Snoots can be made by simply wrapping a roll of light cardboard around the flash head and holding it in place with a rubber band. Lumedyne makes one of aluminum that should fit your 120J (since Lumedyne and Norman LH-5 reflectors are supposed to fit) for about $10. Just take off the the reflector and slide the snoot over the flash head.
Any good book on portrait lighting should tell you how to do a basic 4 light setup (main, fill, background/back light, hair light). Main plus reflector fill is the minimum setup though a wall can often be used as the reflector.
The real advantage of studio type strobe are the modeling lamps. They let you see about what you are going to get. Some modeling lamps can be used as low power floods as well giving you two lighting options.
Bo-Ming Tong wrote:
http://www.alienbees.com/
400WS is enough for most stuff.
tv
Thanks Tom. I think I should be ignoring their "effective ws" rating right ? So far a B800 seems closest at 320ws real.
Also, I saw something I haven't seen on their web site called a "brolly box" which is a shoot-thru umbrella with reflectors at the back to block light spill. Has anyone compared this to a softbox ? If the difference is minimal I will go for a brolly box because of both weight and price.
-- Bo-Ming Tong
