Continuous or Strobe? - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

03/29/2009 01:15:04 AM · #1

Small studio maybe 10x20ft., and I need enough light for the camera to shoot portraits w/props.

Whatta ya guys think?

I know nothing about studio photography....YET, but its on my list now, so time to conquer.

I'll be using my kit lens, so I'll need light to be adequate for my tight aperature.

Message edited by author 2009-03-29 01:17:51.

Citadel

Nikon D7500

03/29/2009 01:26:03 AM · #2

I recommend the strobist approach to begin with:
//strobist.blogspot.com/

Off camera flashes rather than full strobe heads have a lot of advantages. Price is the biggest one. They're also portable. Drawback? The amount of light they put out. But you really can't go wrong with them if you're just starting out.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX100

03/29/2009 01:48:47 AM · #3

So I watched the seminar in your recommended site. Pretty cool, very intelligent.

I'm not sure I'm that intelligent yet. I need some simple man solution to set-up a studio, and get good classy shots.

spiritualspatula

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

03/29/2009 02:00:31 AM · #4

You just need to stick with reading that blog. Go through lighting 101 and 102 do the exercises so that you understand the ideas. Then you can keep reading through it further, but start with lighting 101 and 102.
Lighting 101
Lighting 102
Start with those.
There TONS of other stuff there too once you're done with that.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 ED VR

03/29/2009 12:30:25 PM · #5

Come on my fellow Canoneers, somebody out there has a nice small studio. How does it work for ya?

Message edited by author 2009-03-29 12:36:08.

LanndonKane

Nikon D800

03/29/2009 12:39:13 PM · #6

Honestly, it won't get any simpler than buying two external flashes, syncing them with your camera, and pointing them at your subject. But you'll probably get pretty lousy results. The only real way to get professional looking studio shots is to invest time learning the basic concepts and techniques.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 105mm f/1.4E ED

03/29/2009 12:56:43 PM · #7

I definately don't want to put something on the canon that makes it go ca-plooey, but I'd like to get the right equipment and mess around till I get it learned.

Leave that book stuff to the scholars, right? I'm a hard-knocks learner, always have been. Probably why I'm broke. LOL.

ErinKirsten

Nikon Z9

03/29/2009 01:16:43 PM · #8

Originally posted by sacredspirit:

Come on my fellow Canoneers, somebody out there has a nice small studio. How does it work for ya?

Shoot

njsabs2323 a note - she accomplishes very professional results with her strobe lighting in her home studio. I would say it is medium in size but she has made it work very effectively. Plus, she shoots Canon like you.

03/29/2009 01:58:55 PM · #9

WoW, yer right Mom2two, she's good, real good! TY.

Google Glass Google Glass

03/29/2009 02:03:46 PM · #10

I'm going to try this a different way. If anybody has any ideas on filling this mock studio in.
Plz, plz do!

Message edited by author 2009-03-29 14:05:51.

Prof_Fate

03/29/2009 02:15:14 PM · #11

continous lights mean shooting High ISO, perhaps long shutter speeds, and certainly wide apertures. Cost can be low to get started, but most cheap alternatives are not photo-friendly, meaning stands, softboxes, etc don't mount up. What you see is what you get and you don't need a flash/light meter.

speedlight option works well if you already know flash, but it can be very hard to learn to do wall. If you buy 283's or other non-eTTL lights it may not seem expensive to get into, but you need stands, brackets, and a way to tigger the lights, hot shoe adapaters, etc, plus lots of batteries and time spent charging them, and when you've reached this point you're still limited by power and available modifiers. You don't be doing a 3x4 or larger softbox as their's not enough power output, assuming there was a way to mount this up. No modeling light means lots of trial and error and you should, nee, must have a light/flash meter or you'll be doing lots of guessing. Fine if you shooting your kids or find one setup and leave it alone forever. Sucks if you've got a neighbor or client and you keep fussing about with the lights - makes you look like you have no clue what you're doing, so it makes any image you create 'suspect' as to quality. If you're good with studio lights or know flash (from experience- not books or videos!) then the strobist way can work. And if you're not familiar with all the doodads - stands, brackets, hotshoe adapter (which may or may not work with your flash BTW), cords to every light (usually , depends on your light), and if you get used lights no warranty and you hope they work as they're supposed to. Lots of mismatched lights means inconsistent results as 1/2 power can mean different things on different lights, etc.

Option three is to just do it right the first time and get a strobe kit. Alien Bee kits are very popular, but I'd recomend somethning from Interfit as they're just as good in features and quality for less money IME. I got a two light kit for $500 that included everything except a meter. Cords, stands, umbrellas (for just a bit more you can get the softbox kit). Add a meter and you're good to go. No guessing, no used ebay crap, no trying to figure out how it all goes together and why it's not working. Unpack, put the lights on teh stands, plug it in and turn it on - take pictures.

Why I say what I'm saying:
I started out small -hot lights (worklights from sears) years ago as an amateur.
(gawd I've come a long way...these are not high art, just to illustrate the discussion)

(yes, there are more skilled hot light users than me out there - on every streetcorner LOL)

I tried some ebay strobes and well, some worked and some were on ebay for a very good reason - old junk is what they were. I now use a metz and a 550 as my off-camera lights at weddings (mostly receptions) and they do work, once you get the kinks worked out. Sigma flashes won't fire off hotshoe adapters. The 550 works on one of my adapters and not the other, the metz works on all of them (different brands bought at different times). And there's very little light output if you start shooting through umbrellas (a flashgun puts out 50-80 ws of power)

I use off camera flash a lot with seniors as mom can hold it easily.

Strobe wise I now have 7 Interfit (stellar 300ws units) bought mostly new, some used, and the oldest ones are 3 or 4 years old and travel to weddings, events, schools, sports and more, as well as work in the studio with umbrellas, softboxes and more. I often use the modelling light for shots as well - it works sooooo much better than worklights!

(one light was outside the window with a gel on it as this was shot after dark

one light did the gel on the white seemless bg, two lights on her (see her eyes)

again, a gel for the BG color, This would be tough to pull off with speedlights IMO/IME
studio lights at weddings

I can post better examples but they're not in my DPC port so they'd be large.

ambaker

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM

03/29/2009 02:45:54 PM · #12

Hey Prof, excellent info... Thanks for the write-up and examples. I will likely never be a pro, but this helps a lot.

Right now, I'm at the cheap, small lights stage. I like them because I can see what the lighting will look like before I click. Once I get a handle on it, I can already see the reason to go to strobes.