Brian Stoppee's blog

A light-modification tool works in conjunction with different types of AC flashes. Many professional photographers put the bare tube flash head, or monolight without the reflector, in a lightbank. The quality of light is unparalleled. It mimics window light, so the appearance is extremely natural. Your goal as a still-life photographer is the creation of lighting which never crosses the viewer’s mind as being from an artificial source.

We love monolights. They imitate natural illumination beautifully. If you have yet to read our previous features on the Bare Tube Flash Head and Flash Power Packs, now is a good time to do so. Those stories complete the foundational learning about AC flash that you’ll appreciate.

 Thank you for all the reads on our “Bare Tube Flash Head 101” article. This one is the obvious follow-up story. Without the power pack component, the flash head has no fuel. The pack’s the control panel for the system.

  When we’re out meeting our seminar attendees, we know that many of you are total newbies when it comes to AC flash. So this is the first in our series of explorations into what some call “studio flash”. That in itself is an outdated term: Many professional photographers use these AC-powered flash units and shoot entirely on location. Admittedly, there was a time in history when about the only AC-flash units that were available required a great deal of amperage to power, and the physique of a body-builder to transport.

Insuring the longevity of a print is essential to an image-maker’s responsibility to the customer. Anything less can cause damage to a studio’s reputation. This is especially true of photographers who cover special events in people’s lives. It would be a sad situation if the wedding photos, which were expected to be handed down from generation to generation, begin to fade after just a few years.