Hello,
I'm shooting from the boat and looking to brighten up the rider on an overcast day and offset some of the shadows from the overhead sun.
I've got a Speedlite 430EX, but preliminary backyard testing indicates it's only slightly better than nothing at all, has a hard time keeping up with sequence shots and drains the 4 AA batteries too quickly, so I'm thinking I need something more robust.
My budget for this is a few hundred $$ -- the less the better. My boss is an avid sports photographer and recommends White Lightning, some folks here have spoken favorably of Alien Bees -- looks like both are made by the same people.
What's an example setup that has worked for others (keeping my budget in mind
)? Can the bees be powered off the boat battery or a portable generator / large battery pack (Vagabond) required? I've got a Craftsman 12 volt power source (1), wonder if that could be adapted to power the bees and would yield 500 or so flashes for the day with fast enough recycling time. Also, do you use Honeycomb Grids (2) to concentrate the light?
TIA!
(1)
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02875116000P
(2)
http://www.alienbees.com/hg4x.html