Comments on: Using Your Small Strobes for Professional Results: Part One

By: thor

thor — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:27:46 +0000

how do I find part 2 of this???

By: Brendan

Brendan — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:25:09 +0000

I enjoyed doing this project this past weekend. Learned a lot. Thanks !

By: Jack Young

Jack Young — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:45:02 +0000

Great info and this site is bookmarked!

By: ephoto

ephoto — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:08:31 +0000

Very useful post. Ponravilos solution with knots

By: Bello

Bello — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:35:20 +0000

I have set this up just the way it was described and it worked perfectly. I made couple of ropes for my friend with the same kind of lights that i have and he was not able to get the correct exposure. My question is does the enviroment that you take the initial reading matters? Do you have to at all times in new location take your readings again using the same unit. This will definately clarify a lot of misunderstanding that we are going through here.

Just to mention the information is absoluteley awesome and i love it a lot.

By: Rob de Cocq

Rob de Cocq — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:50:14 +0000

Nice site!
Although I am experienced still stimulates the creative process
Thanks

By: wizwow

wizwow — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:56:23 +0000

Well, it is somewhat close, but not accurate enough for me to consider it to be the same. The ISL is based on a highly polished parabolic reflector. An umbrella presents a different set of lighting parameters.

While it is certainly close, it isn’t enough for me to consider it accurate. Close, but not exact.

I do recommend that you measure from the fabric center of the umbrella if you are going to work on some base settings, but then it is much easier to measure from the stand as long as the umbrella shaft is at the exact point each time.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:42:49 +0000

Inverse Square Law is accurate for umbrellas.
You just have to measure from the fabric of the umbrella.

By: Tina Harris

Tina Harris — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:57:48 +0000

Thank you Wizwow! This worked perfectly (just as you said), and I have now made string meters for my flashes. Now I just have to do the same thing with my umbrella!

This is a great site. Between LE and Strobist I might actually (finally) be able to figure out the whole lighting with flash thing!

By: wizwow

wizwow — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:24:57 +0000

Hi Tina.

You cannot set the f-stop. That is what the test will determine. You have the flash set to manual at 1/8 power. Put your meter or gray card about 6ft away and make your first test. If it is dead on to an f-stop mark it… if it is not, tweak until it is dead on an f-stop (like f8 or f11… not 8.5 or 7.1.) Find it at one of the prime f-stops. If you are using a meter, note the change and make distance from flash movement. If you are using a gray target slightly move it toward or away from the flash to get that histogram to be dead center.

At that point, you will have the f-stop for your flash at 1/8 power. The rest is then explained in the article. Let me know if you need some more help.