Flash photography is the weakest part of my photography skill set inventory – and I’m probably not alone. Strobes and their modifiers are expensive – unless you’re doing professional portrait, fashion, or product photography, you may not need to touch a strobe or even a flash gun. Back in 2012 I decided I was going to start doing dog photography professionally as a side gig, and I bought three Paul C. Buff Einstein strobes, plus an assortment of modifiers. At the time, Paul C. Buff strobes were quite influential in the enthusiast and small-studio photography community. But as things have changed and the industry moved from studio to location photography. Paul C. Buff passed away in 2015, the company never seemed to maintain the same cultural momentum in the photography community. At the same time, Chinese manufacturers like Godox were disrupting the industry with highly capable and very inexpensive lighting gear. My dog photography business never took off the way I hoped, so I never really took the time to master the equipment that I had purchased. A few times a year I would drag out my strobes and photograph my own Rottweilers, or take some updated portraits of myself or my wife. But I never developed to skills in this area as I should have.
One of my earliest photos taken with the Paul C. Buff Einstein – the early stuff was rough.
This was taken just a couple of years ago with the Paul C. Buff Einstein strobes.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago, and I started getting interested in lighting again. First, it was the Westcott Ice Light – a revolutionary and aspirational product when it debuted in 2012. I always wanted one – they just looked so darn cool. I finally picked up a couple of the newest Westcott Ice Light 3’s to help me with the product photography I do and my YouTube videos too. Then I decided I really should get better with a flash gun and picked up the Westcott FJ80 II Speedlight. I thought I might want to play with using it off camera, so I also picked up the Westcott FJ-X3 trigger – which also happens to be compatible with all of their strobes. I’ve used the FJ80 II for several months with great success on a couple of shoots and no longer fear speedlights. So I thought, “why not pick up one of Westcott’s wireless strobes and try to learn how to do decent portraits?” So I picked up a Westcott FJ400 II and an Switchbox Octobox M modifier.
Stock photo of the Westcott FJ400 II
Stock photo of the Switchbox Octobox M
Education has been a huge part of Westcott’s survival in the tumultuous photography industry. Wescott has consistently invested in producing top notch tutorials and other education content. That, and the fact they’re a US brand (headquartered in my own state of Ohio) are big reasons why I’ve decided to support them. For someone like me who is trying to learn more about off camera flash photography, the videos they put out are excellent in production quality, engaging, and quite helpful. After grabbing one of my old light stands and assembling the Octobox M, I decide to get a little portrait practice on the only willing subject I could find – myself:
Not a bad first effort – I took this with my Canon R5 Mark II and the RF 24-70 f2.8. I positioned the FJ400 II with the Octobox M above me on my left side. I ran a USB cable from the camera my iPad (I find direct connection via the less than stellar Canon Connect app more reliable than wireless connection) and set a 10 second delay on the shutter release which gave me time to set down the iPad off camera. The light position created the desired Rembrandt effect, and the background behind me was nicely lit while still looking natural.
The next day I decided to experiment using the FJ400 II /Octobox M on some product photography I needed to do for a review. Product photography is my jam. I got my start in photography doing product work. It’s the area of photography I have most experience with, but historically I’ve always used constant lighting. So I decided to try to use my strength to improve my weakness by using my new strobe and modifier to do some product work.
Admittedly, the Octobox M is more well suited to portrait work, but it also makes a fine general purpose product photography modifier. Here’s what my set up looked like:
And here’s the shots I got:
I’m pretty happy with the results shooting this Think Tank PhotoCross V2 sling bag. The results I got were quite comparable to Think Tank’s own stock photography. I typically shoot smaller products on my workbench set up then this bag – watches, cameras, lenses, etc. – and the constant light sources that I use work quite well.
I could have just fired the FJ400 II through the scrim you’re seeing in my setup photo as my modifier – lots of product work is done by blasting a strobe though a scrim like this one. But I wanted to test how the Octobox M would work in this application – and it worked quite well. I also could have done this with other constant light sources I more typically employ – lately I’ve been using my Ice Light 3’s quite a bit because I can just hand hold them and use them to augment my existing constant light sources I have around my work bench to fill in shadows. I just move the light around until I find the spot that maximizes exposure and minimizes hot spots. But again, the purpose her was to experiment with strobe lighting. Here’s another couple of product shots I got for an upcoming lens review:
With smaller objects like this lens, the quality difference between the photos I get with constant light sources and the strobe set up is more subtle. But I have to admit that utilizing my strobe, the lens is more evenly lit than what I typically get with constant light sources, and the light tends to wrap around the lens to give it more of a 3D pop. The strobe produced an absolutely lovely result with almost no post photo touchup work needed in Lightroom.
One thing I really appreciated while using the FJ400 II /Octobox M was not having an AC power cord to deal with – the FJ400 II uses a rechargeable battery that’s good for over 300 shots. That meant I could just grab the light and place it, with no worries about being close to a wall socket like with my old Paul C. Buff Einstein strobes. It also meant there were no power cords to trip on in my limited space. As long as I charge the battery once in a while set up time is minimal.
The other thing that worked really well is the tight integration with the Westcott FJ-X3 trigger and by other Wescott strobes. At one point I experimented with using my Westcott FJ80 II Speedlight as a fill light in conjunction with the FJ400 II – it worked perfectly. I just set them both on the same group, with one on a different channel than the other. The entire workflow was dead simple, even for a flash photography amateur like myself. I’m super happy with the FJ400 II and Octobox M combination for my re-entry to off-camera flash photography.
WHAT’S NEXT
Later this year (black Friday) I plan to get a 2nd FJ400 II. But before that I plan on buying a few other accessories. The first is a 40 degree grid for the Octobox M. That will all but eliminate light spill from the FJ400 II, opening up some interesting options. I will also likely get a Westcott 1×3 Rapid Box Switch Strip Softbox – I should be able to use the strip box in conjunction with my FJ80 II Speedlight – you don’t need a massive amount of power for rim lighting or accent lighting – which is the typical use case for this modifier. That should work well until I pick up the 2nd FJ400 II.
After my experience moving around my light stand in my office area, I plan to buy a couple of the iFootage A400 light stands. They look like a perfect solution for moving around a light in a tight studio space – I was banging the legs of my existing light stands all over the place in my home office/studio. The stability should be fine for indoor use, and I can keep my traditional light stands for outdoor location shoots.
Stay tuned to ThruMyLens to read about my continuing adventures in flash photography.
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