Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hello,

I'm a high school student that will be photographing 25 students outdoors through out the day. I'm having a problem with understanding how to use this cyber commander and how I can control the constant changes in sunlight.

A professional photographer, a family friend, is letting me use his equipment for a shoot I will be doing this weekend. Which I picked up last night from his studio. He is letting me use 3 1600X white lighting with 2 beauty dishes and another 1600x, that he said I should have in case I do not have good hair/back light. He gave me a 3 receivers and Cyber Commander including a manual how to setup them all up.

Some of the models will be during the 10am some at 1pm and some at 3pm. My first question is during the day the sunlight will be changing constantly, so how do I handle this uncontrollable factor with the cyber commander? If the sun goes behind a cloud on one shot and out the next. I don't want to call him again because I called so many times last night.

Thank you for any help.

If you are looking for a consistent look in each image, you may not be able to get it because you are in a dynamic environment. If you are looking for proper exposure, just meter before every group and after any major changes (big cloud moves in).

Beyond that, if you end up liking a type of shot, meter your ambient alone (by selecting an unused channel, or spec'ing a channel as OTHER>UNDEFINED) then ambient + flash (use the all channel setting, ambient gets metered with every reading). Note the difference in the two. Before each group, meter the ambient, then adjust the flashes so that they meter at the same ratio.

Keep in mind the direction of the sun will change and there is not much that can be done about that, unless you shoot in the shade on the north side of a building.

Also, be sure you are familiar with the Cyber Commander (and all gear, really) before the shoot.

Those two points can't be emphasized enough. Knowing the gear will help you be light on your feet and able to handle to whatever comes up. And shade, well shade is your friend. Finding a shady spot (not dappled light but continuous shade) will give you more consistency from shot to shot throughout the day and will knock down the level of ambient that you are dealing with. Think of it as a huge fill light and then build up from there with your lights to sculpt the subject.

Thank you both for the responses. The project that I have is a part of my finial and I understand that the Hard Light from direct sun is going to be pushing my shadows. I do want ground shadows and some across the face to add for dramatic effect.

To use the cyber commander as an ambient meter on a separate channel from the 2-3 lights how do I calculate the difference so I can change the light power through cyber commander?

Will I be able to adjust each light as quick as it seems from everything I am reading?

Can I have to have the same lights in different groups to help in the changes during the changing conditions? I've been setting up 3 different lighting angles, so can I have a different lighting group for each set up?

There are 8 different GAP (groups) can use the same lights be in multiple groups with presets to for the change of distance and angle that I hope to achieve?

I have already been setting up the lights and playing with the Cyber Commander. It is very cool that I can change everything from the top of my camera. This is a lot easier than the lights I have to use in my class.

If you set up the channel as SPEC LIGHTS>UNDEFINED>OTHER, it will act like a light and mark the meter reading as it would any other light. Let's say ambient meters at f/8, and you find you like the effect when ambient meters at f/8, but flash and ambient are f/16'3. that is 2-3/10 difference. Later, clouds roll in and ambient meters at f/4' 2. You will need to have the flashes plus ambient meter at f/8' 5. With ambient in the mix, you cannot just adjust until the all meter reading says f/8' 5, as it the commander thinks it is adjusting all lights sources equally, but it is not calculating the non change in the ambient. this means you will have to adjust and remeter.


Each light will change quickly. Although, as stated above, ambient will play a role in the meter calculations, so you will have to remeter after the changes. With no ambient light, this would not be the case. Meter once, adjust to taste, shoot. This is still a much faster process than running back and forth to the light to make minor tweaks



I am sorry, but i do not full visualize what you are doing here, but any one light can be in any one or more GRP's (groups). However, if you make a power change to a light in GRP1, that same change will carry over to that same light in GRP2. Changing groups will not revert any one light's settings to a different value. You can set these up as save locations on the SD card if you desire.

Good luck with the project!

What I do shooting youth sports, I try to place the subjects back to the sun. This gives a beautiful hair/kicker light. Watch for lens flair of course. Sometimes the background won't permit this so I do what ever I can. I use one light that matches the suns intencity. I meter every 15 minutes or whenever cloud cover changes.

Depending on what your looking for as far as light form, you can use the sun as a main or fill and use a 1, or 2 stop difference between your light and the sun. 3 stops may look too contrasty and look to much like a snapshot in the bright sun.

Another advantage to using the sun behind the subject, there eyes are more relaxed and not squinting. There whole body facing the camera will be in shadow giving you more control of the light hitting the subject, just pay attention to lens flair and shade the lens accordingly.

If a large shaded area is available than just pay attention to how much light you use. You don't want the background to be blown out or blocked out, try to be no more than one stop over/under than the background to make it look not so "flashy", a half stop is even better...