help choosing studio lights

[michael_b9]

<p>Hi there,<br>

I would very much appreciate some help choosing lights. I keep arriving at this point where I think I should just bite the bullet and invest in proper studio lights. I'm sick of improvising with drooping and clunky makeshift lights though I have just watched Steve Sint's tutorial on cheap lighting so that raises questions again.<br>

I am an artist working mostly with photography. i.e. I doubt I'll ever be a very heavy user of studio lighting. Perhaps I could get by with improvised lights and should just make them better. Then again I haven't the time and energy to figure out how to do these things... You can tell, I keep going round in circles....<br>

I mostly work with small objects. The biggest has been approximately A3 for my crop failure series, which I want to re-shoot as the lighting was too flat. link here... <br>

Although I messed this up, it's pretty straight forward. If I were to use improvised lighting I'd already, even at this small scale, have the problem of light falling off...<br>

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l0gkpnnwbs6fnlo/CropFailure_1_COPY.jpg?dl=0</p>

<p>I also currently working on photographing flowers frozen in ice bell 'jars'. For this I use a light tent in order to eliminate my entire studio appearing on the reflective surface. Hence I will need lights that are powerful enough to light through the diffusing fabric.<br>

here's a bad example without lights, it's thyme in ice to give an idea of scale. Yes, there is lots that is wrong with this image...<br>

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ze1ja1ukxypqub/13070215_b_IMG_0113_-_Version_2_copy.jpg?dl=0<br>

and a close up...<br>

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ub32fzeqybixw1t/15_FrozenTyme_copy.jpg?dl=0<br>

I also want to film this or make a time lapse video.<br>

Time lapse videos are something I've been doing now and then, so the ability for the lights to be triggered via the camera's timer would also be a plus, though I guess continuous lighting would be fine.<br>

<strong>My priorities based on my requirements as far as I understand:</strong><br>

2 lights with adjustable power for flash and modelling lights<br>

Budget brand (as I won't be a heavy user...) I'm UK based, hence Paul C. Buff lights aren't an option<br>

Is 200w x 2 sufficient for light tent use?<br>

<strong>My selection</strong><br>

Here's a link to the lights I'm thinking of buying.. <br>

2 x 200w (1xsoftbox/1xumbrella) or (2 x soft box) with or without radio trigger<br>

https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/product/pixapro-lumi-200-400ws-twin-softbox-kit-trigger-receiver/<br>

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!<br>

myka</p>

<p> </p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<blockquote>

<p>"Is 200w x 2 sufficient for light tent use?"</p>

</blockquote>

<p>200 <em>Watts</em> - No! 200 <em>Watt-seconds</em> - more than enough.<br>

Flash is rated in Watt-seconds, not plain Watts. Note the small "s" in the "200Ws" description denotes seconds, not a pluralisation.</p>

<p>That kit looks plenty good enough for what you want to do Michael. Although you might want to add some black card or velvet to your shopping list in order to put some shaded outlining on your block of ice.<br>

You also might want to make sure the modelling lights are turned off when firing that flash. 150 Watt halogen modelling lights are pretty bright and can add a slight yellow cast to the flash lighting. Especially since the flash power isn't automatically linked to the modelling lamp brightness.</p>

<p>If you were going to be doing serious studio work with those flashes I'd say make sure they have a standard Bowens S speedring fitting, but that probably won't be important for what you want to do with them. The modifier fitting isn't mentioned in the advert you've linked to.</p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

Since you are in the UK, one point and one suggestion.

 

Watt-seconds in the UK and maybe much of the non USA world, are known as joules or "j". 1ws = 1j.

 

Bowens is likely the best brand for you as the company is UK based, so you may find them easy to rent or be repaired as

necessary. Currently the 500j Gemini model seems to be the sweet spot in their line up.

 

If you don't mind starting with older used gear, there is a seemingly never ending flood of older very high quality lighting

available both in professional shops and on auction sites like eBay.

 

The practical difference between constant lights (tungsten, fluorescent, quartz-halogen, or higher quality LED bulbs

(Phillips or Cree brand) and electronic flash is that flash is that flash, more or less freezes motion. That may not be as

important to you as the ability to see what the light is doing (high quality flash has modeling lights for that reason) so you

might consider using high quality LED light sources instead.