Flash or continuous lighting ?

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Carl
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Been looking to get a couple of lights for some portraiture work and suchlike and wondering what peoples personal opinions are on whether to use flash or continuous lighting. I know that continuous lighting is known to dilate the subjects pupils slightly but have been looking at a set of 2 60x40cm lightboxes which use bulbs with a temperature of 5400k. I have a '5 in 1' reflector on the way, which I thought may be useful to soften the skin tones a little (using the gold reflector) if required, and a small softbox diffuser for my 430EX to use if a little fill flash was needed.

Would this setup work or is flash that much better for close work of this kind ?

Thanks.
 
The problem with continuous lights is that they generate a lot of heat especially in confined spaces and can get very uncomfortable.
 
That's a good point CT, thanks for the quick heads up. They will more than likely be used in quite confined spaces which is why I was thinking of the smaller softboxes .............. The units use some kind of energy saving bulbs though, so might not get as warm as conventional ones, although their output is supposedly equivalent to a standard 500watt ??
 
Well the studio guys will no doubt see this and give you their thoughts on the subject. It's been yonks since I did any studio stuff.
 
Thanks Ally, I'm really tempted by the setup I've seen but even though they are relatively cheap, I'd still rather not waste the money if they aren't going to be suitable ...........
 
would you want the lights for your ow studio or for travelng with?
I'm trying to get a good setup for location stuuf.
at the mo I have
nikon sb-25, sb-28, 2xlightstands, ebay wireless tiggers and reflectors.
I'm pretty happy with my kit and can carry it around by hand to shoots in a little bag best of all no mains power is needed.

just a thought.
 
Mostly for home use, although portability would be useful. I don't think I would be using any of it where mains wasn't available so that shouldn't really be a problem.
 
Flash units are just far more versatile than constant lights. Most have modelling lights included so you get a reasonable tungsten light aswell.

Plus you wont get the same range of add ons for constant lights, sofboxes and barn doors sure but snoots and honeycombs etc will be much harder and you'll probably end up having to make stuff if you needed it.
 
You should remember that you should not mix hot lights (continuous lighting) and flash as the white ballence is different and will make your pictures look strange.

I would always go for flash lighting. If your space is very confined, you can do allot with speedlights.
 
I just bought some elinchrom el 500's x 2 to use in a home studio setup and I find they are hugely bright and I can't get down to f2.8 which is my favourite look. I don't really know what to do about it. So from my opinion, see what can happen with speedlights.
 
I can't get down to f2.8 which is my favourite look. I don't really know what to do about it.
Click to expand...

If your at the limits of ISO and space to move the flashes back, you can always use an ND filter to cut the light down a bit.
 
A friend of mine said that but I need to look into it a bit as I am not too sure what it's about. He said it takes it down by however many stops and you buy different ones for different reductions.

How do you work out how much to reduce by though? Sorry... it's off topic. Just realised.
 
It's kinda on topic.......ish. :)

How many stops of neutral density you need depends on how bright the lights are. Which in turn depnds on how close to the subject they are.

So if you can only get as low as f5.6, you need a 2 stop filter to get to f2.8.

If you're still up at f8 with the lights on the lowest power, then you need 3 stops.
 
Thanks for the input fella's. I think I'm going to get a set of the continuous lights that I've been looking at for now as the area's I will likely be using are quite dark. I'll post back on the results after I've had a play :)
 
Get a little fire extinguisher. To keep nearby. For just in case.
They're cheap nowadays and will give you some peace of mind when working with the hotlights.

Have fun!
 
Ok, well the lights arrived in super quick time and I have to say that I'm quite impressed, although having never used studio lights before, I cant really compare them to anything else !
It took about 10 minutes to assemble both lights. The power saving bulbs in them run really cool, after 30 minutes the softbox itself was only warm and there was no noticeable heat at all from the front.

1st pictures using them are in the thread below:

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=38097

If anyone wants a link to the set I bought, I'll dig it out :thumbs:
 
mmm link please!
what did you get in the end?
 
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