Please Don't Burn Me at the Stake!

Hopefully, I won't be stoned or worse for this update. Some newer photographers definitely seem like zealots when it comes to their speedlites, speedlights, small flash instruments, whatever you want to call them. I mean, the small flash religion even has its own apostles, you know, like Saint Joe and Saint David. Those two have hopped on a tour bus and are out there traveling the highways and byways of America like revival tent preachers spreading the gospel of small flash photography to the masses. Betcha they're even healing some old school shooters who have resisted seeing the light of small flash photography and reciting the small flash prayers inspired by Canon, Nikon, Vivitar, Metz, and more.

Watching some of those old timers converting from their packs-n-heads and monolights to small, portable, flash photography must be a wonder to behold! A truly religious experience! I can just imagine those old dudes getting baptized in the "new light." I can almost see and hear them after their miraculous conversions, working with their subjects, lighting them for the first time with small flash units and speaking to them in tongues.

Now I sure don't want to be labeled a heretic. And I'll even admit to sometimes using small flash instruments myself, leastwise, when they're the right tool for the job. And like I already said, I sure as hell don't wanna get stoned or burned at the state or worse. But I gotta share one thing with all of you, as heretical as it might sound: I'm not giving up packs-n-heads or monolights when shooting in a studio or in many interior locations. Nope. I'm not gonna do it even if it makes me some kind of photo-pagan. And while there's a whole bunch of reasons I'm not going to do that, here's one of the really big ones-- If there's one thing I'd sorely miss, it would be that modeling light on my main light.

Yep. That's it. Pure and simple. As far as I know, and I could be wrong cuz I'm not omniscient and all-knowing like some photographers are, but as far as I know those Canon speedlites and Nikon speedlights and small flash units from Vivitar, Metz, and others don't come with modeling lights. And I love me some modeling lights!

As usual, I'm just saying. And I sure don't mean any disrespect to Joe McNally or David Hobby cuz the truth is, I respect what they've done and what they do immensely.

The pretty girl at the top is Devin. Devin is lit with, dare I say it? Three monolights and a bunch of ambient daylight coming in from an outside-the-perimeter-of-the-shot window above and behind her. (Click photo to enlarge.)