Balancing Strobes with Daylight: A lighting Tutorial

n this Slanted Lens Lesson we are going to show you how to balance strobes with daylight. When I shoot on location I usually use the ambient light {Sun or Shade) as one of my light sources in the scene and then bring in strobes to make that light more interesting. Using strobes and daylight together is most successful when I control the ambient with the shutter speed and the strobes with the aperture. I use a low ISO and then pick an aperture based on how much I want in focus and how much power I can get from the strobes. If my strobes can give me f8 then I know that I need to adjust my shutter speed up and down to balance the sun light with the strobes at F8. The strobe is constant so the aperture is constant but the sun is changing so my shutter speed will be changing. This is a successful process that allows for the constant changing of the sun. If I want the sun as the rim light then I will lengthen the shutter speed to allow the sun to be one stop brighter than my strobes. With practice this process will make more sense and become very intuitive. This was a great shoot that we did out at Universal Studios Back lot that illustrates this principle.

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[skymyrka]

3:52 wow, that's pretty harsh.

what a way to highlight that bit in 5 min video. boo

[TheSlantedLens]

@skymyrka No worries, I did not fire my assistant. He has been with me 15+ years.

[Lagged2Death]

I think you've mentioned before, in other videos, that you often start your exposures at ISO 160.

Is there a reason you choose that particular value, as opposed to (say) ISO 200 or some other higher, whole-stop setting that would give you more downward latitude if you needed it?

[TheSlantedLens]

@Lagged2Death >  For the 5D the 160 320 640 1250 ISO's give the best looking blacks. I have seen the tests and they do indeed. The reason some say is that they are the native ISO's others say that is not the case. In the end they look bette and so I use them. The best thing to do is leave the lens cap on and take a am image at each IOS and comapre them. You will see the difference.

[publiux]

Tell me you really didn't fire your assistant. :)

[TheSlantedLens]

@publiux No he has been with me for 15+ years. One time he dropped my Hassleblad with a wide angle lens off a platform in the ceiling and it landed on the concert floor. The light on Saturday was nothing. Things happen on shoots. We are moving very heavy things and fast, so stuff get broken at times. It is all part of the game.

[Deweeyy]

i think he watched too much digitalrevtv, that's why he started destroying cameras too :D

[portraitpixels]

Glad he wasn't fired and this is really really helpful. Excellent stuff !

[AlphaSphere]

music is still very annoying. Maybe try using some of the iMove tracks, those are way less annoying and used by many big youtubers with succes. Love that you keep sharing. Keep it up.

[Integritydesign]

thumbs up if you stayed tuned til the end.... Chainsaw!!!!!

[trip3980]

I'd love to but the problem is I am in SD and its almost 3 hrs away. Some times I go up to la but not all the time.

[TheSlantedLens]

@trip3980 The back lot at Universal cost about $4500 to $6000 dollars for each location. You need a 2 million dollar liability policy and workers comp. If you have those three things then its not hard. Call productions services and go out and scout the location. I am thinking of doing a seminar at Universal for those that want to come and shoot there. Would you be interested?

[JohnCowiePhoto]

Could you share details about that portable table you were using? Looks like a hand cart conversion? I really need one of those for my location work, haven' seen anything that interesting in my searches.