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From: hobbydavid
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  • got enough flash guns ther mate??

  • All this work to get this ugly pictures?

    I am more convinced that in life is more important who you know and how much money you have than be really good in something.

  • Hey guys, if they are using off camera flashes, than whats the purpose of the on camera flash?

  • @THSimagery comander for the other flashes

  • WHY ALL THAT while you can replace all this christmass tree sb 800 with two stacked nds and a couple diffused guns?

  • @EpicsodeOne maybe he wants a lot of traced lights...

  • @w1p30ut3r Maybe that too.

  • No wow pictures.

  • McNally is a sb Master

  • all these flashes for this??i can do better with my nissin di 866 mark 2 and a softbox.!!

  • @matthewblessssss You can do better than McNally and Hobby? I'd love to see it.

  • @matthewblessssss Not in those conditions.

  • @matthewblessssss I hate to tell you this, I live in Dubai and I have a 866 mkII and a 622 MkII and im telling you, on peak afternoons, you CANT SEE the flash burst!!! TRUST ME!

  • @EpicsodeOne I too live in Dubai and taken numerous pictures in peak afternoon (but not in summer months) with 4 speedlites (one Metz 58 AF-1, one Canon 430EX II plus two Yongnuo YN 560's) and got some really decent pictures. I could clearly see the flash burst even when one flash was working. But why would anyone want to have a photo shoot on peak afternoons in Dubai heat? in the intense dubai summer heat the model will most likely faint.

  • @rienzphotoz Hey, what's your review on the YN 560??? In terms of power? And can it TTL when mounted on the cam? I'm thinking of buing 4; os it stronger than the 430EX II?

  • Having worked as a professional photographer, plus BSc in Photography plus 30 years experience it does astound me how much rubbish some people talk about the technical side of photography. --- ND filters - opening apertures use large flash heads seen better with less -- Look and learn getting a result like that in a situation like that is difficult.

  • @tresise Thats what I meant.

  • exaggerated efforts and the results were no special either at the end

    i have seen amateur photographers with cheaper cameras and fewer equipment producing way better results

  • joe mcnally i love your work. Your books inspire me

  • Very nice. For a windy day in the desert.

  • Dude, use ND filter to open your aperture. So many SB-X00 are great, but...

  • @syonukr I don't see your point here... He's trying to kill the super bright ambient light in the background (sky, dunes...) in order to have this dramatic effect that you see by using a super fast shutter speed. He also needs to light the model with enough power to detach the subject from the background and he achieves that by using several flashguns programmed in auto FP highspeed sync (due to the fast shutter speed he uses on the camera) so where on hearth would your ND filter help him out?

  • @zmiassor i used to strobist too. but later i found that using ND filter is more comfortable for me. 1) you open aperture widely. 2)put on intensive ND filter (4 stops or more). 3) use high power flash light.

    10 flashguns will cost you 5000$ . you better buy a good light with generator wich can sync 1/8000 as well (broncolor or similar).

  • @zmiassor The ND filter would kill the background. So, with, say, a 6-stop ND filter, the background would be exposed at 1/250th of a second about the same as it would be exposed at 1/8000th without a filter. Then, with a high-powered strobe, you could drop a lot of flash on the subject to bring it up to the exposure you want, while not affecting the background. If you're shooting with 3 flash guns at full power, you're probably at around 250w/s - so one strobe @250w/s = same result...

  • It's just two ways of accomplishing the same thing - there's almost always more than one way to skin a cat. Joe preferred one method for that particular shoot, and I'm sure he had his reasons, and nobody can knock him for it - he's Joe freakin' McNally, for cryin' out loud. But, others might prefer another method. And, hey, what works for you is what works for you.

  • @zmiassor Opps, typo - a 6-stop ND filter would bring you to 1/16000th from 1/250th, not 1/8000th :) But, the idea is still the same.

  • Good luck keepingthe sand out of your camera and lens.

  • A bit silly trying to scrim that rediculous array of strobes. All you needed to do was bring them closer in and make sure they were distributed in an array to simulate having a big softbox.

    Would have liked to have seen a decent resolution in this video. Difficult to judge anything in 240p. Would also at least liked to have seen the results 800 pixels long.

    Anyway, thanks for the interesting vid. Gives me inspiration :)

  • CREO QUE FALTO UN MEJOR CUADRO...NO HAY COMPOSICIÓN...UN VIAJE TAN LEJOS PARA NINGUNA FOTO BUENA.

  • SHUT THE F UP THOSE SHOTS ARE NICE!!!

  • wouldnt it be easier if you had a big octogon softbox  with a flash and a power pack unit???

  • VIVITAR 285 has NON standard SYNC port - and thus CANNOT use STANDARD sync cables suppled with PW or CACTUS 4/5 !! Does ANYONE know the adapter MODEL number for connecting these sync cables to the V285 ?

  • So much effort, poor result. What amazes me is that people actually like it...

  • @zema438 Please explain the "poor result" comment...

  • @zema438 Please explain the "poor result" comment...

  • @ShutterSet well, the pictures shown at the end of the clip are just plain, nothing special.

  • @zema438

    Just plain??!

    Oh well, in the world of photography your best shot could be another guy's throwaway.

    Maybe the mediocrity is due to Mr. McNally using Nikon....

    -----joking------

  • Muito bom este vídeo, consegui reproduzir a técnica com a maior facilidade!

  • meh.com

  • always always... very good pointers Joe! Thank you for doing this series and sharing your happy accidents that evolve into better light use... I use high speed sinc frequently... I particularly liked the idea of allowing the black cover to drop and cover the lower half of the umbrella... good one!

  • очень большие затраты-ради чего

  • Very cool photos, wish I could see the higher res versions.

  • i don't understand why so many flash? we have one sun?

    why not one bigger?

    i can do it with less!

    almanza.nl

  • The result of the pictures show the lighting and model's makeup really have big room to improve all technique and idea

  • crap

  • Why so many flash guns ? You could get away with 2 strobes.

  • the weird makeup of the group in the beginning seems like the introduction to a movie about an international jewel-thief gang.

  • Indian-themed music for a shoot in Dubai? A young silly person might loudly exclaim: Music-Fail!

  • @eggbertsmith It's because there are more indians living in Dubai than the actual Arab residents.

  • SenateDC show him up or shut up! douche!

  • These images he shot were terrible. 

  • @SenateDC ... They're better than what you could probably do.

  • u're noob..........................­.

  • u're noob

  • *we gonna try to trigger these as a gang* wooohoooo. It's the Gangbang-flash-bang-gang. LMAO

  • AVOID THE R.O.U.S's!!!!

  • You seriously needed 15 or so extra flashes to come up with *those* pictures?

    Wow.

    Talk about a negative return on investment.

  • that's just gay, go get the Vagabond II and some studio strobes

  • @MohaimenK Won't work, retard. There are currently no studio strobes with high speed sync which is needed here.

  • @Beatbot Let me guess, you just learned what HSS is from watching this video. So you're saying you can't do these shots w/out a christmas tress (sorry bjdarke1 I am borrowing your term) of lights?!? Please do a little bit of research and get back to me. We'll talk some more after that

  • @MohaimenK Wrong. I've been using HSS with 3 Sb-800s for some time now. It might be possible with strong studio strobes and ND filters, but this solution is a) wireless b) flexible c) probably more economical.

  • @Beatbot Well, looking at the prices of the SB-800s vs 1 of my White Lightning x1600, which will produce more lights by itself. Then you already covered the wirelss part which could even be triggered with a cheap $20 transmitter which is what I use and works fine. As far as setting your camera to 1/8000 you can easily spend way less to get a ND filter. Economically, 1 strobe and 1 Vanguard plus 1 ND filter will be a cheaper than 1 SB800 (at least looking at the price on Amazon)

  • @MohaimenK Uh, the SB-800 isn't really on sale anymore, lol. It was available for around 350 $. And to get from 1/8000 to 1/250 (X-Sync), you would need a 6 Stop ND-Filter, which has it's cons, too. Plus with the Nikon CLS you can change the power in camera or use TTL (hurr durr, yes, even pros use this.). McNally doesn't need to look on price tags, anyway. All i want to say is: this method isn't "gay". It works, too, and it has it advantages (but looks ridiculous). Are we done now?

  • @Beatbot you might want to google "high speed sync with studio strobe" then get back to me

  • @MohaimenK Nope, I won't get back to you. I will just continue shooting like this because I think it's the best way, even though some guy on Youtube says it was "gay". You shoud just do the same and take some pictures instead of arguing on the internet. I'm out of here.

  • @Beatbot Now you're just being a dick dude. Good luck showing up to ur photo shoot with 30+ speedlites and turning each of them on and syncing each one of them. I think you're an idiot and to be honest, probably doesn't have the money to buy all those speedlites to begin with. So yes you're right, good luck shooting that way with your imaginary strobes. Pc

  • @MohaimenK Whatever. I don't care about gear, I care about photography and my satisfied clients - and it just works flawlessly, no matter how you insult me. Why are you so mad about different approaches?

  • @Beatbot Well your first post toward me was starting ut by calling me a retard. Then you start arguing w/ me about how it can't be done. So I gave you an advice to do some research but instead you turned out to be a dick. I'm not mad about different approches, I am just pointing out that this is NOT the way to go about doing a photoshoot. It works but not practical. It's like you're talking out of your behind at this point w/out knowing the facts. That's all. Good luck to you

  • Comment removed

  • Comment removed

  • @MohaimenK Well, I'm sorry for calling you a retard. I was just pissed because YOU said it was gay. I explained why in my opinion your approach won't work here, but you didn't respond to it. Actually, you never explained how this should work.

  • @MohaimenK Ah, now i catch your drift. You would trigger the studio strobe with a compact flash and use the big strobe's long Flash duration. Won't work here. There would be too much falloff at 1/8000 and one strobe wouldn't do. I tried this technique in bright sunlight and i got better results with my 3 compact strobes. I guess in the desert it's even harder to do this.

  • wow!

    elle german

    makeup and hair artist

  • Hi did you have a filter on that lens while shooting in the desert? Or was it just the lens hood? Thanks

  • mega strobe! respect! :)

  • Its like making a video with empty 35MM film camera talk talk talk.

  • Know what? thats all fine and dandy to see and hear you all talk Joe pro. would it have been asking to much to see 10 of the photos from this shoot?

  • why use so many flashes?

  • 4:02 check out the power of those strobes. Theyd probaby fry my camera phone!

  • I enjoyed the video but it would have been much more useful for me if the background music wasn't drowning out the narration (or maybe it was just my speakers).

  • thanks for sharing

  • Anyone pick up that Princess Bride reference? ROUS = Rodents of Unusual Size.

  • Wow Joe really nows good lightning tech. There is some nice pictures here, but i most say that the composition in pic. 2,3 and 4 lacks some atension too leveling the background. Outwise it a nice video.

  • not bad

  • LoL... nice x-mas tree you've got there with sb-800's as the ornaments.

    Couldn't you have just put some nd filters over the lens to achieve the same thing with 5 fewer strobes lol?... I guess that's the guy who can't afford 8 sb-800's talking.

  • Great video, entertaining,. He is the Bond oh Photographers.

  • Hi Joe, it was good to attend your workshop in Dubai ... really learnt alot.

  • yeah hale to another impressive senior photographer =)

  • Alphapaz wrote: "Flash-exposures are always controlled by aperture. ...Shutter controls ambient light only."

    Canon's and Nikon's newer flash guns feature High-Speed Sync, also called Auto-FP HS, HSS, etc.

    In high-speed sync mode the flash power is reduced and then pulsed to produce a near-continuous light. Instead of 1/1000 second or less, the "flash" can last 1/2 second or more so the shutter slit at high shutter speeds is always lit. In HSS mode, shutter speed DOES affect flash exposure.

  • 8 SB800... sounds like rich

  • thats more like priceless, once they no longer work theres no more new sb800 for replacements.

  • it doesnt sound bad to me....

    respect art!

  • bitch&moan

  • Ricky you are mistaken and quite silly I must add. Flash-exposures are always controlled by aperture. Shutter speed has nothing to do with it. Shutter controls ambient light only.

  • @alphapaz .... i agreeeeeeeeeeeeeee.... how can a professional photographer could say that??????? I control ambient light in parties with some 1/10 speed... but i have to be very careful with movements

  • @alphapaz You are only correct when NOT using high-speed sync. If high-speed sycn is used, then the shutter speed DOES affect flash exposure. Read your manual.

  • @alphapaz That's not entirely true. If you are shooting in TTL aperture has very little to do with flash exposures.

  • @alphapaz Very true.

  • WOW.. leave it to these guys to take a beautiful location with amazing light and produce over-lit, mediocre pix.

    And you seriously have to be crazy (or paid by nikon) to use that many SBs when one good strobe head/pack would have done the job.

  • Beautiful pictures but that model needed more attention to her face. Her hair is all messy and the clothes are horrible.

  • I don't understand why 15 SBs would be better than 1 or 2 heads. Seems gratuitous.

  • @Cinka To knock down the desert sun you have to shoot far above 1/250 of a second; the sync speed for most Nikon DSLRs. You can only do that with flash by using dedicated Nikon strobes that will sync at high speeds using the "FP Sync" feature. To use studio strobes you would need a lot of power and ND grad filters to get the exposure at or below 1/250.

  • this is beyond practicality 8 sb800? 400 each sounds stupid

  • Wow look at all those flashes, 7, i count, that's a lot of money man.whoa! sp 800's are frickin ' expensive!

  • what kind of lens is he using? is it a 17-40 L? thanks!

  • Nikon D3+24-70+sb800 built in ;)

  • thanks! (and just a couple thousands of other sb... hehe)

  • Comment removed

  • i dont get it, why dont this guy just buy a strobe light or something? why all the flashes?

  • That's why he make a million Bucks and you make nothing.

  • cause you can't do this kinda stuff with big strobes, perhaps with the most expensive profoto stuff out there.

    also if you turn up power on strobes, they don't go brighter - the flash simply lasts longer. also referred to flash duration. if you shoot wide open at f2.8 in the desert you need 1/8000th shutter speed. now if you turn up the flash, the shutter is already closed while the flash is still burning. get it ? that's why he uses 8 of the speedlights in order to increase light.

  • you're an idiot dude. you have no idea what you are talking about.

  • I guess ND filters wouldn't help :-/

  • @RickysNewShit

    Please go read up on what youre talking about. "Flash lasts longer".. oooook

  • holy cow! how many speed lights does he have??

  • ((( 6:09-6:13 ))) amazing control of lighting! the shadows, its simply stunning!! just like the overall photo.

  • How come the photos look alot darker than what we saw. Has he just taken the tones and levels down in Photoshop?

    Im a speedlight newbie.

    cheers

  • Because he was shooting high speed sync that blocks out or rather reduces the brightness of the sun. The sun is a very bright ambient light and by shooting with a very, very fast shutter speed you're able to reduce its brightness. Then it's possible to rely more on the strobes as a main light or bring the strobes more in balance with the sunlight.

  • Thanks alot man!!!

  • lol @ rodents of unusual size.

  • great...amazing..thanks..a learn a lot...

  • That looked like a Speedlite Christmas tree with all of those flashes. Happy Holidays from the Desert.

  • Oh Man!!! I'm such an idiot!!! It never even occurred to me, to turn the SB-800 upside down and swivel the head, to aim the sensor to the commander unit!

    That hand held unit alone was worth watching this fantastic vid. THANK YOU!!! Such a simple thing and it's going to change my outdoor shoots starting today! Frederick Dunn.. thank you thank you thank YOU! BTW for those learning Nikon CLS, Joe McNally's... book "Hot Shoe Diaries" GET IT! it's indispensable in my opinion.

  • las shot was amazing!

  • very high shutter speeds..

  • what lens was he using?

  • 24-70 2.8 i guess

  • 17-55 2.8 i think, looks like a D2 or somthing he's using

  • I believe the cam is either a D3 or a D700, and I agree with Malle1221 on the lens. It appears to be a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G.

  • Average pics? You haven't heard of dynamic range have you? This would be impossible to replicate without that much light. I challenge you to do the same with just SB-800s, or better yet, no flash.

  • Ahm... overpowering the sun in the desert is average?!?!

    And what would you use to do it, a maglite? :D

    You're a newbie, little boy

  • 2:25 I love how americans say the word dune - "doon".

  • ??? how do you say it?

  • wow thats a christmas tree of multiple flashes in one stand! haha. good video. very nice to see a photoshoot in the desert. but i do agree with the last post, i think you should've used the makeup girl as the model. she was hotter!

  • Joe, you shot the wrong girl. The makeup girl has a better face, hair, skin and body! I would love to see her in a shoot!

  • i totally agree to that!

  • What lenses are Joe using during this photosession?

  • sir this is a lot of storob to use i was wonderng why you don't use onley one strop from profot with 1200 watt or 600 wat ... it will do the work with the same price as all the flashes .. by the way i am arab and i know this nice pleace i really love it

  • my thoughts exactly, think about the amount of batteries, seems a strange way to shoot

  • what type of reflector is he using? somebody tell me cause I want to get it..

  • best pics i have everseen very good job

  • Hey Joe...now when its SB-900 out...would you mind if I get those 800s? ;)

    Not more than 2 or 3.. :)

  • also he couldnt use the new pocket wizzards because as of now their only built for canon flashes, so suck it

  • Pocketwizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 for Nikon are scheduled for end of June 2009.

  • it was a joke... :-P

  • It is amazing to me how much crap people talk. if you listen to the video Joe is experimenting with the sppedlights to learn some new stuff. Anyway Joe can do what he wants he is 30 years in the biz and I am sure no one else in this forum has half of that. Get real this guy is a legend he knows what he is doing. We all know there are different ways to have shot this and he only used one. So for all you talking trash on the guy have some respect and get a life.

  • no ROUS? =(

  • dang that was a lot of lights, I can barley afford one 800. I guess this means my work is determined sub-par.

  • get enough sb-800 flashes on there

  • what is the setting used for the camera? issit auto focus?

  • honestly, the final images were.....average at best.

  • hey joe you're really the flash tanx, man..

  • Yep... I wish I had all theese speedlites

  • he think that desert is cool

    i want him to go there is summer , hahaha

    he will come back as black as coal , hehehe

  • Looks like a lot of fun.

  • Everything is terrific indeed, but the model sucks! :)

  • uzland97, I don't think enaugh info was given on the girl for anyone to come up to a conclusion on her performance which by the way, I think she is gorgeous, Joe wouldn't have worked with her if she wouldn't be a good model, as for the guy that said he can shoot like that with a 30D, well, pro photographers wouldn't bother with pro gear if they wouldn't have to so Joe know his necesities gearwise.

  • he think the desert is cool

    haha i want to see his face when the cars go off

  • i give joe his respect to the art, but i can shoot the same photos with my canon 30d and one speedlite, 580 ex and or the 430 ex AND A FLASH DIFFUSER. I KNOW MY EQUIPMENT AND I CONSTANTLY EXPERIMENT

  • Sorry, but you can't. Two speedlites wil not give you enough power to do that.

    (:

  • He didn't say that the shoot was only possible with a D3 though...

    There is also no way you can underexpose the full uncovered sun using one of those speedlites off-camera.

  • of course you can. I do it ALL the time. So easy. Its called a radiopopper.

  • Why not using real studio flashes?

  • Obviously because they're too bulky?

  • because nikon would pay him for say Sb-800 is a great flash.

    and sure it is...

  • :P hehe why not giving him SB 900 instead :D

  • Didn't the SB-900 just come out not too long ago?

  • yeah not so long less than a year I think

  • Because then he couldn't sync faster than 1/250. With the SB's he could sync at 1/8000 and get a thinner DOF.

  • Hmm ok, with new pocket wizard you can do 1/1000 :D

  • but something you have to think about is length of the flash. some times when syncing at those super high SS you actually reduce the amount of light. plus the new pocket wizards as kick ass as they are only work with on camera flashes so what do it do when I shoot with Strobes

  • The new Pocketwizards MiniTT1 only works on camera. That's the transmitter.

    But the FlexTT5 that acts as a Transciver works with studio strobes. You just need a short sync cable to connect it to your strobes, just like you'd do with a sync cable plugged in your camera!

  • не самы