<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>
