# Big light from small Speedlite (outdoors)



## peter909 (Apr 13, 2017)

Hello all,

This is my first post here and I would like to get some advice how to approach this specific type of lighting.

I own two Speedlites 600 EX and planning to light the scene and photograph it in this fashion:




I would like to use (if possible) 1 speedlite for main light, that will be mounted to the light-stand above the head of the model (height 170 cm). Now I would like to get Omnidirectional type of light, something that resembles the sphere on the render above and that can illuminate the ground/floor as well.

Since I'll be working outdoors in quite a windy weather and relatively tough conditions overall, any large diffusers/attachements (like umbrella or soft-box) are out of consideration. Perhaps I could use something like MagBounce or MagSphere (sturdy and small!):
https://magnetmod.com/shop/magbounce/
https://magnetmod.com/shop/magsphere/

How would I point the light in this case?

So to summarise, I want to imitate one large omnidirectional light (using smallest size of a diffuser possible) that will light the open scene and it's floor with a model (any lightstand and light diffusers will be treated in post-production and won't be visible )

Any helpful diagrams or sketches are very welcome!


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## tirediron (Apr 13, 2017)

I'm a little unsure of what sort of final look you're trying to achieve.  Can you post a link or two to images with a similar look to that which you want to produce?  If I understand you correctly, I'm not sure that this is do-able, at least not with a quality result using only two speedlights.  At the end of the day, small lights with small modifiers produce small light.  Is there some reason you can't weight down stands and/or use assistants to wrangle gear?  Your omni-directional modifier is going to waste a lot of light, whereas a shoot-through umbrella will give you [I think] a similar look at less "cost".


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## peter909 (Apr 13, 2017)

Hi tirediron,

Thank you for your reply. I don't have any photographs unfortunately, the computer render I posted above would be the image I am trying to reproduce in the real world (so you won't see a lightstand and the ' large sphere' will be added in the post production to cover the real light diffuser).

It sounds like my best solution for now is to use umbrella (two umbrellas) to get the desired 'glow'/ambience light?


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## tirediron (Apr 13, 2017)

Potentially, but I'm having a hard time "seeing" the final image, so it's rather hard to reverse-engineer the light.


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## Designer (Apr 13, 2017)

peter909 said:


> I would like to get Omnidirectional type of light, something that resembles the sphere on the render above and that can illuminate the ground/floor as well.


Oh, the smallest. I misread your post.

Just purchase one of these: Gary Fong Flash Diffusers and Photography Tutorials


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## table1349 (Apr 13, 2017)

Peruse this site: Strobist
Buy this book: Light Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting


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## astroNikon (Apr 13, 2017)

I'm confused too, but since this seems to relie on post production
you may want to consider instead of 2 images in the composite, to make it 3.

(1) you light some fog on the ground using a long exposure and flashlights (or speedlights) to get the lighting you want on the ground,
(2) then you take another image of the person lit up the way you want,
(3) you add your large light source by taking a picture of a round light source and adding it in post.
A nice round light source only needs a round light source (round diffuser, beauty dish, etc), then you can increase it's size in post.


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