Over the last couple of years the term strobist has become increasingly popular in the world of amateur photography. We thought we’d run a little series of articles on strobism, explaining what it is, what gear you need and how it can improve your photography.
image by geroco
What Is Strobism?
Strobism refers to the use of small flashguns (often referred to as speedlites or strobes) to create effective lighting for all kinds of photographs. The ‘movement’ of strobism rose in popularity in the last couple of years after the photographer David Hobby set up his now seminal blog strobist.com.
Strobism is all about controlling what is perhaps the most important aspect of photography – light. Traditional photographers used to seek out the best light possible in order to make great photographs, strobists create it themselves. At the heart of the stobist movement is being able to understand how light, and more specifically the combination of light from multiple sources contributes towards great photographs.
Why Bother With Strobism?
The whole ethos of strobism is to use small inexpensive flashes to gain the same lighting effects as big expensive studio lighting rigs. What David Hobby did a few years ago was to show exactly what these little flashes were capable of if you the photographer followed a few simple rules and learned how easy it is to control and manipulate the light they produce.
Stobism is all about showing what great pictures small lights can produce.
photo by tetsumo
As David explains in this interview you can achieve truly great results by getting your flash off camera. Doing so enables you to explore and accentuate the 3 dimensionality of your subject in a much more powerful way than when using your flash on camera. As David explains, doing this with small flash units is just mimicking what the pros have been doing with much bigger studio lights for decades. Strobism is just making professional level lighting accessible to the amateur on a budget, and doing so with the same level of quality!
What Strobist Kit Do I Need to Get Going?
The beauty of David Hobby’s ethos is that all you need to get started is a flash gun (ideally one which allows you control the power output manually such as a the Vivitar 285 which costs less than $100) and a means of getting the flash off camera (either a cable or infra red or ideally a radio trigger system). Perhaps one of the reasons this technique has become so popular is that you don’t need a $500 flash gun to get started – any will do so long as you can manually control the power output. Add in a umbrella setup and for $150 you can be up an running.
Here’s the basic strobist kit you need to get started:
- $85 - Vivitar 285 Flash
- $23 - Remote radio triggers
The Strobist Holy Grail
David Hobby has also produced a Strobist DVD box set which is pretty much the strobist bible and essential to learn how to use these little flashes to their maximum capabilities. In the first disc he runs through the kit you’ll need to get started and where you can get it (much of it is sourced for cheap on ebay). The second disc contains a video of one of his seminars where he runs through (and demonstrates) all of the core principles and techniques he uses.
photo by nickwheeleroz
The other DVDs contain different studio and outdoor shoots where he and runs through the set up, his thought process and the lighting execution used for each shoot. Having learned the theory on disc two these later discs allow you to see exactly how he uses the techniques when on a real life shoot. As he shoots he literally talks you through his exact thought process step by step from set up through to capturing the killer shot.
He also goes on to show a number of accessories and devices you can make out of everyday items like cereal boxes to help you control and manipulate your light. This do it yourself approach is perhaps one of the main reasons for the now cult following of the strobist movement. The whole thing is about getting professional quality light and photographs from simple, cheap but highly effective lighting set ups.
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