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Mark65

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Morning All, so Ive been using my SB700 flash for the past 3 years on my daughters xmas card pictures in her living room and am thinking I should get a better set up to light things evenly, Im looking for recommendations for the stand, light, and hood/reflector, other bits.
I should have had a new camera by now but it was summer on my 60th and I changed my motorcycle :cool:, so the Z6iii will come in the new year, so for now its still the Z6ii.
I have a budget of £400, a bit more if needed, any recommendations would be well appreciated.

Thanks Mark
 
Godox AD200Pro II would be my choice (can get these for about £280 new - gives you room for an X3 Nano trigger, stand and maybe an octabox or rectangular box . Might take you just over your budget but would be a good place to start. Easy to get into budget with same but second hand - maybe.... and you should still be able to use your SB700 as well
 
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Morning All, so Ive been using my SB700 flash for the past 3 years on my daughters xmas card pictures in her living room and am thinking I should get a better set up to light things evenly, Im looking for recommendations for the stand, light, and hood/reflector, other bits.
I should have had a new camera by now but it was summer on my 60th and I changed my motorcycle :cool:, so the Z6iii will come in the new year, so for now its still the Z6ii.
I have a budget of £400, a bit more if needed, any recommendations would be well appreciated.

Thanks Mark
Mark,

We need more info if we're going to give any advice.

You want to take photographs of Xmas cards? Is this a collection, or does she make them? Will you be photographing just the cards or someone doing something with them? Will they be at an angle or photographed square on? Are they flat or do they have relief? How large is the room, and how high is the ceiling?
 
Sorry this came out wrong, heres an example of what I have took each year, my daughter then gets the image printed on xmas cards and framed, I want to do this with all my grand kids, my son has 3 daughters but wont buy school images each year as he says they are overpriced and not always good so I want to be able to do it.
this was with a £5 background and my Z6ii with SB700 and a 3 legged thing stand.
 

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OK, so baby portraits . . .
Perfect subjects with perfect complexion. It looks pretty good to me, even with the flash where it is, bouncing it off of the ceiling or a wall behind you would be even better.

A more sophisticated setup may flatter their mothers or grandmothers but, frankly, all that would be achieved if you're only photographing young children would be that you could set a lower iso or a smaller aperture on your camera.

By all means buy more gear and learn how to use it, lighting is a great creative tool - but you don't need it for this subject.
 
I agree. You are getting good results with what you have. Adding another light requires learning to use two lights together, and on your first try, this is not likely to improve what you have already been doing.

Charley
 
OK thanks for the input everyone.
 
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