Photo Recipes 2 Gear Guide

Here you’ll find all the gear used in Scott Kelby’s Photo Recipes Live 2 DVD/book. Everything is listed out by lesson, so just choose the lesson you want and you’ll find all the gear used in each one.

Scott uses the Nikon D3 throughout the video. He uses the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 most of the time, but also uses the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 sometimes as well.

We also use sandbags on our light stands throughout the video. These make the stands more stable, thus providing an added layer of safety. We generally use one or two 15-25 lb sandbags on each stand, depending on the weight of the light and modifier. When ordering sandbags, check to see if you’re ordering empties or ones that are pre-filled. It costs more to ship a 25 lb sandbag than an empty sandbag that will hold 25 lbs :).

You’ll see C-Stands listed throughout the guide, but they’re not always necessary. For most of these setups, a basic but sturdy light stand will be perfectly fine. We were using C-Stands because that’s what the studio had available to us, no other reason.

And one last note before we get to the gear guide. Remember that it’s just that… A guide. The exact gear used in the video will be listed here, along with any specific gear that was mentioned but not necessarily used. But in the end, it all comes down to the basic principles discussed in the video. If you use a different brand of light, great! This guide is a starting point that lists the gear we use (and prefer), but that doesn’t mean you have to buy the exact same gear to pull off the shots from the video.

Now, on to the toys, er… gear!

Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Lesson 5
Lesson 6
Lesson 7
Lesson 8
Lesson 9
Lesson 10
Lesson 11
Lesson 12
Lesson 13


LESSON 1

Just window light on this one! All you need is your camera and lens (the Skyport on top of the camera isn’t on).

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LESSON 2

Nikon SB-900 Speedlight and (optional) Nikon SD-9 Battery Pack

LumoPro Light Stand with Umbrella Swivel/Flash Shoe Adapter

Westcott Umbrella

Pocket Wizard Plus II (x2)

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LESSON 3

Elinchrom Midi Octa 53″ Softbox

Elinchrom BXRi 500 Monolight

Elinchrom Skyport RX System

C-Stand

Impact Multiboom Light Stand / Reflector Holder

Westcott 5-in-1 Reflector Kit

An explanation on wireless triggers – In order for your lights to fire when you click the shutter on your camera, there has to be some form of communication between them and your camera. That’s where wireless triggers come in. If you want each of your lights to fire reliably each and every time, you’ll want a receiver for each one. But most lights have optical triggers built in which detect flashes of light. This means you may be able to get away with just a trigger for your camera and a receiver for one of your lights. The other lights should be able to see the flash and fire at the same time, as long as they are in a position to do so.

So, here’s the bottom line – If you prefer to save money and don’t mind manually adjusting power on your lights, you may only need one receiver for one of your lights. If you prefer reliability and the convenience of adjusting the power of your lights from camera, you’ll want a Skyport receiver for each of your Elinchrom lights.

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LESSON 4

Westcott 5-in-1 Reflector Kit

Gaffers Tape

Nikon SB-900 Speedlight and (optional) Nikon SD-9 Battery Pack

LumoPro Light Stand with Umbrella Swivel/Flash Shoe Adapter

Pocket Wizard Plus II (x2)

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LESSON 5

Elinchrom 17″ Minisoft Reflector (aka Beauty Dish) with Diffuser and Silver Deflector

Elinchrom Style 600RX Monolight

Elinchrom Skyport RX System

C-Stand with Avenger Extension Arm with Grip Head and PinWhen you mount lights on extension arms, make sure the arm tightens on itself. This way if it starts to slip under the weight of the light, it stops itself.

Westcott Background Support System with White Seamless Paper and A-Clamp

Westcott 5-in-1 Reflector Kit

Impact Multiboom Light Stand / Reflector Holder

Impact Light StandWe’re just using this one to help hold the reflector up

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LESSON 6

Elinchrom 17″ Minisoft Reflector (aka Beauty Dish) with Diffuser and Silver Deflector

Elinchrom Style 600RX Monolight

Elinchrom Style 600RX Two Monolight Kit

Elinchrom 7″ Grid Reflector (x2)

Elinchrom 7″ Maxispot Grid, 20 Degrees (x2)

Elinchrom Skyport RX System

C-Stand with Avenger Extension Arm with Grip Head and PinWhen you mount lights on extension arms, make sure the arm tightens on itself. This way if it starts to slip under the weight of the light, it stops itself.

Westcott Background Support System with White Seamless Paper and A-Clamp

Manfrotto 368B Light StandThis is a basic but sturdy light stand. You don’t have to get this exact one, but you’ll need four stands for this setup – one for each of the lights and one for each flag.

Matthews Flag – 18×24″ or Westcott Collapsible 18×24″ Flag Frame and FabricYou’ll need two flags, one to block each of the lights behind your subject from firing into the camera.

Avenger Grip HeadYou’ll need two of these to attach the flags to the light stands.

Westcott 5-in-1 Reflector Kit

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LESSON 7

Plexiglass – You can pick this up from your local hardware or home improvement store

Elinchrom 17″ Minisoft Reflector (aka Beauty Dish) with Diffuser and Silver Deflector

Elinchrom 27″x27″ Rotalux Softbox

Elinchrom Style 600RX Two Monolight Kit

Elinchrom Style 600RX Monolight

Elinchrom 7″ Grid Reflector (x2)

Elinchrom Skyport RX System

C-Stand with Avenger Extension Arm with Grip Head and PinWhen you mount lights on extension arms, make sure the arm tightens on itself. This way if it starts to slip under the weight of the light, it stops itself.

Westcott Background Support System with White Seamless Paper and A-Clamp

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LESSON 8

Westcott Spiderlite TD-5 Kit (includes light stand, TD5 fixture, bulbs, 24″x32″ softbox, and case)

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LESSON 9

Westcott 5-in-1 Reflector Kit

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LESSON 10

Lastolite 78″x78″ Skylite Reflector Kit

C-Stand (x2)

Lots of Sandbags

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LESSON 11

Elinchrom 17″ Minisoft Reflector (aka Beauty Dish) with Diffuser and Silver Deflector

Elinchrom Style 600RX Monolight

C-Stand with Avenger Extension Arm with Grip Head and PinWhen you mount lights on extension arms, make sure the arm tightens on itself. This way if it starts to slip under the weight of the light, it stops itself.

Elinchrom Style 600RX Two Monolight Kit

Elinchrom 7″ Maxispot Grid, 20 Degrees (x2)

C-Stand (x2)

Elinchrom Skyport RX System

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LESSON 12

Nikon SB-900 Speedlight and (optional) Nikon SD-9 Battery Pack

LumoPro Light Stand with Umbrella Swivel/Flash Shoe Adapter

Westcott Umbrella

Sticky Filters

Pocket Wizard Plus II (x2)

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LESSON 13

Reel EFX Wind Machine

Elinchrom Midi Octa 53″ Softbox

Elinchrom Style 600RX Monolight

Elinchrom Style 600RX Two Monolight Kit

Elinchrom 7″ Grid Reflector (x2)

Elinchrom 7″ Maxispot Grid, 20 Degrees (x2)

C-Stand (x3)

Red Fabric – You can pick this up from your local crafts store

Matthews Flag – 18×24″ or Westcott Collapsible 18×24″ Flag Frame and FabricYou’ll need two flags, one to block each of the lights behind your subject from firing into the camera.

Avenger Grip HeadYou’ll need two of these to attach the flags to the light stands.

Manfrotto 368B Light Stand – This is a basic but sturdy light stand. You don’t have to get this exact one, but you’ll need five stands for this setup – three for the lights, and two for the flags.

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