Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I have been asked to do some studio photography of dancers in motion. My current Buff lights are two White Lightning Ultra 1200, one Ultra Zap 1600 and one Einstein. I was thinking of using to 86" PLM's soft silver to light the dancers. Since I only have one Einstein. I was thinking using the two Ultra 1200's would be best but not sure if the flash duration will freeze the dancers.

I will be shooting is an extremely large studio with high control ambient light. So I can dial the ambient light down allot but will still need enough for focus. The other issue is these are not slower moving young children but full pro dancers.

Is this possible or do I need another Einstein to make this shoot happen.

Thanks

Frank

Ultra 1200 flash duration is about 1/500 at full, and it gets slower from there. The UZ1600 is 1/675 at full, and getting slower as power goes down.

These will freeze most movement, probably blurring finger tips and toes during leaps and kicks, etc, which move faster.

I think I'd recommend another Einstein, or even two, if you can swing it.

But depending on the look you want, maybe you can get by with just the one Einstein for now? Maybe set up a reflector for the shadow side, or just let it go dark and dramatic.

Thank you this really helped.

Thanks for the suggestion. I am going to order two more Einsteins this Wednesday. I had been hesitant to order more because my White Lightning are so rock solid it felt silly to replace something that never breaks (gotta give props to the folks at Buff for such great products). I am thinking have two setups. One in my home studio with the White Lightning and one for when I shoot high speed dancers at the studios.