How Light Is Used To Create Images-Third Update (3 of 4)

Note: I have never liked MONOLIGHTS because the flash generator is built into the flash head itself. If something goes wrong and needs repair, you have to send the whole light in. So, unless you have more heads than you actually need, you could be without a light for a while. Lately, however, I have been investigating monolights made by Westcott which seem to be fairly priced and may be a lot easier to transport than some of my older equipment. And, since most of my studio strobes are 30 years old or so, it may be time to buy some new ones.

How Light Is Used To Create Images-Third Update (3 of 4)

by William Lulow

In the old days, most studio photography was done with theatrical hot lights. And, they were just that…HOT. Flash has actually been around almost since the beginning of the photographic process in the early 1800s. Photographers used a mixture of potassium chlorate with other substances and ignited it in a flash bar to produce a brief, intense flash of light. Sometimes it was accompanied by a loud noise as well.

 After that came the flash bulb which was a glass bulb that contained crumpled up aluminum in an environment of oxygen. It was ignited by an electric current produced from a battery. Today’s electronic flashes are made with a small flash tube that contains xenon gas that is ignited from an electric charge produced by modern batteries. It produces a short, bright flash of light.

In the past, it was difficult to synchronize the flash with the camera’s shutter. The camera had to be mounted on a tripod and the lens opened before the flash was ignited. Later, it was also hard to synch the flash with the shutter. There was a “B” (bulb) setting that delayed the opening of the shutter for a fraction of a second until the flash bulb reached its peak of illumination. Today, modern electronic flash units can be synched to fire instantaneously when the shutter opens.

It is important to understand the basics of artificial light before one begins to work with electronic flashes, but most people will just go out and buy a small flash unit that can fit in their camera’s hot shoe and just snap away. Flash units that are mounted onto cameras, or the built in flash units that accompany most modern cameras are limited in the kind of light they provide. The light comes from the same spot as the camera and produces a harsh, flat light that is basically only good for illumination, that is, to provide light when there is not enough ambient light to take a picture. Also, as discussed in the previous article, these flash units are very small, so they don’t really provide the soft illumination that a larger light source would.

If you want to begin to be creative with your use of light, you will need to purchase one or more units that can be operated OFF the camera. These will have to be mounted on light stands or placed in other positions around the studio or wherever you are shooting.  

Here are a few studio electronic flash units:

These are the flash “heads.” Here are the “packs” that generate the electricity:

These boxes take electricity from a normal household wall outlet and produce a current to each flash head so that it can generate an intense, bright, instantaneous light which can be used to produce excellent images. These are fairly expensive, but provide great light in just about any location.

There are other lights called “monolights” that have become popular today. These electronic flash units have the generators and bulbs both contained in the same unit. One benefit that this has is that it does away with the wires necessary to connect the “packs” to the “heads.” One of the problems is that if one of the heads needs repair, the generator has to go with it. They are also not as powerful as some of the separate packs themselves. But as mentioned, you don’t really need that much power from portable strobe heads these days. Another “problem” is that these companies offer their own branded radio triggers to fire the heads. If you use your own or something like the Pocket Wizard, you would need to buy more receivers. Here is one current monolight:

This unit is expensive. It sells for about $1,700. But is probably considered “top of the line” for its type. It puts out about 400 watt/seconds of flash power which, as I said, is probably enough these days for most studio work. There is also a Chinese copy of this unit on the market as well called Godox which sells for one-third the price. Haven’t had any experience with it, but it might be okay if you don’t mind giving your money to China. (Just a note.) So for roughly $600 you can by a Godox monolight kit complete with three units, some reflectors and light stands. That’s a better deal than I could have ever gotten with my older Dynalite system when I was first buying strobes. The Godox units here are only 300 watt/seconds of power, but probably still enough to get the job done. Adorama, the NYC camera retailer also has its own brand of monolight called “Flashpoint,” which isn’t bad either. I believe they are priced similar to the Chinese units. I have worked with them because one of my students bought them.

The Westcott monolights are another way to go:

The great thing about these monolights is that they are wireless and they are about 400 watt/seconds which, as I said is probably enough power to handle most studio lighting requirements as well as really good for outdoor, fill-in use because there are no wires and the generator is built into the head.  Also, one 400 watt/second flash runs about $600. The other great thing about these lights is that because they are battery-powered, you can have an assistant or two hold them and thus can do away with light stands. It really streamlines your shooting technique. But, you have to have a job that pays enough to hire assistants.

This is an image made with three speedlights. The off-camera lights are battery-powered by Lumedyne, lithium-ion batteries and placed carefully at the location site to produce close to studio results:

I have used this image before, but if you look carefully, you can see the accent lights as well as how the mainlight on the camera functions to light up the scene and make it look almost like a studio shot.