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Continuous or flash lighting, which do you perfer
Just wondering when shooting protraits what opinions are ot there about lighting. Continuous or flash, which do you perfer and why? Also, which type? Thanks for the input in advance! God Bless! Feb 07 09 09:07 am Link I much prefer flash if I'm shooting portraiture. Continuous lights get way too hot, and if I'm hot, I can only imagine how uncomfortable the person posing for me must be. Feb 07 09 09:08 am Link Laura Ann Photography wrote: Good point, they do make you moist after a while! Feb 07 09 09:11 am Link Each to their own, but flash [with modelling lights] for me. Feb 07 09 09:12 am Link Pat Porter Photography wrote: I don't mind them so much if I'm shooting still life, but last time I locked myself into a studio trying to get a shot a particular way, I found myself laying on the floor at one point complaining about the heat. Mind you, I had been in there for about 5 hours, but damn, it was sweltering. Feb 07 09 09:12 am Link Laura Ann Photography wrote: I could do with using continous lighting as the studio I work in is freezing at the best of times... We have a portable heater but that guzzles energy! Hitting two birds with one stone doesn't sound a bad idea. Feb 07 09 09:14 am Link I suppose another "benefit" (if the heat radiating from them warming your studio counts as the first) to continuous light is you can meter the shot knowing exactly what the light will look like and design the conept from there. I still prefer flash though. Feb 07 09 10:52 am Link Flash due to heat and color temperature control. Modeling lights too of course. Feb 07 09 10:56 am Link Recently went away from continuous to flash....one of the best things I ever did and long overdue. Not looking back.... Feb 07 09 10:58 am Link Modeling lamps, flash with the perfect light. The only way for me, I just don't do the hot lamps! Feb 07 09 11:02 am Link It depends on the look I'm going for. Lighting is not my strong point. I understand strobes a little better than standard lights. So i guess strobes. Feb 07 09 11:04 am Link I've been trying to get from stobe with modeling lights to continuous for years but every move seems to be a move backward and I always end up with the strobes. Feb 07 09 11:05 am Link Anyone trying the daylight balanced CF bulbs (compact fluorescent) for continuous lighting? I've seen that some that go up to the equivalent of a 350 watt incandescent bulb. Seems that would be a good way to avoid the heat but get the constant light. Feb 07 09 11:07 am Link I was a filmmaker for over 10 years before I switched to photography, and having worked with both, I think if you can use a flash, it's better. It makes more pictures possible. We can't use them for cinema, unfortunately. Continuous lighting is highly inefficient both in terms of electrical energy expenditure and heat generation, when compared to flashes. Feb 07 09 11:39 am Link Have Pentax Will Travel wrote: ?? (the section I bolded) Feb 07 09 02:54 pm Link To get the same amount of (continuous) hot light as a flash...you have to tie in, or have a generator. Lots of light gives you MUCH more flexibility look wise. It's a practical matter mostly. Strobes give you lots more options, under normal conditions. And easier/quicker/lighter/fit-in-your-trunk. But if you have the budget and the power sources and the crew...I LOVE the look of the big HMIs. Yummy. B Feb 07 09 03:29 pm Link I use a mix of both. usealy I don't have to much problems with it. Feb 07 09 03:34 pm Link Robert Asbury wrote: Curious, did you mean you use both at the same time? Feb 07 09 03:59 pm Link Strobes all the way. I can use low ISO and not have to worry about any motion blur. Feb 07 09 07:09 pm Link PhotoSportNW wrote: I was referring to depth of field, exposure, and grain. Feb 08 09 02:53 am Link Have Pentax Will Travel wrote: Thanks, I could interpret your comments in multiple ways so I was unsure which you meant and wanted to be positive about your intended meaning. Feb 08 09 03:06 am Link Depends... Feb 08 09 03:09 am Link Have Pentax Will Travel wrote: Gotta give the movie guys credit ,what they do is incrediable ,shooting inside a studio is nothing compared to making a movie. Feb 08 09 11:38 am Link Hot lights can be much better for high contrast "Hollywood" style lighting - just depends on what you are looking for. jim Feb 08 09 11:47 am Link I have three lighting setups: two continuous, and one strobe. One continuous is CF, the other is metal halide. Neither is hot; you can run them all day and both your color temperature and your model's skin temperature stay the same. The bulbs show no degradation in color temp after at least hundreds of hours, and in the case of the CF, thousands. The energy consumption may be slightly higher than strobe, but probably by only a few cents per shoot, so I consider it inconsequential. However, it takes more continuous lighting to get the same luminance as the strobes. Also, the metal halide system has a slight green cast. It is easily corrected by a slight adjustment in white balance. In my port, this image was shot with metal halide: 18+ https://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic … he_count=2 18+ This image was shot with CF as a fill: 18+ https://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic … the_count= 18+ I use continuous over strobe with modeling lights because I prefer to see exactly how my shadows will play together. I worked with strobes with modeling lights for decades, and consider them inferior for creating shadows with the same texture as the resulting strobe exposure. However, I would happily chose strobe over tungsten in most cases. The one place where I like tungsten is some single light photography, where I want a focused light source, and extreme control over the shadows. Hope that helps. Note that I no longer shoot catalog, portrait, or glamour, and my particular choices are specific to the fine art work that I shoot these days. Your experience, in a different genre, may lead you to a very different choice. Feb 08 09 12:14 pm Link For my studio with its beautiful window light, I like compact fluorescent continuous light. It balances easily with the window light in both temperature and output. Feb 08 09 12:14 pm Link I would recommend checking out the westcott td5 lights. They offer 900w equivelent in a 5500k bulb. Strong soft windowlight look and you can control the brightness similar to a strobe. Feb 08 09 12:19 pm Link I like flash. I like the control I get with it. I have used tungsten and I do not like the lack of DOF and slow shutter speeds. Same for the daylight color balanced fluorescent. If I want low DOF I use available daylight. Feb 09 09 12:40 am Link Continuous light is perhaps the most accurate light you can find. When it comes to portraits you may not find the need for that. I love using continuous light sources, though often times strobes are more convient. Here are some continuous light systems that are available that you may not have thought about. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/1224 … wered.html http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/1201 … urces.html http://www.kinoflo.com/ - Phen Feb 09 09 12:56 am Link From memory from, when I shot Lowel Tota-lights with 1000 watt bulbs. To get the same f-stops and ISO and shutter speed as a ab800 strobe. I would need to increase the 1000 watt FHM bulbs to 12,000 watts or more. The tota lights gave me f5.6 at ISO 800 at 1/125 using a umbrella and the lights were about 6 feet away and the models roasted. AB 800's easily give me f11 at ISO 200 out of boxes at 10 feet at an effective shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second using a actual synch speed of 1/60, 1/125 or 1/250th. Feb 09 09 12:57 am Link Unlike other debates, this one is pretty settled among photographers. Strobes are just more capable lights. As others have expressed already, there is a firm place for continuous lighting, but strobes just have so much more power and control. If someone has only shot with continuous lighting, do youself a favor and get some strobes. They're neato. __________________ HOWEVER, the greatest and most beautiful light is the constnant Sun. So, I guess continuous is still superior. Feb 09 09 01:02 am Link Each has its advantages and disadvantages, but I gotta tell ya, I loves me my set of Redheads! Feb 09 09 01:04 am Link MinisterC wrote: What do you mean by control, exactly? Feb 09 09 01:05 am Link Phen Mas wrote: I meant versatile. My mistake. Strobes give you most of what constants do, plus more light, less heat and less electricity. Feb 09 09 01:07 am Link MinisterC wrote: It's no problem, I was just confused, because I saw someone else mention that as well... and I didn't get it. As far as your heat problem not all continuous light sources give off heat OR use tons of electricity. I think in a lot of cases strobes are cheaper to get off the ground than hi-end continuous systems. Feb 09 09 01:10 am Link MinisterC wrote: I'm always intrigued by comments like this, because I made the same comments until I got my latest sets of continuous lights -- which don't get hot, don't use much more electricity than strobe, and begin to approximate the continuity of the sun. This whole debate sort of reminds me of the debate among photographers a few years ago, when digital was just starting out: at first, no one thought digital was anywhere equal to film, then a few thought digitial offered some advantages, then a lot did. Unless you've used the more recent forms of continuous lighting, you can't really make a valid comparison. It isn't a valid comparison to say "I've used tungsten, and my strobes are better." It simply says you haven't used any of the new technologies. No, a 1.6 megapixel Kodak DS260 isn't equivalent to Tri-X pan. But what about a 1Ds Mark III? Feb 09 09 07:53 am Link I started with continuous (for about 3 years) and jumped to strobes. Continuous is not generally bright enough (not always the case) for super clear shots and yeah, those lights get hot hot hot. Feb 09 09 01:59 pm Link I have a couple of Smith Victor hot lights sitting in my garage that I break out for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows once in a while. That's about all they're good for. Feb 09 09 02:19 pm Link |