Portrait Lights to start with

Hi! This must have been posted about a hundred times before, but

anyway;-) I'm planning to begin some portrait work, mainly headshots,

only b&w. I now have an EOS 3 with the 380 Ex as well as an Mamiya

C330 (MF) with the Metz 36CT. So my possibilities to get a proper

light are the following, I guess: - Keep the small flashes and get an

umbrella or a softbox, a flash-meter for the C330 (since it doesn't

have an inbuilt light-meter) and keep closer distances to the subject.

Should I let such small flashes control all the light or should I mix

the flashlight with ambient-light in order to get faster

aperture-times? Where should I put a reflector to achieve optimal

light? -The second solution might be a studioflash as well a

flash-meter and an umbrella. How much Wattseconds should it have? Is

one enough for the beginning? How much would a good one to start with

cost? -The third solution (and cheapest one) is to get a halogen-lamp

from Wal-Mart for 20 bucks that delivers 500 Watts. Since I only shoot

b&w, color wouldn't be a problem. How does the brightness of these

compare to my "small" Canon/Metz-Flashes? Sorry for the long post and

thanks in advance for the answers! -Peter

Peter, I started out using Lowel DP lights for portraiture and found them ideal. Just two of them will do the job, and you can add the Wal-Mart light as a hair light. I use the Lowel DPs for glamour photography even now. I like to see exactly what the light is doing. The accessories made for the DPs are quite useful--except for the cukaloris--and allow you to control light precisely. Two DPs with 1000-watt bulbs deliver enough light to use 125 speed film for portraiture. I recommend Plus-X for glowing skin tones.

Hi Peter, you might want to check out Alien Bees. (I think it's just www.alienbees.com) They only sell direct, so their costs are low. Their lights are also compatible with most things made by White Lightning since they're a branch of the same company. They come in 3 sizes depending on your needs with some attractively priced bundles as well... Probably worth a look. Best wishes . . .

Peter, i would advise you to start off slow with whatever system you go for, be it one light or five lights. Start with one light and a reflector and go from there. You will learn more about how to control the lighting this way. You will save time and money by doing it correct right from the start. Good luck. Jim.

I did a series of 27 head shots with my ETRS, it was the only time I've done serious studio portraiture. It was pretty assembly-line, a project for my school. You know - name?, sit, smile, CLICK, repeat, next!

 

It was torture working with my two 500W SV lights. Granted, iw really would have helped (me) if I had a longer lens, I was so close to both model and lights. The model could sit for about three quick frames before sweat started to show and they asked to leave.

 

I find continuous lighting even worse for still-life work. Granted it's easier to see the light, but anything with a good modelling light will work. I'm not exaggerating when I say that by time I was done with a few frames of a flower, sweat was dripping from my face onto the camera.