Basement Studio - Please Help

[stvastn]

<p>So after doing a ton of research and reading reviews on Amazon, I think I still made a mistake. I wanted to set up studio lighting in my basement on a very tight budget just to do school portrait type portraits with my kids. So I purchased the following set up from Amazon... <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001NOG2T0?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00">Cowboy Studio Kit</a>. Which had two shoot through umbrellas, stands, and 2 45 watt photo light bulbs. I anxiously set everything up and took my first picture and there apparently is no where near enough light for a good portrait -- my auto iso went clear up to like 1600 to get a decent exposure. <br>

My basement is beneath ground level and so has no natural light at all. I have a 100 watt cfl in the cealing (silly me, I thought that was going to be too bright).<br>

I was using a Nikon D80 with the 50 - 200 zoom. I had it set to 85 mm at 4.5 aperture. And of course Shutter speed to go way way slow. Still the photos were way too dark. <br>

So anyway to fix this? Should I give up continuous lighting and just go with speed lights? I have a neewer speedlight. Are there more powerful lights that can go in the umbrella sockets (or more bulbs, like the four socket). Install another overhead light? Is it my lens? I have my eye on the nikon 50 mm f/1.8. <br>

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated. <br>

PS. I just want to add a pre-thank-you. I think its awesome that experienced photographers take the time to help us amateurs out. :)</p>

[Jochen_S]

<p>I suppose that 2x45W bulbs & umbrella setup works only for somebody able to crank up their ISO pretty high , shooting a moderately fast lens either with good OIS or from a tripod. If you are slightly handy you could try adding the least expensive small hotshoe flashes - something around GN20m - to the Lightbulbs in the umbrella. - Used flashes with manual output control are pretty great too.<br>

Adding half a dozen 45W bulbs won't get you far enough. it would just buy you 2 shutter speed levels (f-stops) and you'd be still stuck at less sane ISO and wide open aperture where your lens is probably not shining yet. Since you have to double the amount of light bulbs used in total for each further f-stop you'd bee around 64 of them in the end they might not blow your fuse yet, but I'd be concerned about your budget.</p>

[Charles_Webster]

<p>Don't try to mix strobes/speedlights with CFL, you'll have nothing but trouble with color balance. It's really difficult to gel the strobes to match the CFLs because of the discontinuous spectrum.<br>

I'd look at some entry level studio strobes like the Alien Bees. You'll spend less money for better, easier results in the end.</p>

 

[stvastn]

<p>Thanks for the responses. Looks like I just need to accept the CFLs were a mistake. I think I will use my speedlight with the umbrella and save up for a Alien Bees.<br>

Thanks again!</p>

[2d]

<p>a couple of quick thoughts. First how close are you placing your CFL lights/umbrellas to the subject? Trying placing them uncomfortably close to the subjects just outside your lens' angle of view. Even with strobes I've placed large soft boxes within a couple of feet of a corporate portrait. Yes you could pick up a unit that can hold multiple bulbs for more light this would be my second step even if you just tried with one additional multi unit for the key, much less than buying into a whole new system such as strobes. The real benefit of the strobe over continuous is the size of the pupil.<br>

-<br>

<br>

My other idea, if you are here in America you can probably buy some used Tungsten lighting units off Craigslist for a cheap price - a tota probably goes for under $100, gel your CFLs to 3200, and you should be able to easily shoot under 640 ISO with continuous light. I even buy my spare tota bulbs at a local electrical store. A quick word of caution Tungsten lighting is referred to hot lights for a reason, make sure you have an umbrella that can handle heat - SmithVictor has a nice shoot through I've bought off B&H</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>If you've got the umbrellas and stands, get the appropriate adaptor to mount your speedlight in one of the umbrellas and switch to that. Go read <a href="http://www.strobist.com">www.strobist.com</a> Lighting 101 for details. Sorry to hear you had to learn the hard way -- there are dozens of posts on this website addressing this issue.<br /><br />BTW, do NOT use auto ISO with flash. In a studio setup you want everything on full manual, including ISO, shutter, aperture and flash output. Set things up, run a series of test shots from your lens' widest opening to its smallest, then look at the pictures to see which has the proper exposure.</p>

[stvastn]

<p>Craig and 2 D -- thanks! I appreciate your helpful suggestions. I am going to bookmark strobist - looks like a great website for what I need. :)</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>45 watt CFL lamps are roughly equivalent to 220 W tungsten filament lamps, and that's not enough light by a long way when used with umbrella reflector/diffusers.</p>

<p>A quick online search shows you can get photo quality CFL lamps in 135 W power quite readily. That's 3 times the light, and that should be adequate for head and shoulders shots with the lamps in close.</p>

[stvastn]

<p>Thanks Rodeo Joe. I wish somebody would have mentioned that on the reviews of the product I bought. Somebody even posted sample head and shoulder shots that looked pretty good. I guess either they were somewhere with lots of natural light or the iso was up to 1600.<br>

Right now I swapped out the 45 watt cfl for my speedlight. My speed light seems to be doing a much better job. Any opinions of using one or two speedlights with an umbrella or purchasing the 135 W CFL?<br>

Thanks again!</p>