Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I've been shooting for a while but mostly landscape (which does not require flash, so I am a complete newbie about studio strobe setup.)

My wife has been taking floral arranging classes for a while and I want to take some pictures of that for her for her portfolio. I've mainly used northern and/or southern facing 6 foot x 4 foot window natural light in my living room during the summer this year. But where I am, Pacific Northwest, during the winter I do not get much light coming in to the house.

So, I want a setup that allows me to mimic the large windows warm natural light setup that I am used to. I usually shoot with 50mm f/1.4 or 100 f/2.8 Macro, from wide open to about f/8 depends on the arrangement. I generally have simple back ground or seamless paper setup. The floral arrangement genrally sits in a vase on a wooden table.

Q1 - What AlienBees do I need? 400, 800 or 1600? I was thinking 800 since I often shoot wide open and I thought maybe 1600 would be too powerful? Can I only have one AB unit to emulate the window light or do I need more than one? I want to keep it simple.

Q2 - What light modifiers for the most soft light and what size? PLM, Softbox, or Octabox? It is not really clear to me which will work the best for floral arrangement shots? I am going for the most natural looking diffused light look. I was going to pick up the largest size available in whichever modifier I was going to pick. Is that an overkill for a floral arrangement shots? (I do want some flexibility just in case I want to start doing some simple family portrait at home).

Any of the AB's would work for you one light is all you need as you can bounce some fill with a white card of any kind. I would get a softbox but even an umbrella would work for you.

Soft light will result from a large light source relative to the subject. Any of the PLM sizes will be large in comparison to a flower arrangement. A white PLM will be very soft.

If you want to shoot wide open you may have trouble using these powerful strobes. You might consider the Einstein. It's the most versatile PCB light and truly awesome. You could also use an ND filter on your camera. You won't be able to use very high shutter speeds (probably 1/250 max) so factor that in.

Your simplest light modifier is likely bounced flash. Just point your strobe at a wall or ceiling. You'll get big, soft, pretty light - and with flowers you don't have to worry so much about fill. Flowers don't have eye sockets. If your room has undesirable wall colors then bounce the flash off a white bed sheet, big (~4x6') piece of foam core, a big reflector, anything. If you want to get fancy, get a Lastolite skylite or similar diffuser and shoot your strobe through it - instant window light. You can also make a diffusion panel very cheaply out of PVC pipe and diffusion material - even a frosted shower curtain.

Honestly if you like the window and the results it produces, I'd just get a tripod and white balance card and continue to use the window with long exposures.

If I were to buy one light, it would either be the White Lightning x1600 or the Einstein.
The WL x1600 has a bigger power range than the AB. On the top end it has more power than the AB, and can be reduced down to a mere 5ws, whereas the the AB 800 only goes down to 10. The Einstein goes down to 2.5ws, which is even less than the WL x1600.

The WL and Einstein run more than a B1600, but offer more. I think it's money better spent. You may not need it now, but it's a good investment into your future.

Other things I prefer about the WL over the AB are the 5 year warranty, the 250 watt modeling light, the housing is built like a tank, the modeling light can be adjusted independently of the flash power, faster t.1 times and better color consistency over the power range.

The Einstein has three advantages the WL doesn't. Action stopping t.1 times, good color consistency over the power range and wider power range. It's slightly less powerful than the 1600, but it can lower the output down to 2.5ws which will help with those wide open aperture shots....however, unless you need those fast t.1 times, I'd save the 60 bucks in price difference.

A WL x1600 would easily be able to handle f/2.8 either through a white plm or bounced off a white ceiling.