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Flash Cube
#1

Remember them?

This is the color version of my recent monochrome assignment entry.
[Image: kak.cube.jpg]


The cube is made of white plastic--a Skagen™ watch case--and a small optical slave flash is inside it which supplies most of the lighting.
My new Sunpak 383 manual flash on 1/16th power has a homemade grid on the front for a feathered spot effect, and is aimed at my shoulder and hood with some soft spill on my cheek.
The Sunpak was triggered by my also new Cactus V2s radio trigger set.

I have been living and breathing off-camera flash for the past year and now that I have the right equipment it's so fast and easy to get the results I want, compared to struggling and fighting with my old "automatic" flash.
Full Manual exposure and flash is for me. Cool

Many commenters on this photo bring up wizards and such, but I don't see it.
It's a hooded sweatshirt, not a cloak.
The photo's meaning to me is about finally being able to control light the way I want.

It's currently at #94 in Flickr's Explore for Jan 18th--my 20th Explore photo.
Not bad for 45 minutes of play, not work.
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#2

Congratulations on the new gear. This picture sure doesn't look like an easy setup. As you said, really not bad for 45 minutes play. Smile

Gallery/ Flickr Photo Stream

Reality is for wimps who can't face photoshop.
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#3

Love it Keith - isn't it wonderful to feel like you are no longer constrained by your gear.

Canon stuff.
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#4

I was struck by this photo in the monochrome assignment, and was hoping you'd go into more detail about it.

KeithAlanK Wrote:The cube is made of white plastic--a Skagen™ watch case--and a small optical slave flash is inside it which supplies most of the lighting.
What were you using for the slave flash? I'm going to hazard a guess of a Morris Mini, since I can't think of anything else that would fit in there with such even light. And it is phenomenally even light in the cube, which is critical to the image.

The wizard comparison is going to be unavoidable -- it's such a pervasive image. I blame Tolkien and Rawlings, but it's probably not their faults either. Considering that the alternative would be a comparison to the orange glow from the suitcase in Pulp Fiction, I'd be happy with the wizard motif.

I can't decide if the reflection in the right lens (picture left) of your glasses makes the shot or needs to be cloned out.

matthewpiers.com • @matthewpiers | robertsonphoto.blogspot.com | @thewsreviews • thewsreviews.com
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#5

I never considered the reflection on my glasses--I think it belongs.

Slave flash is the Quantaray MS-1, a $20 optical slave that's very small.
I have used it a lot as the main light in my studio shots up to now.
It has a test button for light painting, as long as the 7+ second recycle time isn't too long.
Requires a single flash pulse to trigger, so if anyone wants to use the pop-up flash on most cameras to trigger, it won't work.
There's an identical unit that can ignore the TTL pre-flash at twice the price.

I don't know how the light in the cube got to be so even--perhaps simply overkill?
The flash was usually leaning back against the far corner pointing toward the camera.
It wasn't secured in any way and the bottom of the cube is open to my hand--with setting the timer, pushing the shutter button, and then getting across the room and assuming the pose, it's placement in the cube was haphazard to say the least, yet in every exposure the whole cube was lit like the photo above.
So it must have been overkill--I bet if I added some ND filters to the flash it would have assumed a degree of directionality and the cube would have displayed variation in light levels.
All I know is that it looked exactly like I wanted on the first try, and never changed from there.
Looks like I was lucky.
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#6

Hi Keith. This is generally the type of thing I really like. I honestly don't feel that I can comment on the technical aspects of the lighting as all my stuff is PhotoShop forgeries. So here goes with my *creative* critique:

Despite your comment, I do clearly and immediately see the wizard conjuring with the glowing object, and I think that most people will. When many people see something in a photo, you need to take that into consideration - and this definitely an image that will almost always be interpreted as wizard. So...if you don't want the wizard, the hood should not be on - and if you are OK with the wizard thing, lose the glasses and deeply darken the *cloak* - clone out the draw strings to enhance the cloak.

There is a huge element of mystery, fantasy, and atmosphere, that might be pushed a lot further IMO.

Keith: I am always loathe to critique others' work - I realize that I see things different than many (many consider my stuff to be gimmicky and juvenile) - and I am a huge fan of your stuff. I can see from your comments that you are really happy with this photo - so please don't take my opinion to heart - do your own thing.
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#7

Thanks, Toad.

Mainly I wasn't after mystery or anything other than what you see here.
Just a man in his living room playing with light.
I'm trying to master flash, and this photo clearly shows some progress so I was happy.
The wizardy aspect of the cube being somehow magical, and my hands either powering or controlling it, was just an inspiration at the moment of the first exposure which I liked on review and kept repeating.
I really don't mind the wizard association anymore--I see now that it was my own fault--and I do aspire to someday be a 'wizard at using flash', so maybe it's a perfect fit after all.

But the reaction to this photo really surprises me.
It's a personal image I made for myself, and reflects my aspirations and current level of ability.
To have it get as much attention as it has is fun, but strange.
I'm just an ugly middle-aged man.
I suppose if I really wanted to do something special I should make the effort to get someone attractive and some costuming to do a better re-creation in an interesting location.

Or perhaps a series with everyone I can get to sit still for a minute holding the flashcube?
That would be funny--all of the different facial expressions, especially on the 2nd exposure when they now expect it to blind them.

Hmmm...
Thanks again, Toad.
You've given me much to think about.
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#8

It's harry potter!! Big Grin

Nice work Keith...
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#9

Here's my girlfriend mocking me.
This is fun.

[Image: kak.cube2.jpg]
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#10

Complete overkill will do it, but that just leaves me impressed that you didn't blow it so far out that you'd lose the crispness of the edges.

That slave flash looks mighty handy. I'm always looking for accent lights, so I'll see if I can find them locally for less than 2.5x the American retail price. Too bad about the AAA batteries, but anything that includes a clamp gets my approval. Big Grin

(If the purpose of the pre-flash is to set the output for the exposure, then won't having the slave fire during the exposure mess up the light levels anyway? Maybe an auto flash unit would be able to pull it off, but I just don't see how one with a fixed output can integrate with digital TTL metering. Perhaps I'm just dense today.)

The second image is still good, but it doesn't have the appeal of the original. The looser crop and the expression change the tone, but I bet if you add this one to a flickr Wicca group, people will fall over themselves to give you awards.

... but I do have to ask about the gloves. Your thoughts?

matthewpiers.com • @matthewpiers | robertsonphoto.blogspot.com | @thewsreviews • thewsreviews.com
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#11

Correct.
When a slave fires during the first pulse of a camera's popup flash or a TTL hotshoe flash it adds light during the metering process, thereby fooling the camera into grossly underexposing the shot.
When a TTL-compatible slave fires on the 2nd (exposure) flash pulse, it certainly adds light that wasn't considered in the TTL metering, causing overexposure if it's too close to the subject.

Mainly these are advertised as a way to increase your popup flash's range, by setting a slave between the camera and a distant subject the popup can't reach. You would still want to shoot in manual mode to compensate no matter the scenario. I don't think they are useful additions to TTL hotshoe systems, only as added power or versatility when using popup TTL flashes.
But as a hair or rimlight hidden behind the subject it's effect on TTL metering might not be too extreme provided you're working in a situation where all flashes are operating at a medium to high output level such as outdoors. I think it's guide number is 15 @ iso100 f2.8.

When I triggered this slave with my Sony automatic flash (a single pulse system with onboard exposure sensor) the Sony automatically reduces it's output to almost nothing upon 'seeing' the slave's light, allowing the slave to do most of the work.
This was good because at least the light was now coming from anywhere BUT right above the lens, which is how I used the slave for most of 2007. It got me Strobisting with off-camera light and taught me much.

Now I use manual everything, so the slave's fixed output is not a problem--I just adjust aperture for it's output, then adjust my main flash's output level to get the balance I want, then adjust shutter speed to add or subtract ambient.
Adding a grid or filters knocks the slave's output down for more versatility.

The gloves are just part of the fun.
The cube is theoretically hot, but a wizard's power comes from the fingertips.
They are my photography gloves--must be able to feel tiny buttons. Cool
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#12

This is a wonderful image--a classic.

Nikon D3100 with Tokina 28-70mm f3.5, (I like to use a Vivitar .43x aux on the 28-70mm Tokina), Nikkor 10.5 mm fisheye, Quanteray 70-300mm f4.5, ProOptic 500 mm f6.3 mirror lens. http://donschaefferphoto.blogspot.com/
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#13

Thanks, Don.
It surprises me that it so quickly became my 3rd most popular photo on Flickr.
I expect to see blatant copies soon.

And I'll be continuing the series with as many people as possible.
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#14

Cool stuff!

Knowing you have full control over the lightning in a scene is great fun, and very rewarding.

I have to agree that full manual is almost necessary for this kind of lightning, while automatic tends to throw light everywhere.

/Paul L.

Strives to make photos instead of taking them...
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