File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
I was wondering if anybody here knew much about low-key lighting. From all of about 20 minutes of research on the internet, it seems it's best done with one strong light source off to the side to produce contrast and contours, with a fill light to provide some detail to the shadowy areas.

I've got one flash, which I'd want to use to provide light from the side. I'd use a white-board or something similar close to the subject to illuminate the darker areas. Of course, this means setting the camera to a long exposure time (~1 sec) so I can sucessfully manually set off the flash while the shutter is open.

Could this work, or am I out of my gourd?
>> Anonymous
I don't recommend a long shutter time for this, because your subjects will move. for little money, you can buy a +200W light. use one to light up the scene, it will give you harsh shadows AND you can see how it will look like before you take the photo. fill in how you want.

you can also use strobe flashes, but that's not as simple as buying a couple of lights
>> Anonymous
This will be difficult outdoors, but I like the 200W light idea.
>> Anonymous
just get a sync cable for your flash. Depending on what model of camera/flash you have, you might have to get a couple of adapters as well. Its worth it. I have a little studio set up with nothing but hot shoe flashes. It works pretty well. Also, what you can do is just get a cell sync for your big flash and if you have a built in flash on your camera you can turn the power down and use it as the fill, and with the cell sync, it will trigger your key flash without any sort of wiring.
>> Anonymous
>>35732
X-sync cables are getting rare. but that's what I'll be doing... you can get flashes for very little money, and hook all of them up with cables. exposure will be trial & error though
>> Anonymous
>>35735
Just get a flash meter. They are essential if you are going to be doing a lot of off camera flash work. Sekonic makes a great digital one for about $130.