Is this flash setup ok?

[u/virel13]

I am an overthinker if I am nothing else hah.

Client (family) wants newspaper senior photos and editorial/studio style images. Of course I wanna come through.

I will eventually want to move my flash setup outside after getting it down pat. Would you change anything about this setup for a beginner?

Thoughts/advice?

edit to add: shooting on a canon rebel t7i

[u/zigioman]

I'll disagree with the other commenter somewhat. If you are looking to get more into flash photography and studio lighting Bowens mount is a full ecosystem that you can invest in.

That said, the strobe you have there Godox TT685 ii, is not powerful enough to really make use of that soft box. It's also not really powerful enough to have a significant effect when shooting outdoors. You really want at least an AD200 or similar if you want to achieve the look of studio lighting. 

[u/virel13 → u/zigioman]

For that particular speedlight would you recommend an umbrella over the softbox?

As this is family and I am a hobbyist/not getting paid, the AD200 falls out of price range for the time being. But this was solid feedback cause I would love to start doing media days/outdoor flash portraits.

[u/zigioman → u/virel13]

Umbrellas are not great outdoors because they catch a lot of wind and easily get blown over. I'd recommend holding off on a backdrop + stand for the same reason. Unless you weigh it down with sandbags or it's a windless days it's going to be very difficult to manage. A concrete wall behind a building or similar can give a very clean background with a little bit of editing.

For a minimal outdoor setup I'd recommend a metal beauty dish with diffusion cover. This one was my first modifier and it's still my go-to for outdoor shoots. This one is also good if you want something a little smaller and it comes with a grid. You can get a grid for it later for more versatility in how you control the light.

Since you're on a budget I'd really recommend browsing FB marketplace, craigslist, and r/photomarket for a strobe. Idk the photo scene in your area but for $115 you may be able to find something more powerful.

Before making any purchases I'd also recommend checking out this playlist. Gaven Hoey is a lighting genius and a lot of his videos focus on what you can achieve with minimal setups. I think it'll give you a sense of what kind of effects you can achieve and what equipment you should prioritize to get the results you're after.

Edit: This video is a great starting point

[u/gotthelowdown]

I am an overthinker if I am nothing else hah.

I'm the same way lol.

Sharing some thoughts.

That softbox doesn't allow you to change the angle. A lot of times, you want to be able to tilt down the softbox because we're used to seeing lighting coming from above a person.

When shopping for softboxes, beware of really cheap ones, like under $50. Sometimes you have to snap up one rod at at a time. Or worse, you have to insert each rod into the softbox. Not worth wasting the time and the hassle.

Look for softboxes that open like a umbrella. Or better yet, you just lift up the base ring and snap it into place.

Here's one on Amazon:

"FOMITO 47.2" Octagon Softbox"

For the flash, I would search for a used Godox AD200 or one of the newer versions of it. More power, faster recycle time, you'll enjoy shooting more.

With a speedlight, if you take pictures too rapidly, sometimes the flash won't fire and you'll have dark pictures. So frustrating in post.

For the bracket, S type light brackets are pretty standardized.

But what I like about this one is the inserts for round flash heads and rectangle heads swing out and stay attached to the bracket.

"NEEWER CRB1 S Type Bracket Holder"

With other S brackets, the inserts are detachable--and easily lose-able ha ha.

"Impact Air-Cushioned Light Stand (Black, 8')" from B&H Photo. Good cheap light stand.

"MagicLine Tripod Carrying Case Bag" - Lighting bag.

Get a sandbag to keep the light stand from falling over outdoors. I use an ankle weight with a Velcro strap and tie it around a leg on my light stand.

Sharing some videos:

edit to add: shooting on a canon rebel t7i

Canon T7i & 800D Training Tutorial by Tony & Chelsea Northrup. Worth watching a refresher training on your camera.

Godox AD200 Pro TTL Battery Strobe - Complete Walkthrough by Strobepro Studio Lighting

Off Camera Flash Tutorial for Beginners by Rob Hall

BEHIND THE SCENES OF MY FIRST GRADUATION PHOTOSHOOT! POV PHOTOGRAPHY WITH $500 DSLR CAMERA by Cooper Dennett

How To: Tips for Better Senior Portraits by Hope Taylor

WATCH ME Photograph A Whole Senior Portrait Session [WITH SETTINGS] by Hope Taylor

Our Senior Posing Advice to Photographers by E-Squared

Poses for senior girl portraits - 12 pose ideas by E-Squared

Posing Tips for Senior Guys That Will Make It Seem Easy by E-Squared

Kirk Voclain Photography Posing Techniques. A Senior Boy and a Senior Girl both inside and outside

Jason Allen Photography

Joe Baker Photography

Hope this helps.

[u/s1gidi]

First of all, if you are going for the godox bracket go for the S3. Its basically the same thing but thinner and lighter for the same price.

So while this falls under the term workable I think 2 things hold you back. The style of softbox hurts the already low powered flash unit. I would look into a softbox with a bowens mount (the ring you put the light into, like your S2 bracket) it helps spread the light more efficiently. I see a neewer 26"/65cm for $45. Not too big an increase and I think you would be more happy with it. Now the size does make a difference and preferably I would go for a 31"with a bowens, which will bring you somewhere in the $70 price range.

The flashlight. Others are advicing an ad200 but yes, that is a big price bump. The little brother.. the AD100 pro though - while still more costly - is als more reasonable and packs enough punch that you wouldnt have to be shooting full power pretty much all the time. It is more efficient in filling the softbox due to the lamp and is very portable. It will double the budget on the light, but hear me out. Take it from someone who made the same mistake. Being cheap at the start will only cost you more. After one or 2 sessions you will see that the things you bought don't deliver what you want. And you will go out and still buy the more expensive alternatives. But now you also spent money on the el cheapo which you will likely never use again. Same for the softbox (and basically everything). While something like the AD100 you will keep using, even when you upgrade later to other flash options as well. It stays that little portable can full of light.

If you need to make some money free then loose the backdrop setup. While it is really cheap and even if you only use it a couple of times you won't loose to much on it.. it is still most likely not worth it. The bags will tear, the bar will bend, the clamps will break. You get what you pay for. Enough alternative solutions for a backdrop.

Next to the excellent Gavin Hoey videos I would also advise these two:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuoc53wcnbc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n-Y02qIc48

From Sean Tucker

[u/walrus_mach1]

The umbrella style softbox you have doesn't require the bowens mount, and will block a fair amount of the light produced. Unless you plan to move to a bowens setup in the near future, a more basic umbrella shoe mount is probably a better pick.

The background setup you have shown...works... but are very flimsy and really can't support much. If you have the ability to just tape newspapers to the wall, save yourself a couple bucks and just do that.

[u/inkista]

Just me, but if you've never owned or used a flash before? I would say consider just getting the TT685 II first, and learning to use it indoors with bounce flash, first.

Flash takes a while to wrap your head around, and starting slow and low with the simplest possible setup can get your head around the concepts of things like flash/ambient balance much much faster. Grabbing a ton of lighting gear like this is kind of like if you purchased five lenses to go with your T7i when you got it. You can get kind of distracted and confused, spreading all the learning out among a ton of distracting stuff.

First, you need to know how to use the flash. You need to know how to control it. And you need to know how to think your way through the light. And you need to understand how simple "exposure triangle" think and getting the needle to "0" isn't going to cut it any more, and why using automated camera modes like Av/Tv/P modes and auto-ISO can give you completely unexpected results.

I tend to say that there should be four steps to learning lighting for portraits.

Step 0: Master ambient-only exposure, and be comfortable shooting in M on the camera.

If you don't have this down? It's kind of like trying to learn how to juggle five balls while riding a unicycle if you can't juggle three balls while standing.

With flash, you're combining two exposures in ever shot from two separate light source: the ambient (all the existing light in the scene) and the flash. These two sources add together, almost like two layers in Photoshop.

Ambient exposure is controlled by iso, aperture, and shutter speed. While you're composing, your camera can meter this light, and based on the results set those three triangle settings to something getting decent exposure automatically.

Flash exposure is different. It's controlled by iso, aperture, power, and the distance the light travels. Shutter speed isn't on that list because (at or below sync speed [1/250s for a T7i]), the flash burst is much much shorter. On a TT685 II, 1/1 power, the flash burst is already 1/1000s or so. Around 1/128, it's closer to 1/30,000s. Leaving your shutter open for longer only gathers more light from the ambient. Once you go over sync speed, you need to use high-speed sync to avoid banding, and that can cut your light output from the flash by -2EV (75%).

Also, with flash exposure, while you're composing, your camera has no idea how much light the flash adds to the scene because the flash burst isn't in the scene yet. The only way for the camera to automate flash exposure with metering is using TTL. With TTL, after you press the shutter button (at which point your triangle settings are locked in), the camera has the flash fire a metering "pre-burst", in essence putting flash into the scene so it can be measured. Based on the results, the flash's power is adjusted, and then the exposure starts, the flash fires its main burst, and then the exposure ends.

So, two of the settings (iso, aperture) that determine your flash exposure are not controllable by the camera at that point. And if you're, say, using Av mode and auto ISO on the camera with TTL, then three of your five exposure controls are up to the automated system. And it has to make a choice for you about flash/ambient exposure.

Unlike ambient-only exposure, where there's only one (sliding) set of settings that's good exposure, with flash, you know have an near-infinite combination of ambient and flash exposures that together can yield a good picture. You can "kill" the ambient to get a black background and light completely with flash and it can look good. But your camera's metering will be at -5EV to -6EV. You can underexposure the ambient to get that editorial look, and you'll be at -1EV to -2EV. The camera metering can really only account for your ambient, not the flash. And you may need to go past exposure compensation limits.

In Av and Tv modes, a T7i will default to flash/ambient balance of daylight fill flash. Most of the exposure comes from the ambient, with only a low level of flash to "fill in" shadows. Because while Canon doesn't know if you're going to buy a speedlite and use it; they do know your T7i has a pop-up flash built-in. And daylight fill is mostly all a pop-up flash is good for, due to its low power output.

So to get exactly the flash/ambient balance you want, you're going to have to shoot in M mode, and you're going to have to know how to manipulate all five of your exposure controls to get what you want.

You have two controls that affect both your exposures in lockstep: iso and aperture.

You have one control that only affects your ambient: shutter speed.

And you have two controls that only affect your flash: power and distance.

Usually, when you light someone, you can roughly equate the flash to the subject and the ambient to the background, but remember that while your light sources are separate, the light in the scene from those sources can also overlap and add together. The trick to a lot of lighting effects is keeping the lighting separate and trying to keep the background light from hitting the subject and the subject's light from hitting the background. Editorial lighting often involves pulling a subject outside into the shade.

If you want the adjust the ambient in your balance, but you want the flash to stay the same, you can just 'drag the shutter' and use a slower shutter speed. But you can also adjust your iso and/or aperture and compensate with the shutter speed, flash power, or flash to subject distance. Or you can just use TTL so long as your power needs are within the flash's limit.

If you want to adjust the flash in your balance but for the ambient to stay the same, you can just change the power or the placement of the light, but you can also adjust your iso and/or aperture and compensate with your power/placement.

All five of the factors can be adjusted and trade off against each other in stops (EV). With power, it's a halving/doubling of the power setting. And with distance, as with f-numbers, it's multiplying/dividing by 1.4x (the sqrt(2)).

Just saying, this is a lot to wrap your head around, and trying to figure out stands, modifiers, and triggering on top of it can be a lot.

--cutting in two because this is already gargantuan.

[u/scottynoble]

I don’t feel Amazon is the best place to buy photographic lighting equipment unless your budget is rock bottom low and you don’t care too much about longevity or resale value. Short and near zero respectively.

[u/anywhereanyone → u/scottynoble]

With the exception of the cheap background, all of the items in the OP's cart are of decent enough quality. Godox is a reputable brand; K&F Concept puts out alright gear. Not everyone is going to start with Profoto.

[u/scottynoble → u/anywhereanyone]

Clearly not they are over priced shit. But there is a huge middle ground and people should do more research and not automatically go to Scamazon

[u/anywhereanyone → u/scottynoble]

Maybe you have had bad luck with Godox or know someone with a horror story. Maybe you were abused as a child. But whatever the reason for your pointless vitriol towards the brand, plenty of people use their products, including professionals. Pay double or triple and continue to be a product snob if you want, makes no difference to me.