Help with studio lighting

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alisue

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Hi
This is my first post on here, I really don’t know a great deal technically about photography but I am interested in starting to take some studio style portraits and I thought it best to ask others opinions before, I purchased any equipment.

Here is a link to what I am considering buying http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-BACKGROUND-...&otn=5&po=LVI&ps=63&clkid=6158018010517042400

Please could you give me your opinions or am I wasting my money, I know I want continuous lighting.

thanks in advance for any advice
 
I honestly think you would be better setting fire to your money and shooting by the light of the flames........
 
firstly, you don't want continuous lighting....not for portraits.
 
could someone advise on better, but still cheap lighting then please? what bulbs would you recommend? I NO experiance of studio lighting.
 
Sorry - hit the button prematurely. While I stand by that it wasn't that helpful ;)

I may be missing something but that kit looks like a random selection of junk they want to shift.

I've worked with some odd kit but I really struggle to understand why they think 3 lights 2 brollies and a chromakey background would be any use to anybody. It would be extremely hard work to get decent results from that. (As an aside, all the pics at the bottom with the car and so on show completely different kit - in some places that would be pulled as a misleading advert).

For one thing chromakey green is pretty hard to get started with....have you considered a white or grey background instead?

Talk us through why you want continuous light - once we understand that there are plenty of people who can help here. But please don't buy that kit until you've got a few more answers.

ETA: wow - so many answers while I was typing. Personally I dislike continuous lighting for shoting grownups. I actually think you'd find it easier to start with flash but if you have a preference then it's by no means impossible.
 
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I want continous because I dont have grate technical skills and at the moment I get pretty good results with the continous light coming through my window :)
 
alisue said:
I want continous because I dont have grate technical skills and at the moment I get pretty good results with the continous light coming through my window :)
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Yes, but on a bright day, the continuous light coming through your window is much, much brighter than continuous studio lighting.
If you use continuous studio lighting you'll need wide apertures, high ISO and slow shutter speeds, none of which is ideal. And continuous lighting is nowhere near as versatile as studio flash. Work your way through these articles in the Lencarta learning centre
 
I am not an expert, but when I was looking continuous lighting is not the answer. Its cheap, yes, but as Jonathan says, it looks like junk. I bought a Lencarta setup and had no experience at all with studio lights. Setup quickly at home and got good images straight away, and after a few attempts, much better ones. Obviously, still have a lot to learn, but save until you can buy a decent setup. You can get a great 2 head setup from Lencarta for around £270. I fear that if you buy the ebay stuff you will firstly struggle to get good results you like, and then it will die quickly.
 
alisue said:
I want continous because I dont have grate technical skills and at the moment I get pretty good results with the continous light coming through my window :)
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about not having the technical skills, that's the beauty of digital photography - you can practise as much as you want at practically no cost! Go strobe, it will work out far better.

Despite having no practical experience I still got Elemental's twin Genesis kit and then bought one of Elemental's Trinity lights and it took no time at all to get the results I wanted. They are a little more expensive than Ebay stuff and other brands but not nearly as expensive as the top of the range brands and are very solid and so far they've given me very consistent results. :D

If you are unsure about what direction you are wanting to take, won't be using the lights all that much and really don't want to spend much then a cheap set of lights may be the way to go just to get a feel for lighting. :)
 
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