Help! Beginner Studio Lighting Help Needed.

[callumdt]

Hello Talk Photography,

I wonder if some people could give me a hand trying to understand what I need for a basic portrait photography studio. I'm a Graphic Design graduate & I'm wanting to start a Portrait Studio in my spare room & create a bit more work for myself.

I'm familiar with Cameras, Lenses & editing of my photographs, but I'm a novice when it comes to studio lighting.

Camera: Canon 550d with various lenses
Background: I have a big plain white back drop

Lighting Equipment:

I currently have a Interfit EX150 MkII Twin Head + Umbrella/Softbox Kit which I was given from a friend. One of the MonoBlocs has blown up (in transport) So I am just down to one. (Only briefly tested - not with a subject)


The information I'd like to know is what is the best kit for me to start with.

* Flash or Continues Lighting
* LED or Bulbs
* Umbrellas or Softboxes (or both)
* Heat from the lighting?
* Any other info that I'm missing…..


I'm swaying more towards Continues Lighting as my subjects will be family & children. (portraits, life style & family)

Photography Effect:

The effect for the final images is brilliant white backgrounds, soft but bright lighting on the subject. Like this…..

Here

But also I've seen these on eBay & I'm not sure if they are worth buying. I'm looking to have this kit for 6 to 12 month's, sell it on & progress to a better lighting kit once I've got a footing on working with studio lighting.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-x950w-C...Photography_Lighting_Kits&hash=item3f19ff802d

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks Guys & Gals!

 

[vRSG60]

Sorry I'm no help but I've eagerly subscribed to this thread. I have an Interfit kit too plus these lights

so any replies will be most welcome.

 

[Garry Edwards]

Your questions have been asked (and answered) many times, you may want to do a search.

But basically, continuous lighting of the type that falls within the budget of most people just doesn't have enough power for photographing people. Come to that, most of it cannot take any form of light modifiers either, and it's the ability to shape and control the light that really matters.

Heat isn't a problem with fluorescent lighting, it's very cool running. But, although the lights appear to be blindingly bright to the victims subjects (which causes its own problems with squinting, discomfort and tiny pupils) there are different problems, mainly due to the fact that the vast majority of fluorescent (and LED) lights do not reproduce some colours accurately - reds become orange, orange becomes yellow etc.

The older designs, still sold by some people, which use halogen or over-rated tungsten lighting, do have a serious heat problem.

That's why the vast majority of photographers use studio flash.

 

[Phil V]

What Garry said about flash, and have a read of all the 'white background' threads, you might want to start somewhere simpler. How high is your ceiling?

 

[vchaney]

Are you sure that the mono has 'blown up' and it's not just the bulb or flash tube? This may be replaceable, I'm not sure with that model.

 

[HoppyUK]

As Garry says, continuous light is not suitable. And in your linked pic, that's something to aspire to but TBH beyond the reach of a newcomer. Pure white backgrounds are not easy to do well, they require a minimum of three lights (two for the background) and a fair amount of knowledge to set up and balance correctly.

On the other hand, you have one working Interfit light and a softbox, and that is the perfect way to start and begin the learning process of how studio light works. Less is more with lighting, and even if you have ten lights, there should always be just one that does the lion's share of the work. You can do a great deal with one light and a simple reflector, and more lights will almost certainly create a mess of conflicting shadows and poorly balanced effects. And you will learn a lot - knowledge is more important than kit here.

 

[callumdt]

Thanks everyone for your input everyone

@Garry Edwards - I've spent the past week reading up on loads of threads, but trying to get the relevant information for me has been hard, so I do apologise if this topic has been covered before.

@Phil V - yeah I'm starting to bulk up on white background threads & looking into peoples techniques. I've taken a photograph of my studio space & I'll upload it here so you can have a look at what I'm working with.

As you can see the space I'm working with is a reasonable size. The back drop pulls down the full length & subjects are able to walk on the BD. I've also got space for 2 more back drops (different colours/styles) for later photo-shoots. I've set up black out blinds over the door to isolate the studio area.

But if anyone has any pointers, do let me know.

@vchaney - I've had a look at the bulb & it looks fine. But when I turned on the Mono (last week) it sparked & smoke came out of the units body. Also there is a strong burnt smell from the body to. I don't think I will spend a lot of time on it, as I think it's kaputt. (I've done the normal stuff fuses & trying different wall plugs).

I think I will need 2/3 other Mono Light's to pair up with the current working one I have. I was wondering if I got a different make of Mono's would the sensor be picked up on all 3/4 lights?

Thanks Guys!!

 

[Garry Edwards]

Thanks everyone for your input everyone

@Garry Edwards - I've spent the past week reading up on loads of threads, but trying to get the relevant information for me has been hard, so I do apologise if this topic has been covered before.

@Phil V - yeah I'm starting to bulk up on white background threads & looking into peoples techniques. I've taken a photograph of my studio space & I'll upload it here so you can have a look at what I'm working with.



As you can see the space I'm working with is a reasonable size. The back drop pulls down the full length & subjects are able to walk on the BD. I've also got space for 2 more back drops (different colours/styles) for later photo-shoots. I've set up black out blinds over the door to isolate the studio area.

But if anyone has any pointers, do let me know.

@vchaney - I've had a look at the bulb & it looks fine. But when I turned on the Mono (last week) it sparked & smoke came out of the units body. Also there is a strong burnt smell from the body to. I don't think I will spend a lot of time on it, as I think it's kaputt. (I've done the normal stuff fuses & trying different wall plugs).

I think I will need 2/3 other Mono Light's to pair up with the current working one I have. I was wondering if I got a different make of Mono's would the sensor be picked up on all 3/4 lights?

Thanks Guys!!

There's no need to apologise, it was a suggestion, not a complaint

With that lens, I can't really get much idea of scale - but if you really want the chavground wonderful white background look you really will need quite a lot of space between the subject and the background, unless you buy yourself a Hi-lite. And you will need practice, practice and practice to get it looking anywhere near.

From what you describe, it sounds very much like a blown capacitor on your flash. It may be worth getting a quote for the repair, but it's a fairly expensive repair on a cheap head. Having said that, when a capacitor blows on a Lencarta head the average repair cost, including return delivery and VAT, is only £35 - but unfortunately we can't repair other makes.

Yes, if you have a radio trigger firing one head, all other heads should fire as slaves.

 

[callumdt]

Thanks again Garry!

Yeah I understand professional photographers would refer to the the white back ground as chavground, but it sells & sells really well. The clients I'm working with all want the pristine white background styles for their photographs. I have a degree & masters in Graphic Design, so I have a good understanding of what looks good & it's not my favourite style of photography. I've found also that a lot of people don't want to be bombarded with various styles & colours, they just want a non offensive style that they can have within their home. If you know what I mean. The further I get i'm sure styles will change & this white background will go out of fashion.

 

[HoppyUK]

Thanks again Garry!

Yeah I understand professional photographers would refer to the the white back ground as chavground, but it sells & sells really well. The clients I'm working with all want the pristine white background styles for their photographs. I have a degree & masters in Graphic Design, so I have a good understanding of what looks good & it's not my favourite style of photography. I've found also that a lot of people don't want to be bombarded with various styles & colours, they just want a non offensive style that they can have within their home. If you know what I mean. The further I get i'm sure styles will change & this white background will go out of fashion.

The only people that are fed up with pure white backgrounds are the photographers that do it every day. Punters have been loving it for very many years now. Same with any repetitive task - probably why Leonardo DV busied himself with so many other things when turning out masterpieces became a chore

But it's still difficult. The background must be evenly lit and over-exposed to white, but only just. Then the inevitable lens flare has to be controlled. That takes a lot of careful setting up, even when you have the right gear and knowledge. It's much harder with a pure white floor too, as you can't simply over-expose that without over-exposing the subject standing/sitting/lying on it too. Even with the best technique, a bit of cleaning up in post-processing will be necessary.

Plenty of space makes life much easier. It's hard to see what you've actually got there in terms of area, but it looks tight. Look at Lastolite HiLight that can halve the amount of width you need, and some length too.

If you want to do this commercially, seriously suggest a lot of practise on something less ambitious first, then get some training. If you just the kit but don't understand how it all works, you will get it wrong for sure and have no idea how to fix it.