Self Portraits with the AlienBees B800

I bought a used AlienBees B800 and have been toying around with it for a few days in my basement/studio/laundry room. The light that it gives is truly beautiful. Good light makes all the difference.

The photos below aren't good per se, more just to document the beginning of working with strobes. They are self portraits so I had to pre-focus on an object and then replace it with myself (is there a better way?). The focus is not good and I was guessing where both vertical and horizontal center frame was.  I guess with strobe lighting and no handheld meter you are kind of guessing on the exposure. I was 2/3 to 1 stop dark on these.

The background is home made and in need of ironing (or less DoF). I think with a little more work it will look great. I made it out of white muslin and Rit dye. The link for the tutorial I read is in the blogroll.

And yes I do realize my zipper is half way down. I was in a hurry!















Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

Alien Bees around 1/4 power shooting through an umbrella.