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Looking to get a lighting system...need your help
I was wondering which I should go with... Umbrellas or soft boxes? Flash or continual light? I know that I will get the usual "whichever you are comfortable with" or something similar. I'm new to the lighting system... so please help. Cantu May 13 07 02:54 am Link Strobes, and decent ones, what is your budget? and what are you looking to shoot? and where indoors or out? knowing that will help with what to get. Stephen Eastwood http://www.PhotographersPortfolio.com May 13 07 03:14 am Link A few questions to put your request in context. 1) What sort of photography do you want to do? (Portraits, fashion, headshots etc.) 2) Is it necessary that the lighting is portable or will you just be keeping it in one place? 3) What is your budget? 4) If you do have a studio, or room you plan to use as one, how much space do you have? 5) Do you want something you can keep and expand upon, or just something cheaper you can use for a while and then upgrade to something better? You could start off with something that is relatively cheap and flexible. For quite a few of the shots in my portfolio I've used a speedlite 580 EX and a 430 EX flash (both mounted on tripods away from the camera and triggered using a transmitter) and a reflector or two. You'd be surprised at how much you can get out of them. I've recently bitten the bullet and bought a Bowens Esprit Gemini 500Watt, two head kit and got some pretty nice results. The reason I went for Bowens is that it's a good reliable brand with a large number of light modifiers easily available and it gives me a point to start from. May 13 07 03:20 am Link Rob Gillespie wrote: 1) all of the above May 13 07 03:29 am Link you'll be hardpressed to find something portable, as most inverters for strobes are right around the $300 mark. you might be able to get by with an inverter and an alien bee b400, but thats about the cheapest you're going to get right there. May 13 07 03:38 am Link If you can't answer those questions yourself, I think you may want to check out some books first: - Light Science and Magic - Matter of Light and Depth And looking at your answers, I don't think you have done even the minimal amount of market research to see what is out there and what is possible. Go to B&H's website and at least look at some pricing for yourself first, I think it would be the reasonable and prudent thing to do. May 13 07 03:43 am Link Alien Bees strobes with soft-boxes. May 13 07 03:44 am Link I've found that the sun works pretty well. So do candles, flashlights, and shop lights. The strip of fluorescent lights in my apartment works pretty well, too. Strobist has some examples of excellent work done with off-camera speedlights. What's wrong with what you've got available to you right now? May 13 07 03:46 am Link Carlos Arturo Velarde wrote: How does that fit his budget? May 13 07 03:48 am Link AA Cantu wrote: I'd say you're limited to a decent on camera strobe and a diffuser for it. What brand cam do you shoot? My Nikon SB800s are great (If you shoot Nikon) and are about $320 each. You can get a Quantum batter pack for one for about $250 and you budget is gone. To travel an AB light (as was mentioned) is $350 for just the battery pack set up. $150 is not going to get you an AB monolight abd stand and softbox (As was also suggested). How about a nice California Sounbounce reflector you can mount on a stand for around $300 for the setup. Great for outdoors but limited indoors. However you could buy a cheap tungsten light and umbrella with your remaining money (from your $500 budget) and use the same stand. BUT..you need to learn more about light before you make your choices. May 13 07 03:57 am Link And for anybody else following this thread, this ought to be a good example. A nice specific question with a lot of detail gets answers. May 13 07 04:06 am Link Candles. Perfect for portraits, fashion, and headshots. Portable. Under $500. 10-20ft of studio space is plenty for candle shots. You can add candles to your candle system as you go, but they do melt away. Everything you need! May 13 07 04:12 am Link He can start with one, and the build from there as he's able to. lll wrote: May 13 07 04:13 am Link As noted, it's critical to understand what and how you'll be photographing. Shooting large groups on a 4x5 camera requires entirely different setups than one person with an APS sized sensor. Portability, recycle time, expansion, rentability, etc., are all important issues. See the Lighting, Flash, Ring, & Battery Strobe Reference thread for links to other articles and discussions. Most will identify conflicts inherent in your stated needs vs your budget. (The Strobist blog may be helpful, however.) May 13 07 07:44 am Link You will be hard pressed to stay within a $300-500 budget with studio strobes unless you luck out on eBay or something. I don't know what camera system you have, but Nikon's SB800 Speedlights might give you the portability within your budget as long as they give you the power you need. I use them on location periodically and they can work quite well with lightweight stands and umbrellas. May 13 07 08:12 am Link |
