last one, from BH Photo, is probably
the only one of these that is "authoritative" (it one
that agrees with what I originally said).

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)