just a dumb picture of a bag to test how my little DIY grid works. It does the job and it's quite nice to exactly target which portions of an object you want to light.


So the quest of the bee vs the strobe continues and I read a very very interessing article about the power of the SB-600/800 vs the Alien Bee B400.
And its possible to mount the SB-600 on the large softbox from alien bee.


quote from link

Large Alien Bee Softbox Details:

http://www.alienbees.com/softboxes_detail.html
Price: $109.95
Size: 32"x40"
Connects to flash with a speedring that is designed for camera flashes -- this must be purchased separately (or bought with the Morris softbox which includes the right kind of speedring).
Time to set up: Took me 5 minutes the first time but I estimate it will normally take 2-3 minutes to set up at most.
Pros: Large size produces wonderful, soft light (especially when used with the internal diffusion panel/baffle attached). Perfect for studio. Comes with a speedring that will fit Alien Bee strobes (this won't matter if you have no plans to buy bees, but I do, so this will save me from having to buy an Alien Bee speedring down the road). Cons: Large and bulky -- fine for studio work but slightly more of a pain on location. Does not come with a speedring that will work with your speedlight flash.

Since the SB-800's flash capacity is between that of an Alien Bee 400 and AB 800, the SB-800 + large softbox combination is a fantastic alternative to an AB + softbox, since my camera will do the metering for me and adjust automatically (no need to buy a Sekonic meter!), and it's battery-operated (no cords!) and it's controlled wirelessly by the D70 (no expensive radio trigger system!). I did buy an extra set of rechargeable batteries in case I go dead during a shoot, but I haven't needed to change mid-shoot yet.

So it seems to be very promising so far and I can get away with my tiny and portable strobes instead of heavy pink studio strobes.

It's also getting closer to Christmas and Lindsay and I are thinking about things we could give our grand parents for Christmas. Our current idea is to make a picture book with potraets from her and me. So something like 6 - 10 pages.

We want to start with this in October, so that we got November to redo everything or order a second version of the prints in case we are unhappy with the results. And I want to get the umbrella first to optimize the pictures and learn something doing it :).