Beginner studio lighting

[ashleygardner87]

<p>I currently do all my photos with natural light, but I have a spare room in my home that I would like to use for my studio pictures so I dont have to tear apart my living room to use my big window for lighting and force my kids and hubby to vacate! The lighting in the spare bedroom is terrible. I would like to purchase a basic lighting setup, nothing too expensive, that will allow me to achieve as close to natural lighting as possible, and I have no idea where to start...softboxes, umbrellas? Continuous, strobes? possibly portable ? I dont need anything fancy, I just need it to do its job! So what do I need, how many lights do I need, how do I set them up, please help! & please be kind! Thanks in advance :)</p>

[Jeff Lear]

<p>There are a number of two and three strobe kits out there specifically for beginners. I would recommend strobes because you can get a decent inexpensive strobe but it's virtually impossible to get a decent inexpensive continuous light. Most of the strobe kits come with educational materials that will get you started with the basics as far as settings and light placement but the creative part will be all you. Beginner multi-strobe kits from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Promaster-SystemPRO-Advanced-Studio-Lighting/dp/B001E4H5BI">ProMaster</a>, <a href="http://www.samys.com/p/Monolight-Heads--Kits---Strobe-Lighting/SKKT1/Samys-Exclusive-Starflash-150-2-Head-300-Watt-Portrait-Kit/26314.html">PhotoFlex</a>, and <a href="http://www.samys.com/p/Monolight-Heads--Kits---Strobe-Lighting/230SAMY/Strobelite-Plus-Two-Monolight-Kit---Plus-Additional-Monolight-Promotion/53293.html">Wescott</a> range in price from $350 to $700-ish and most include accessories like soft boxes, umbrellas, grids, etc. These are <em>not</em> portable lights (you have to plug them in), once you get into battery packs and cables it starts getting expensive so I wouldn't suggest them unless you're certain that you need that capability.</p>

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[michael_s10]

<p>Ashley - </p>

<p>Just to set expectations, getting a natural light look - especially window light - with studio strobes is pretty hard. At least for me it is, and I've seen a number of people ask a similar question and the easiest answer usually seems to be to go find a nice window.</p>

<p>Big factors in this decision include both the size of the room that you are shooting in, and the subject material that you are shooting. If you are shooting small products, like jewelry, there's a whole set of techniques and technology that you can use in a relatively small space to get very professional results. Now, if you are shooting people, things get really tricky.</p>

<p>The difficulty becomes in controlling the light. The light from the strobes is going to be difficult to control - it will bounce off walls and ceilings.</p>

<p>But that can be a good thing. In the case of trying to create a broad even lighting, the walls and ceilings can be your friend, especially if you get to choose the color of the walls (for example, white). You can bounce small inexpensive light sources off the walls to create a relatively even light source, and you don't need a lot of money to get a rig that will do that.</p>

<p>For tight spaces, I would recommend that you check out strobist.com. You can get an inexpensive off camera flash, umbrella, lightstand and radio triggers that will have more than enough power for a bedroom sized studio.</p>

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[frank_skomial]

<p>Adorama offers some inexpensive flash kits. I think the Flashpoint monolights are company brand, and offerred at substantially lower price per WattSecond.</p>

[aaron_mccormick]

<p>I don't know a lot about artificial light although I have dabbled with studio lamps before. Keep in mind that artificial will usually look more yellow/ orange colored than natural light if you don't modify it in some way. Lighting a subject is not difficult once you possess the equipment. Once you have the lighting equipment that you prefer, just keep some ranges in mind and then experiment with them all:<br>

<br />1) do you want direct light? or diffused light?<br>

2) do you want the light coming from only one side? or from two or three sides? (two is usually better/ more dynamic looking than than one)<br>

3) do you want a combo of natural and artificial light? or 100 percent artificial?<br>

4) do you want backlighting on the subject? Or only lighting from the front and sides?<br>

5) do you want some kind of silhouette?<br>

6) Ultimately, what is the subject's background supposed to look like? Or is it a backdrop of solid color?</p>

[jcuknz]

<p><em> The light from the strobes is going to be difficult to control - it will bounce off walls and ceilings.</em><br>

This is a typical reaction from those who have not tumbled to the simple task of controlling the light output of their lights. It can be done with cardboard snoots or hanging dark cloths. I have used both in a 'home studio' for portraiture. When you use 'hot continuous lights' such things have to be made out of metal and becomes a harder task to organise, not impossible just harder ... done that too :-)<br>

All light of any source will 'bounce off walls and ceilings' if you let it. But since light falls off at the inverse square of the distance this need not be a big problem with a little care.<br>

I suggest you google or bing 'Strobist' ... you should be able to set up a studio for around $250 their way. <br>

If hubby or you are DIYers you could find part of my website interesting, as well as what you can do with just one light and reflector which is where you should start and then graduate to more lights .... start with three lights and you could be floundering and getting nowhere fast. <br>

<a href="http://jcuknz-photos.com/LIGHTING/LIGHT.html">http://jcuknz-photos.com/LIGHTING/LIGHT.html</a></p>

[Gary Naka]

<p>Stay away from continuous lights, AKA "hot lights." They are hot to work under for any length of time, and use a lot of electricity. The advantage is you can see how the shadows will look, vs. a speedlight like the strobist method (www.strobist.blogspot.com)</p>

<p>If you think you may go portable, the strobist route is the most flexible. You can shoot in your home studio and also take it portable to some place w/o AC power to plug into.<br>

<br />A lighting method that I often use is to aim the flash at the white wall behind me. That creates a huge light source that casts a nice even light on the subject. That is a lot cheaper than a softbox. But if you want to control shadows, you probably want to use the flash on a stand w or w/o a modifier (umbrella or softbox) and reflectors (white foam core) and light block (black foam core).</p>

[devon_mccarroll]

<p>It depends on what you're shooting. If you're doing portraits and your spare bedroom is not a large room, it would be tough to use studio gear. People need to be positioned about four feet from a backdrop to keep from casting shadows, plus you'd need room for all of your lighting gear, stands, and for you to be far enough back to get the shot. And also room enough that people aren't tripping over cords, gear, etc.</p>

[michael_s10]

<p>JC Uknz - </p>

<p>I didn't say it was impossible - just difficult in the context of the look she is trying to achieve - natural light (and the phrasing of your remark is rather disparaging which I do not appreciate). In small spaces, even with larger subjects, one can use cutters, grids, snoots and achieve acceptable portrait results, except that they won't look at all like natural light - at least not to me.</p>

<p>But anyways, in short, you know how to do it and I don't, and I'd love to know how to achieve a natural light looking bust up portrait of a 5'8" female subject in a 10'x10' room with 7'6" ceilings with light blue walls and a hardwood floor (medium ok), assuming no usable ambient light. I have a pretty good lighting kit (5 mono's, 3 speed lights, soft boxes, plm's, beauty dish , grids for everything, cutters/flags, bounce cards from small to 4'x8', reflectors in silver white gold and combos, seamless stands, lots of seamless in black, white, and a couple of shades of gray etc), so unless this needs fresnels I'm probably in good shape to try out the solution.</p>

<p>Where should I stand when I shoot, where should the subject be, where do the lights and cutters go relative to the subject, and how do I meter them, what will need to be done in post, and what should I expect for a final look?</p>

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[William Michael]

<p>An inexpensive and portable set up would be one Hotshoe Flash Unit and a Light Modifier, probably an umbrella and an Off Camera Cord. This might or might not be the best value cheapest option, though.</p>

<p>What are the Subject(s) you will be Photographing?<br>

What are the dimensions of the room (W, D, H)<br>

What are the wall and ceiling materials and colours?<br>

What is the camera(s) you are using?<br>

What lens(es)?<br>

What comprises the existing room lights?<br>

Can you easily block light from entering any windows or doors to the room and remove furniture?<br>

A photo of the room would assist.</p>

<p>WW</p>

 

[jcuknz]

<p>Micheal S .... you seem to have much more gear than I have so perhaps you should take note of my last sentance.</p>

[michael_s10]

<p>JC - </p>

<p>Already took a look at your website. I'd highly recommend it to anyone that wants to create images like those that are posted there.</p>

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[Jeff Lear]

<p>Ms. Gardner's portfolio consists of five photographs and every one of them is of various sized people so I'm just going to hazard a guess that she'll be photographing people in her home studio. One of the challenges when working with artificial lighting is to learn to control that lighting. It's a given that when using strobes in an intimate environment like a spare room, you'll have to learn to control where that light goes.<br /><br />If you're going to convert your spare room into a home studio I hope that you'll be able to paint or, at the very least, hang white or black wall coverings (floor to ceiling). Being able to manage the room color will be very beneficial. If you bounce a flash off of a pink wall it imparts a pink hue to the reflected light and thus, your subject.</p>