Basic home studio lighting

[Ben johns]

A friend has asked me to take photos of their new born baby, been looking at lighting but have no idea what to get. I want continuous not flash but I can't decide between reflector umbrellas or soft boxes.

 

[Ben johns]

Also I'm confused by the sizes and bulb wattages. Is it better to have a bigger soft box or a smaller one? Same goes for bulb strengths

 

[Garry Edwards]

Long answer: Continuous lighting isn't suitable for photographing new borns, and is probably more than capable of causing serious injury - although it has very little power in photographic terms, it's blindingly bright.
Short answer: Get flash.

 

[Ben johns]

Long answer: Continuous lighting isn't suitable for photographing new borns, and is probably more than capable of causing serious injury - although it has very little power in photographic terms, it's blindingly bright.
Short answer: Get flash.

Oh ok, to be honest I would have thought it would have been the other way round. I would have thought the flash would have been too much and would have startled them

 

[Phil V]

What Garry said.

Try it for yourself, face a wall and point your flash at it, then fire it at 1/4 power 10 times, would 100 be much worse?

Then stare at a lightbulb from 2 feet away for 10 seconds. Think about making that 10 secs into half an hour.

Do you really fancy making someone stare into a continuous light source now you've considered what it means.

 

[Phil V]

So back to the main points.

Because speedlights are small* and relatively inexpensive**, they are a great start***

Except...

*For studio work the actual light source isn't that big even with studio heads, when compared to backgrounds, props, stands, softboxes etc.

** Decent studio heads aren't much more expensive than speedlights, particularly if you remember to add the price of flash brackets and mount adaptors.

*** you also have to consider buying batteries, chargers, the loss of modelling light and the longer recycling times. Studio lighting is a much better learning tool.

 

[Wilkol]

Are you planning to use the lights for more than just one photoshoot of your friend's baby? If it's just for this one shoot you'd be better just finding a big window and using natural light I would have thought.

Have you every photographed a newborn? As someone who's not long had a baby, employed and watched a professional newborn photographer and then attempted to photograph said newborn myself I'll tell you it's a lot harder than it looks! Lighting is probably the least of your concerns!

 

[sk66]

 

[Phil V]

Are you planning to use the lights for more than just one photoshoot of your friend's baby? If it's just for this one shoot you'd be better just finding a big window and using natural light I would have thought.

Have you every photographed a newborn? As someone who's not long had a baby, employed and watched a professional newborn photographer and then attempted to photograph said newborn myself I'll tell you it's a lot harder than it looks! Lighting is probably the least of your concerns!

And this.^