Help! Need a complete list of everything needed for a portrait lighting and flash

[lola_johnson]

Forgive me for the "most pathetic" post on this forum but I am a

serious novice to portrait photography and I have purchased my

camera (Nikon D70s), a portrait lens (85mm/f1.8lens), three

background muslins, tripod and that's it. I would like to use flash

units as opposed to hot lights (someone recommeded this unit package

from Alien Bee http://alienbees.com/busy.html. So with that said I

am stuck! I understand that I also need to purchase slaves and/or

triggers for the flash units therefore I probably need to purchase a

speedlight for this. I AM TOTALLY CONFUSED! So why don't I simply

go to a class to learn technically? Well, honestly, I can't afford

the classes and I rely heavily on information I can get online.

Besides, I am not a classroom person. So am I totally screwed?

Someone, anyone please help!

[rdkirk]

You're not going to get a single, all-correct answer here. There is too much unknown--that you don't even know yet--about what you actually want to do, what you're willing to do, how much you want to spend, and what your personal quirks and tendencies are to give you a shopping list.

 

You can search the lighting topic and read enough to get some ideas of where to start (and I recommend: Start Small and Slow).

 

Also, go to sites like www.zuga.net (where there are online videos of professionals using studio lights) and www.montezucker.com to get more ideas of how they are used.

 

Go to www.photoflex.com and www.fjwestcott.com to see examnples of all the kinds of tools out there (the principle of "Don't spend all your money in one place" applies). Also, check equipment descriptions on www.bhphotovideo.com and www.adorama.com, which are often better than the descriptions on the manufacturers' sites.

 

But www.alienbees.com does have FAQs and online manuals that give you a lot more general electronic flash information than any other flash manufacturer's site.

[michael_madio]

As previously mentioned, there is no "right" answer as there are so many variables. My only gripe about many online tutorial sites is that many promote the notion of there being a single correct method. While there are some general guidelines to get you started, the final outcome should be determined by the artist, and not by a formula.

 

Before purchasing more equipment, make a trip to the public library and look at the photography books. Most good ones give a rundown on technique, equipment, and sample photos with equipment configurations. Look for some pictures that you would like to emulate and study how they accomplished it. This will help you determine what you need and what you don't.

 

That being said, you can start with what you have right away. Find yourself a large window, a silver automotive windshield reflector, and use the sun as your key light.

 

To take things to the next level, get a shoe-mount flash. This will give you much greater flexibility when shooting indoors and is excellent for fill when outdoors. Get an umbrella + light stand, and you can use this as a key light for portraits and use the silver reflector for fill.

 

I realize that as photographers, we are all "gear heads" to some extent and just love having neat "toys" to play with. Contrary to popular belief, the right gear does not always make a good photographer (I learnt my lesson the hard way). When you get to the point where the equipment is holding you back, you will know exactly what you need and be able to make a more informed decision.

[lola_johnson]

Thank you so much Kirk. I have visit the Monte website and got alot of information from the site. I guess my confusion still lies in what actually list of items for lighting. Like I said earlier, I want to will purchase the lighting package but are there other systems such as triggers/slave, speed lights etc do I need to purchase?

[dave_yong]

I am a novice myself. When i first considered buying studio light and set up my own basement studio, i was as confused as you are. I just want give you my opinion here. The best thing to do is start up as simple as possible. A studio light, a softbox, a steady stand, a background cloth and a reflector are enough for you to explore before going further. Having more light does not mean i can take a better picture, instead it causes more confusion than a simple one light set-up. Once you are confortable with one light, you can add another, of course one at a time. You will find each addition of light gives you more parameters to solve.

 

 

I played with one studio light for about 6 months before i bought another light. WIth one light, i get to understand the different basic lighting styles. It is worth my time and effort playing with one light. I drool for pocket wizard trigger system; however i bought the cheap china-made remote flash trigger instead, which serves me well. If later i need to upgrade, i will have my eye on the pocket wizard. Once again, simplicity is a beauty itself.

[steve_levine]

Start out shooting next to a north facing window, and use white foam core board as a reflector for fill. Fancy light kits aren't needed for portraiture.

 

 

When you become proficient with a lightkit someday, the "window light and foam core board", is the effect you will be mimicking.

[jmf]

Actually, the workshops I've been to are hands on, and you get to actually play with real studio lights and modifiers. I know this may not seem intuitive, but even a weekend workshop would probably help you a lot.

 

Think of it this way. Would you buy tools and then learn woodworking, or would you learn and then acquire what you need?

 

They do sell kits, but you're buying what someone else thought was a good thing to have, not necessarily what you need. You also have to be careful since retailers will often stick cheap components in kits to meet a certain pricepoint.

 

Pick up a full featured wig "head" and put it on a stand. It's a great tool to learn light modeling

[rdkirk]

Well, okay, let me describe a very basic setup. First, start with only one light.

 

A studio electronic flash unit will almost always be fully manual (no exposure control whatsoever to the camera) and will have an incandescent modeling light.

 

It will have an electrical synchronization outlet (jack, a "female" connection) to connect to the camera by wire--this is a simple "flash now" signal, a simple momentary on/off switch mechanism. This jack will usually be either a 2-prong "household" type outlet, a 1/8-inch "mono phono" outlet, or a 1/4-inch "mono phono" outlet. There are a few variations, but those three are standards.

 

You will need a "sync cord" to connect to the camera that must have the male side of whatever outlet is on the flash and also a male PC plug to connect to the camera, if the camera has a PC outlet. If the camera only has a hotshoe, you will need a PC/hotshoe adapter.

 

Another site to peruse, by the way, is www.paramountcords.com They are the premier maker of custom sync cords, and just going through their catalog will teach you all you need to know about sync cords and connections.

 

If it's a monobloc flash unit (all the electronics are in the head and there is no separate power pack), it will usually also have a simple electric eye slave that will trigger the flash if another electronic flash goes off nearby. So you usually don't need a sync cord to connect one flash to another in the same room (the eyes are sensitive enough to detect light bouncing off walls behind them.

 

Don't worry about a radio slave at this point. Photographers got by for decades without them, and there are far more important things to buy (when you learn why you want them) before you shell out money for a radio slave.

 

You'll need a stand, of course, and you had best consider every manufacturer's claim of "heavy duty" to be highly optimistic. Get the biggest you can afford.

 

You don't really need an umbrella, but they're cheap and you can experiment with it early on. The flash unit will have a mounting hole for the umbrella. Get a translucent umbrella--they're cheaper and you can experiment with both bounce and "shoot through" techniques. Don't pay a lot of money for this...you will find out later what features are important to you after you've played with this first one a bit.

 

Get one of those collapsable reflectors, too, and a stand for it.

 

Or you can cut costs and do perhaps even better quality work by making a folding reflector. Get two large pieces of mounting cardboard or corrogated cardboard, a big bottle of rubber cement (contact cement), and a roll of heavy duty aluminum foil (for cooking). Cut/tape/assemble the cardboard so that you can fold it once into something that will fit in your car--but the larger it is, the better. If you use two pieces of cardboard, you can open the reflector up like a book and it will stand on the floor by itself. Cement the foil to the board DULL side out--the dull side of the foil makes a much softer light than the shiney side, yet it's more useful than a white reflector.

 

You can get by for a while without a flash meter with a digital camera and one flash. When you later get multiple flash units, you will find it more efficient to learn to use a flash meter.

 

So here is a list:

Flash unit

Sync cord

Heavy stand for flash

Collapsable reflector (store-bought or home-made)

Stand for store-bought reflector (with holder arm)

Translucent Umbrella

 

Camera.

[joename]

It all depends on how you develop your style. I was taking a seminar

from an ex-playboy photographer who approached a scene with the

"lite" approach. He could carry most of the lighting equipment he

needed for an indoor shoot himself. Some of his fellow photographers

prefered the "heavy" approach, and had 1 or 2 trailers worth of

lighting equipment. I've seen portraits done with 1 light that were

amazing, and portraits done with 4 that were unacceptable.

 

Sorry to be of no value here, but it would be very hard to answer

that question.

[todd_k.]

You have a D70 and you are considering purchasing some alien bee strobes, but you cannot afford to attend some studio lighting classes or workshops? Bull. Your priorities are completely off. There all kinds of studio photography workshops out there that are less than the package you are considering. You seem to be suffering from if you buy it, the knowledge will come syndrome. I know what you are thinking. Buy the gear and a few books, then practice with your D70 until you get it write. Wrong! Here is how things really work: you do not buy stuff until you have a basic understanding of what you are doing, and you know what you really need. Your money would be much better spent on some classes.

[miles_feigenbaum___dallas_]

Go to your local Half Price Book Store and / or library and spend lots of time reading and figuring out what types of looks you are tyying to emulate, then try them. You have to get out there everyday and WORK at it. If you have Half Price Books in your city, you're ahead of the game. Start a library at home and use the post-it notes to mark pages that you want to try your hand at. Its a life long class.