How To: Set Up the Perfect Photo Studio

The Mini Kit/Backpack Kit

Photo: Niall Benvie. Shot on location by Niall Benvie in the south of France; lit with two compact Lumedyne heads with easy-to-pack white diffusers. “You can produce an image like my moth with very simple gear,” says nature specialist Niall Benvie “In an ideal world, though, I’d recommend an Elinchrom Ranger Quadra with two A heads for up to 400 Ws, a Skyport radio trigger, and two Benbo Trekker tripods to support the lights and their softboxes.” Try fitting all that in just one backpack.

Want to get serious about the lighting you take on location? You’ll quickly learn the meaning of the word “compromise.” Your lights should be extraordinarily compact, with an ample set of light-modifying accessories that are equally packable. Yet they must have as many features and almost as much power as their heavier, studio-bound brethren. Since you may ultimately lug these lights to the ends of the earth, you want them to be rugged enough to suffer abuse, but also to weigh as little as possible and to be simple to operate.

There’s more: Your location kits should offer the option of being battery-operable—not yet a given today. Not even the convenient Multiblitz backpack kit with two strobes, stands, and umbrellas can be battery-powered.

Of course, shoe-mount lighting remains an option, but to obtain bright enough output to do battle with the sun in strongly backlit scenes, you might need a case full of shoe-mounters, plus as many batteries, cables, and wireless flash triggers to sync the units. We prefer a single 300 Ws strobe to a handful of shoe-mount flashes.

Of all today’s backpackable lighting options, the photographers we've spoken with agree that the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra juggles all these compromising qualities best. Scottish photographer Niall Benvie (niallbenvie.photoshelter.com), who captured the moth shown here, often uses them (though not for this photo).

The Santa Fe adventure photographer Michael Clark is also a convert (www.michaelclarkphoto.com). His blog/newsletter is crammed with Quadra-lit scenes. “I carry two complete Quadra setups (two packs and two heads) along with wireless triggers (Skyports or PocketWizards), reflectors, a shoot-through umbrella, a lightweight stand and even a small Elinchrom softbox with a grid all in a Lowepro Vertex 300 backpack,” he says. “I can also usually squeeze a camera body and a few lenses in there, too. It makes for a very versatile and portable setup.”

What do we like best? You can keep the Quadra kit packed and ready to go for spur-of-the-moment photo shoots.



(A) The 4-section Gitzo Traveler tripod ($775, street) can also serve as a lightstand or reflector holder.
(B) Similarly, Lowepro’s capacious Pro Runner x450 backpack ($345, street) does double duty: It can hold two small power packs, strobe heads, cords, and a tripod for the field, yet its wheels suit it to city use, too.
(C) Also consider the all-metal, weatherproofed Surefire 6px Pro Dual-Output LED flashlight ($81, street). It will light your way after dark, but can also serve as a dual-power fill light.
(D) B&H’s Impact 12-inch reflectors ($10, direct) collapse to fit in a pack’s side pocket.
(E) The Elinchrom Ranger Quadra ($1,480, street) is already the lightest location strobe available, and a dramatically lighter lithium battery is in the works.{C}