After some advice..........

extremenovice

extremenovice

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Steve
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Hi folks, I'm after some advice please about some equipment.

My children are involved in competition dancing and regularly win trophies. (Proud dad) 😀

Can any of you recommend a set up that I could use at home to take some photos of them in their various outfits/trophies.

Lighting, backdrop etc?

No doubt I'll also probably end up doing some for the rest of the little dancers too!!!
 
An idea of your budget and what you're looking to do would help.
 
Looking to do Portraits at home of my children in dancing costume displaying trophies.

Budget wise.......no idea really, that's part of the reason I'm looking for advice. Don't want to spend a fortune but I don't mind spending if it's money well spent?
 
Honest I'm not being pedantic, but you can shoot exactly what you described with windowlight.

Are you looking for a background?
Have you got a space with plain walls to use?
Any particular colour?
Do you have any flash gear already?

What style of lighting are you interested in?
 
As Phil said, only go down the lighting route if you don't have adequate natural light and plain background to hand.
If that is the case then your going down the route of at least -
one studio light
stand
reflector
background
background supports
triggers
 
Natural light is great to work with, and probably more satisfying in terms of getting a quality end result, as you can't just tweak the source up half a stop, or feather it round a bit.... You have to move subject, reflector and camera position to do the creating- but it will never blow a modelling bulb half way through a shoot!

You could spend over £1000 and still not get better results than with natural light, but if you do decide to go down that route, try to avoid the least cost path. There is bags of knowledge on this forum that, with the right approach, will help you get a good functional set of gear with enough power and scope to do what you want: the one problem with dancers is that they never look good close up.... You need plenty of frame around them in the images, so that means a relatively large background.
 
I take it you are aware the kit you have linked to is a continuous light system as a pose to a flash system.
 
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In short yes. You will struggle to get a high enough shutter speed even with lenses wide open using continuous lights.
Flash gives you the flexibility of shutter/aperture control but also the ability to freeze any movement which we shooting kids is guaranteed to happen often.
 
extremenovice said:
Natural light will obviously be there through windows in lounge (quite large room) but will be very one sided?
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The old 'inverse square law' doesn't just work for flash, the closer to the window the larger the contrast between the lit and unlit sides of the face, a reflector or bounced flash can even it up slightly (you don't want a perfect balance) experiment with the angle of the head as it's the same as subtle changes in flash positioning.

extremenovice said:
Hmmmm? A flash system being more suitable?
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Yes, yes and thrice yes!

The cheap continuous lights are a great way to buy whole new sources of frustration. Cheap studio flash is much better, as are small flashguns with decent modifiers, decent studio flashes are the best option.
 
extremenovice said:
This any better?

http://www.jessops.com/online.store...50-mark-ii-3-head-kit-int183--74368/show.html

Any recommendations?
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OK as a startup kit, if it was me I'd go for something with a more universal mount for the modifiers, you'll eventually realise that they're a really important consideration and you'll be tied to a small number of interfit options.

Is there a reason you want 3 heads? You can make a great start with one, and you'll be limiting your mistakes. If you set 3 lights up and you need to change things, will you easily be able to work out what to change. There's a school of thought that says: Start with one light and explore it's capabilities (including reflectors) until you feel it's really holding you back. Then you'll know exactly what you want to do with a 2nd (3rd, 4th etc).

How about a starter kit from Lencarta, a reflector, a background system and a decent sized softbox?
 
Thank you Phil, it all sounds very logical. I'll have a nosey around at your suggestions.

Thanks for your time again, I really appreciate it.
 
I use a single key light and reflector on my setups and I'm still enjoying the simplicity and the options available.

You should check out the thread in the portraits section showing various home setups. You will find a lot of single light setups and inspiration there.
 
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