Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

i was planning on setting up 2 einstein strobes in the reception area to use as off camera flash but after looking at some stuff from Jasmin Star im liking the setup she uses. she has one strobe setup on a stand and then uses a hotshoe mounted to the camera as fill. this way she can wonder around and always have a fill light and can use the off camera as rim light, full light, etc depending on where she is. my question is, what does everyone recomend for using an on camera strobe and off camera strobe? i could hook the cyber cync to the sync port on my camera and have the hotshoe flash mounted to the hotshoe... but not sure how to attach the cyber cync to the camera as well? she uses some custom made thing and not sure i will have time to get something made by next weekend so wondering what you all recomend?

also, do you agree with this light setup? what would you do? what size softbox would you have on the strobe?

We would need a camera brand in order to recommend a specific speedlite. However, any top tier or second tier speedlite would probably be up to the task as far as its ability to illuminate. Top end units typically have faster recycling, battery pack provisions, and other bells and wistles.

As for attaching the CST to the camera with a speedlite: rubber bands and/or velcro. I use both, and each works well.

awesome idea with the velcro or ruber band!! ill have to try that one out! and i actually already have an on camera flash. im shooting a sony A900 and have the HLV58 flash.

what size softbox do you recomend for a reception? i have a large octa and large softbox... but i feel like those might be to big to have up at a wedding? i also have just the standar 7" reflectors, but i feel like that might be hard of shadows.

Well, a lot of will have to do with the venue. Remember how light intensity falls off the further you get from it. So if your light is aimed at the reception floor, those closer to the light will get more light falling on them than those across the room. However, a kind of high ceiling can be close to the same distance from everyone. Very low, very high, colored, dark, or absent ceilings are less than desireable, so you may have to go the direct flash approach. With the size fo the room vs the size of the modifier, the size of the modifier will be of little consequence in most cases. I would go with more manageable over more size. I would also research several approaches before taking the word from any one photographer, perhaps hybridizing multiple approaches.

ya i was planning on using the off camera flash mostly for the dance floor. so if i set it up along the wall of the reception hall it would give me a more evenly lit floor (inverse square law) and just in case i needed to use that light for taking pics closer and further away i was thinking of taking some meter reading around the room so i know this area of the room is an f5, this area is f2.8, this one is f11. having the dance floor at say an f6, this would give me some wiggle room on either side of the dance floor so that i would not have to worry about adjusting the light, just adjust aperture and shutter speed as needed.

one question i have about aperture and shutter speed. i know aperture is for flash and shutter speed for ambiant. but the aperture still affects the ambiant correct? i get confused when people say that in flash photography that the shutter speed is what affect the ambient... but if im at f5.6 and 1/250 and thats perfect for ambient but need to go to f4 for the flash then i would need to adjust shutter speed to compensate for the change in aperature since i would be lettin gin more light over the given shutter speed, correct?

You are correct. It is often misstated that aperture is for flash and shutter speed is for ambient, as though each only affects its respective light source.

Aperture and ISO are global, meaning it will affect all light sources. Flash power will affect only flash intensity. Shutter speed, by and large, will only affect ambient.

However, if your flash duration is longer than your shutter speed (even at x-sync or slower) then the shutter will truncate the flash illumination to the sensor. Case in point: a Zeus 2500 with a single tube head set to 160Ws has a t.1 time of 1/175. So the flash is burning for longer than the shutter is open (if set to 1/250), so not all of the flash is reaching the sensor. Similar consequences arise when you use HSS, HyperSync or similar technology. But, the reduction in intensity is harder to measure, as the flash intensity is not constant throughout the burst of light.

I know the previous paragraph may not be pertinent to you, but it is a whole answer for others.

In a situation like this it sounds like you may be better off with two strobes on each end of the dance floor to get an equal distance overall. As well if you shoot from the middle of the dance floor you can off set your on camera flash and use either strobe as a rim/hair light. The two light setup gives you just that sense of ease to know both sides of the dance floor are the same f/stop then the middle is another. Then the last two adjecent sides are another. So you would know what you have to change depending on what area your in. Also don't forget when you are furthest from your strobe you can use your on camera flash as your main light.