This section discusses the pros and cons of
the different lighting systems.
✦Portability. Let’s face it, you can
pack three or four Speedlights in
one bag, which only weighs a few
pounds. You still need stands and
umbrellas for many types of shoot-
ing, but Speedlights are small and
very portable.
✦Power.Speedlights run on A A bat-
teries. You don’t have to rely on
household current and long exten-
sion cords to power these flashes.
You can power studio strobes with
accessory batteries, but they weigh
more than the strobes themselves
in some cases. That’s one more
piece of equipment, per strobe,
that you have to worry about.
When first setting up for a stu-
dio session, I always put a set of
freshly charged set batteries in
each Speedlight I use. I find that
one set of batteries can last me
for hundreds of photos, often
lasting me the entire job. It’s a
good idea to buy at least one
set of extra batteries for each
Speedlight you own.
✦Ease of use. After you arrange and
configure your Speedlights, you’re
ready to shoot, controlling flash
output centrally. With studio
strobes, you have to add yet more
equipment to achieve the same
advantage.
Tip
50 Part II ✦Creating Great Photos with the Creative Lighting System
3.1 I use an old camera bag to carry all my Speedlights and accessories.
09_045275 ch03.qxp 11/28/06 8:24 PM Page 50