Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

This may have been asked here before but I can't find it..

I have 2 B800s with umbrellas. I have a few other lights from cheap kits I've bought before. The cheap lights fail all the time so I need another one to replace them.

I shoot mostly portraits. I need another light to flash on the backdrop to breakup the backdrop from the subject. I've been looking for a setup here but I'm getting very confused so I'm asking for a little advice.

What would be the best setup to flash on the backdrop in a small studio? My backdrops are white, black, blue, red, some tie dye, and a few painted.

I'm looking for info about the best setup in lighting.

Thanks for any help.

There are a few ways you could go.

1) Use 2 lights - Use one of your lights for the key light, Use a reflector for fill, and your second light to fire at the backdrop.

2) Use 3 lights - One as your key light, one as your fill light and a third for the backdrop. For the backdrop, you could get by with a B400. It is more than enough for that.

a good place to start:
http://www.professionalphotography101.c ... names.html

Sorry it took so long to get back on here.

I guess my question should have been more directed towards what would be the best modifier to use with the back light. I will be going for the B400 but need to know what to add to it. Right now I use a cheap strobe with a barn door.

It's a small studio. The subject is usually about 6 ft from the backdrop and the strobe is on a short stand about 5 ft from the backdrop.

I'm looking to add maybe a little halo effect without over powering and washing out the whole backdrop.

Thanks.

I like using AB800's everywhere except on the backdrop... For that I use an Nikon SB800 in SU-4 mode.