Originally posted by Brooke Meyer I recommend your first investment is to spend time on Neil Van Niekerk's free blog
Tangents and / or spend $25 for his online course
Off Camera Flash
All you really need is an umbrella bracket ( Manfrotto, Photoflex, Impact, LumaPro, etc, etc), light stands (same mfr's plus zillions of used ones at KEH,com, UsedPhotopro.com, B&H, Adorama, local camera store) and these
very inexpensive triggers available on Amazon. Used them to trigger a couple of 540's, then Alien Bees and still keep around as Plan B & student class use.
Once I learned and understood lighting (and a 540 fried itself), my flash kit became $63 YN-560IIs's plus a $38 YN 560-TX remote and a $36 pair of YN 603N II triggers for backup - about $325 total and I have easy individual control of each for power & zoom from camera. It's become my head shot kit.
My black head shot background is a 3 yd piece of 60" wide micro fleece from the fabric store. You can pin it or painter tape to a wall, In a pinch, I've used black foam board. My window diffuser is a shower curtain liner from Bed & Beyond out up with painters tape or suction cups. You can also shoot flashes through it instead of an umbrella or soft box.
My point is, learn lighting, then buy. The images below were all done with one bare bulb flash on a light stand. First 3 with a 3 stop ND. The fourth with window light as key and zoomed flash as rim light. 5th with flash bounced straight up. No modifiers, assistants, reflectors, just a little understanding of the properties of light
Thanks for the advice, I do appreciate it. However, the look I'm trying to achieve (learn) is not what you've posted, which is fine because everyone wants different things in photography. I like hard shadows in some photos I see, but I mostly like soft diffused light in the inspiration I see. I would like to achieve something like this for starters -
How to use High Speed Sync (HSS) for shooting portraits outdoor - YouTube
Also, my flash has HSS capability, why not use it?
I'll definitely read that blog though, thanks!
---------- Post added 07-14-17 at 05:37 PM ----------
I think I already got my answer few replies above lol, there's only 2 options for HSS triggers, Cactus and Acon. This is what I'll go with
---------- Post added 07-14-17 at 05:38 PM ----------
Originally posted by paulster Your choice for HSS is Acon or Cactus V6 II. Acon presently has P-TTL whereas it's next on the list for Cactus.
The Acon requires a good level of morse-code expertise to program, whereas the Cactus has a display. The Acon is way smaller though.
Also, the Cactus is multi-brand compatible, so you won't have to use a Pentax flash to get TTL as soon as they release their firmware. The Acon does support Nikon with a different firmware, but that's the extent of its cross-brand compatibility.
Thank you, this is exactly the info I was looking for)