Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I am new to studio lighting, and purchased a B800 flash unit with large softbox, on a recommendation. I find that after using it, it completely blows out the picture on one side (even on the absolute lowest setting) and the other side of the subject is shadowy. I also have a round 42" disc reflector to try and fill those shadows. I have my set-up in a dark basement with no natural light.

Should I downgrade to the B400? Can anyone help, please?! THANK YOU!

PS- I am not very "technical" in terms of terminology, so if you could reply in very "easy" terms, it would be very very much appreciated! : )

:D

Are u using a light meter?

I suggest you research the exposure triangle and learn about Aperture, shutter speed and ISO and how to set them. ABs are not plug and play they are set manually along with your camera to work properly.

Once you understand your camera and your settings you will understand how to make the light work for you.

Give us a little more information on how you are using the strobe... camera settings, approach. The first thing is that you should not be using the auto mode on your camera - work in the manual mode. The camera doesn't know there is a strobe there that will be adding more light to the scene so you'll have to set the shutter and aperture manually. If you aren't familiar with using off camera flash then this is a good place to start: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html.

Set your mode dial to "M". Set your lowest ISO (typically 100, but sometimes 200). Set your shutter speed to 1/125 (you may be able to go higher, depending on camera, but this is safe for all modern DSLR's). Set your aperture to f/8. Dial the light's power up or down for good exposure.

Aperture and flash power can each be adjusted for different depths of field, and I also agree that a flash meter would come in handy. You must be in M mode, as the auto modes do not know a flash is present and the camera makes exposure decisions based on the lower light levels.

I am looking for a simple light meter, if you have any suggestions on which would make a great, easy to understand one for a beginner. :)THANKS :)

MrMuggsly wrote:

I suggest you research the exposure triangle and learn about Aperture, shutter speed and ISO and how to set them. ABs are not plug and play they are set manually along with your camera to work properly.

Once you understand your camera and your settings you will understand how to make the light work for you.

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Thank you so much! I thought using the stobe would be much simpler than it's turned out to be :) of course! I appreciate your feedback-- I'm always eager to learn and since I don't have any way of taking photography classes, the internet has been my best resource. Any help is absolutely appreciated! :)

For $25-$30 you can buy a month of training on KelbyTraining.com and watch the studio portrait sets of videos. It will be the best investment you have made beyond what you have spent on your lights.

They will show you how to use your light meter to control your lights and get perfect exposures quickly. I especially recommend these - copy and paste the whole URL:

http://www.kelbytraining.com/player/index.html#tab\instructors/instructor\frank-doorhof/course\274/lesson\3926

http://www.kelbytraining.com/player/index.html#tab\browse/category\all/course\273/lesson\3915