From the course: Advanced Photography: Flash

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Control the power of a studio strobe

Control the power of a studio strobe

From the course: Advanced Photography: Flash

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Control the power of a studio strobe

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- The most important control on your strobe system or handheld flash is the control for adjusting power. On this Elinchrom ELB 400, that's what this big number right here in the middle is. On this Godox AD600, that's this number here. Your system should have a similar display somewhere. On handheld flashes and many monolights like this one, power is usually measured in fractions of total possible power, one-one, one-half, one-quarter, et cetera. Your unit should have controls for dialing that setting up and down. On this Elinchrom system, flash power is measured in stops, so right now it's reading four stops of power. Now it's important to know that that number right there corresponds to absolutely nothing on your camera. It doesn't mean that you need to be shooting at F4. It's there simply to provide a way to make relative adjustments of power. If you decide you need a light that's one stop brighter, then you can dial this up one stop to five. This particular system offers flash…

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