The 2 umbrella light kit - DPChallenge Forums

Sigma 24-35mm f/2.0 DG HSM A

07/05/2010 11:59:38 AM · #1

Guys,

Anyone with any experience with this lighting setup for starters at a home studio?

I also read about other alternatives (SB series flashes and Alien Bees and ElinChrom for example), but I don't want to spend too much, and at the same time I want the flexibility to grow the setup with minimal extra expenses in future.

I have a DIY thing I made by buying off the shelf things, but I think the power of the light (clip-ons) and the lack of umbrella(s) make it ineffective (unless someone can show me otherwise?:-)

Thanks for your help.

dmadden

Canon EOS-40D

07/05/2010 01:50:47 PM · #2

I'm not sure, but those look like continuous lights. I would only go with strobes but thats just me. It also depends on what you want to shoot, which is?

I would start with this

Or better yet this

Message edited by author 2010-07-05 13:53:41.

07/05/2010 02:48:30 PM · #3

Thanks.

Since I am a novice with lighting, I do not clearly know what I will use it for. For now, I seem to be interested in portraiture. And some object photography.

07/05/2010 07:54:30 PM · #4

Prash,

I just went through the same process myself for use with my flash units and there are a couple of things you need to consider. Shoot through umbrellas waste a considerable amount of light with spill over. This makes it difficult to control the iight, especially when you shoot in a small room. Reflective umbrellas have less spill and softboxes even less.

This web site shows spill over examples using a shoot through and a soft box. I ended up buying a couple of these reflective softbox umbrellas off ebay. I've only played around in my livingroom a couple of times to test them out but I'm happy so far.

I've recently posted in the DPC Strobist Thread my DYI flash bracket for those umbrellas. The strobist thread has some discussion on umbrellas etc.

As for the lights, I don't know if they will be powerful enough but they would be very helpful for learning how to see the light and shadows produced with your lighting setups.
Good luck with your home studio.

Tim

Tim

Message edited by author 2012-03-01 14:07:16.

07/05/2010 08:40:35 PM · #5

Thank you Tim for a very helpful post. I am going to read through the strobist thread now.

In the while, I found some basic readup if someone else is interested.

07/05/2010 09:40:56 PM · #6

Nice guidelines from this page...

07/06/2010 07:55:06 PM · #7

Good links Phrash. I'm trying to read a couple of sites a day to fully understand everything. Here is a great site I found that has some printable Cheat Sheets That show you the shadows produced as you move the light source around.

Tim

07/06/2010 07:59:33 PM · #8

Originally posted by dmadden:

I'm not sure, but those look like continuous lights. I would only go with strobes but thats just me. It also depends on what you want to shoot, which is?

I would start with this

Or better yet this

I had to come back and reply to you again. Thank you for pointing me to monolights and strobes. Being novice and stupid that I am, I was almost gonna buy the continuous lighting kit(s). Upon your and Tim's hints, I did some more research, and am a bit better informed now that I was yesterday.

Thank you again. However frustrating it may become at times, DPC never fails to give me good reasons to look back and smile at it:-)

07/06/2010 08:00:47 PM · #9

Originally posted by atupdate:

Sure, NP. Btw it was impressive how you made a DIY mount for your flash unit to work better with these. I can bet money some company will have them made cheap somewhere in Asia and will be selling them off on Ebay and making loads of money:-)

07/07/2010 08:16:58 AM · #10

Originally posted by Prash:

Btw it was impressive how you made a DIY mount for your flash unit to work better with these. I can bet money some company will have them made cheap somewhere in Asia and will be selling them off on Ebay and making loads of money:-)

You really know how to cheer a guy up.

I've started bookmarking some of your links for the next round of Newbie questions on off camera flash.

Tim

jvaughn94

Canon EOS-1000D Rebel XS

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

07/07/2010 04:15:21 PM · #11

Originally posted by dmadden:

I'm not sure, but those look like continuous lights. I would only go with strobes but thats just me. It also depends on what you want to shoot, which is?

I would start with this

Or better yet this

I want to make a still life studio for some microstock. Will these lights work okay?