I have my strobes but how do I trigger them?

There are three major way to trigger strobes lights to go off. The first option is probably the cheapest but makes your studio area almost dangerous because you have your camera physically connected to your strobes by a wire. The will make it so you have a constant trip hazard in your studio. With this option you are also relying on the other strobe firing with its optical slave. A optical slave is an eye on the strobe head that can see other strobes flash. When the eye sees other strobes go off it will make that strobe go off as well. You can also use this option and take your on camera flash or a speed light to trigger the strobes. The disadvantage with this option is when you are doing an on location shoot your optical eye my not see the other strobes go off because of all the ambient light. Because you dnt have a controlled environment of a studio this Optical slave option isn't a very good one. The third option is to use a wireless trigger. This system works by taking a trigger and attaching it to you camera, then attaching another to each strobe. The trigger that you attach to your hot shoe will trigger all the other triggers. Thus eliminating the worries that the optical slave won't see the other strobe going off. Another problem with relying on a optical slave say for a wedding reception, when ever anyone takes a photo near by that has their flash on they will set off your strobe.

A few wireless trigger systems that I have read about are Younguo, Pocket Wizards, Phottix just to name a few. While I only have experience with pocket wizards I sure they all work the same. The main difference in them are they can only work with each other because they all have different frequencies. They also all have different working distances so you may want to research that prior to purchasing your triggers. This way you will purchase the right one to meet your needs. Another thing to consider is some strobe companies make their own triggers. For me I purchased the Pocket Wizard brand because I knew that my light meterhas a pocket wizard build into it. When I want to take a reading I hit the button on the meter and it fires the strobes. To hook up your trigger one attaches to the camera via the hot shoe,the receiver part of the trigger connects to your strobes with a wire between the trigger and the strobe. You will want to purchase one trigger for each strobe plus you will need the transceiver for the camera.

Some places you can purchase these triggers are B&H Photo, Adorama, Mac On Campus, or your local Camera store. Be sure to look and ask what student discounts are available.

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Thursday Ambassador