Stupid Question #119

[maijaathena]

OK. I've been wanting to post this comment for a long time, but I've felt like too much of an idiot. But I'm at

photo.net for a reason, to learn and become less of an idiot, right? So here goes...

 

[bTW, I have read a million articles on-line about this subject, including tutorials on photo.net.]

 

So, I would like to move to the next step in my portrait photography and take a try at studio lighting. I want

to ask those more experienced (ie. Matt Lauer and other talented ones ;-) how they learned studio lighting and

what basic equipment they would recomment for the studio lighting newbie.

 

As mentioned above, I have read some on-line tutorials on this, but the terminology is so foreign to me. How

does a strobe light work? Does one always use a flash with studio lighting? Does one have to set up the

lighting in a place with no natural lighting? Softboxes? Do I need to buy real studio lights, or can I use some

lighting in my home?

 

Thanks in advance for your advice and recommendations!

 

Did I mention I feel like an idiot!?

[roger_harbaugh]

I will give this a shot and give you an answer as to what i would do... First, a basic set up is having of course your camera, also getting continuous lights or flash lights, photography umbrellas, and light stands. the flash light is used next to the model subject.. aiming the the flash light at the center of the umbrella. When the flash hits the umbrella it softens up the light on the subject. You "could" use lighting from your home, but that also depends on how professional-looking you want your photos.

 

Your choices for lights are limited. Continuous or flash. Continous light is, in general, less expensive and offers the beginning photographer a better idea of where exactly the light is going, and where shadows will fall. It does, however, tend to produce a lot of heat, and can be uncomfortable for the subject.

Flash lighting is something most photographers are aware of. Prices can vary, depending upon the quality of the equipment you want. For instance, most on-camera mounted flash units are less expensive, however, the light can be uncontrolled making your photos unacceptable. Modeling lamps with power and control boxes are larger units, not mounted to the cameras. Most lamps offer a low level continuous lamp that will allow the light to be positioned properly without the heat or brightness found in regular continuous units.

 

So in professional studios, ive really only seen flash photography.. but im new at this as well.. hope this helped any.

[bryantan]

I encourage you to look at http://strobist.blogspot.com

 

The blog focuses on hot-shoe flashes (strobes), but it will give you wide background information that applies to every type of lighting. Start with Lighting 101, and you should be on track in no time.

[maijaathena]

Hi Bryan,

 

I've been to the Strobist blog. I actually tried to read some articles from their Lighting 101 series. The problem is when writing these articles, the writer assumes you know something. I ride horses and sing opera. I bet I could write in very great detail on the two subjects, but if I used general terminology used in either subject, I would leave my audience bewildered. Unfortunately, the same goes for lighting. If one doesn't even know how a strobe works, how am I to understand the entire section of the article written about it.

 

Basically, I need a little help by someone who can "dumb it down." And maybe some insight into new technologies out there. Some of these articles are years old, and technology is changing so fast.

[bryantan]

The writer assumes you know basic photography, but little more. However you're right, the terminology can be tricky and is often on the technical side. You can get around this if you realize that essentially, he's talking about a small light source and various ways of modifying it, which is a hell of a lot cheaper than a full set of studio lights. I can help you out if you have specific questions about terminology...shoot me an email or something.

 

To get you started: a strobe is a flash (could be small like a hot-shoe flash or huge like ones that will light up an arena). It is synced to a camera and triggered by hardwire, radio, infrared or optical communication. So, if you understand how a hot-shoe flash works, you understand how any strobe works.

[Matt Laur]

Wow, that's a laundry list of stuff to tackle, Maija! It's sort of like saying, "I rented a trail horse from a livery once, which was fun... but now I want to get into dressage and show jumping. What does all of that stuff MEAN?" :-)

<Br><br>

I kid of course... but it's a similar problem. There's a rich vernacular that's used to talk about photographic lighting. Many of the terms come from other disciplines like stage lighting. But just like learning the vocabulary surrounding Wagner appreciation or show jumping, there's nothing as effective as immersing yourself in it. That can mean suffering through bad opera performances and insufferable dilettantes, or shoveling out a thousand stalls just for the chance to study the tack on the pegs at a dude ranch. The good news (about photography) is that you get to hang out here, and let osmosis work on you... and you're only a click away from Google when you get hung up on something.

<br><Br>

And I think that's the best way to digest it. Yes, you need the big picture, theory-wise ... but you can also just fixate on one TERM at a time. Take bite-sized pieces of this, rather than trying to digest the whole pie at once. It's a big subject, but it's still the sum of its parts. Pick a word every day (or three), and go to town on it. Do NOT go into learning paralysis mode just because you always see one term you don't understand in the presence of several others you don't understand.

<br><br>

I highly recomment this all-important book: <a href="http://www.laurphoto.com/prdr/light_science_magic" target="_blank"><b>Light, Science and Magic</b></a>. It starts with the basic stuff (what light actually IS and why it behaves the way it does), and then explores how to create it, modify it, and predict how it will bounce off of things. And then... how to think about collecting it usefully with a camera. Some of your questions (about mixing studio lights with available light, for example) go right to the heart of this stuff.

<br><Br>

The operational details (like whether you can get started with simple optical slaving, or whether you need radio triggers... all of that stuff) turn out to be a lot easier to wrestle with than issues like shaping the light on your subjects. The good news is that you can start with THAT in bite-sized pieces, as well. There's truly no need to start with more than one strobe/flash. You can get beautiful results with just a single light source and a reflector or two. Introducing more than that, right away, actually makes it harder (like trying deciding to switch from western to English on the same day that, what the heck, you think you'll also learn about lead changes!).

<br><br>

Plowing through these discussion threads - even when you're lost on a bunch of the vocabulary or concepts - will teach you more than you think. There are all sorts of good tutorials out there, even if they are <a href="http://www.photoflexlightingschool.com/" target="_blank"><b>a little heavy on the product placements</b></a>. Follow that link, and check out the basics, and the equipment lessons that are free to the public. Again, not so that you can take it all in in one gulp, but so that when you come across discussions here that touch on some of those same things, it won't seem so alien.

[seismiccwave]

Strobe and flash = same same. Hot lamps and continuous lighting = same same.

 

Strobe is very much like the flash on your camera. It will give out a short burst of light to illuminate the subject.

Continuous lighting is just like the lights you use at home that is always glowing.

 

Continuous lighting is very hot because you need to use fairly high wattage light to get the illumination with a reasonable

shutter speed and aperture opening. You can get away with 2 X 1000 watts continuous lights to learn. It is fairly easy

because you see your image before photographing it.

 

Flash is a lot more powerful. The studio flash generally plug into your AC outlet so the recycle time is faster. Most studio

flash has a low wattage (100W to 150W) modeling light so you get an idea on how your image will look from the modeling

light. The modeling light is way too dim to take a picture with a fast shutter speed and mid aperture opening.

 

Most lights including continuous lights or flash are considered a small light source or hard light. They create a very crisp

shadow with hard edges. That is not very flattering for a portrait. So you can soften the shadow by modifying the light

into a soft light or larger light source. You can do that by reflecting the light off an umbrella or put a white diffusor in front

of the light. This way it is like a cloud passing over the sun and soften your shadow.

 

Light Science and Magic is a must read if you are interested in finding out about light.

 

Other than that I am sure lots of P net members will continue to contribute more of their thoughts for you.

 

Hope this helps.

[mike dixon]

Go over to the Lighting forum and read through the archives. There's a wealth of knowledge there which addresses your questions.

 

http://www.photo.net/photography-lighting-equipment-techniques-forum/

[maijaathena]

WOW! I just have to say...

 

I love you guys!

 

Everything is so very helpful. And Matt, I'll be ordering Light, Science and Magic right away. I've been at Amazon a lot lately, reading all the reviews of all the lighting books. But getting recommendations from the p-netters means so much more! And Matt, I want to thank you for the analogies. Understood! But I did preface this with I know I'm an idiot ;-)

[maijaathena]

Hey I wanted to thank you too, Hansen. You should be writing technical handbooks. Your descriptions are very thoughtful and very clear for the beginner. Thanks so much!

[johnw436]

Matt brings up an excellent point. Do yourself a HUGE favor and learn to use one hotshoe flash as your studio lighting. You will be profoundly amazed at what you can do with one flash, a reflective umbrella, and a five dollar stand from ebay. NO KIDDING.

 

Focus on a single-light setup. Learn to use it for anything. Before you assume you cannot accomplish something with one light you must first prove it to yourself. Instead of saying "I can't do this with one light" you should say "How can I do this with only one light?"

 

A trip to the craft store for a three dollar piece of white foamcore board will be your next step. This is your reflector. Once again you will be amazed at what you can do with it. Now you have two light sources, your flash and your reflector. You can do gorgeous 3:1 lighting, bounce, and all sorts of things.

 

This is just playing around at home one day.

 

Vivitar 283 flash into an umbrella on one side and white foamcore on the other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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