photogs, recommend me some studio lights...

Midget

Midget

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Jun 1, 2002
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so i'm trying to build up a small little studio in my room and i'm in the market for some studio lighting (on the cheap, if that's possible..) does anyone have any experience with some basic lighting necessities? to be honest, i don't really know where to start.

i'd like to stick with continuous lighting sources as opposed to flashes, if possible. what are my options in lighting if i don't want tungsten-halogens (too hot!). my first project is going to be some high-key, portrait photography.

thanks!
 
I know little to nothing about portrait work. But I stumbled upon this photographer's helpful photo album of his home studio setup specifically for portraiture work. Brian Zimmerman provided a LOT of useful information.

You are on your own with lighting. I use and recommend strobes with a modelling light. That's me.

Coop
 
Watch the Home Depot ads for when they put those very bright halogen work lights on sale. The light these things produce is terrible for photography. So, but a couple of the sets that consist of two lights on a nice, adjustable stand. Then go and get four or five of those really cheap clamp-on lights that consist of a simple aluminum bowl-like reflector and a lamp socket. These things are like five bucks each. Get some uncoated lightbulbs, the kind you can look right through the bulb on. Asemble the stands, but throw the halogen lights away (Home Depot often puts the whole kit on sale for like $19.95 and the stand alone is worth the price. You'll especially agree if you ever price pro photo gear and see what they charge for a flimsy light stand.) Clamp the clamp-on lights to the stands where the halogen lights should have been put. Screw in the clear bulbs. Set your camera's white balance control for indoors and get shooting.
 
If I wanted to setup a simple portrait studio, and wasn't going to use strobe, I would buy a setup like this.
http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/skaeser/Detail?no=417

90% of the Fashion photography I did was with a softbox, much like what's pictured in the link. My softbox was made by me out of foamcore, four foot square and power my 1200 watts of strobe with built-in modeling light. A softbox would also be perfect for still lifes, such as knives.

With a foamcore reflector to fill-in the shadows, you could work for a very long time with just this simple setup. Somewhere down the line you may want to add another light for the background, and a third light with a boom as a hair light.

You should be able to see my softbox reflected in the eyes here.
12789705.jpg


Of course if there was no money for lights, window light or open shade works as well.
12856421.jpg
 
gollnick,


those aluminum lamps are exactly what i've been using for photography up until now. they are pretty cool, i have 3 of them. but i've been using 100watt flourescent lightbulbs... i dunno if that changes anything.

the problem i see is, household-type bulbs just don't seem to have enough output. i could remedy this by just using lots and lots of lamps, but for portrait photography, we're trying for a single source of lighting only. well, that's as far as i can tell.

i'm reading a few books on lighting right now, and one recommends using tungsten-halogen bulb that tosses 20kW... so.. i mean that's 200x more output than what my 100W bulbs are throwing? unless i'm not understanding the units or something?

the hard part about using multiple sources of light is diffusing it. so... i tried just hanging a white sheet from the ceiling w/ a few lights behind it to see what would happen.. it doesn't really work.

here's a picture of what i'm working on.. it's pretty rudimentary, cause i'm experimenting and stuff.

studiopi3.jpg


my backdrop is comprised of PVC and a muslin sheet, btw.




thanks for the link sharpbycoop, btw. i like that guy's style "on the cheap." he has a PVC backdrop too, which makes me feel less silly. ;)
 
MisterSat said:
Coop, what strobes do you use or recommend? I have a variety of flashes and slaves that are getting pretty tired and I am looking around for some newer strobes.
Click to expand...
I am using a set of 30-year-old Norman flash units with a power box. You're asking me??? :rolleyes: :confused:

Coop
 
How come you are adverse to flash units? In all honesty if you have a good flash meter and know how to set them up they will be the best light source and image quality that you will find. Check out this company Alien Bee They have some inexpensive kits and they are stand alone ie no scary power packs to deal with. Also what will you be shooting with? and what effect you looking for?
 
If you are going to be shooting digital, and your camera has a custom white balance setting (that is, one that you can set by sampling a white surface in the room light), then it doesn't matter what type of bulbs you use, as long as they are all the same. The only type to avoid is fluorescent, because they are often throw inconsistent light. Oh, and if you find a source of really good continuous light that isn't too hot, please let us know. (That's why people use strobes.)

If you want to experiment with continuous lighting, that's fine, but I'd recommend that you don't spend too much money on anything you can't use with strobes too, because if you pursue this, you're eventually going to make the switch.

For the budget portrait studio, look into umbrellas instead of softboxes, and reflectors instead of additional lights. Umbrellas cost $20-30, and set up in seconds, while softboxes are at least $100, are much heavier (requiring bigger stands), and take much longer to set up. One good hot light with a decent stand and an umbrella clamp can function as your key light. Total cost should be under $100. Then, for fill light, you can use a big piece of white foamcore (about $5) as a reflector on the opposite side. You can get amazingly good results with a setup as simple as this.
 
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