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Han_Photo

Han_Photo

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Hi all,

Please could someone help by pointing me in the right direction on what studio lighting I might be best purchasing (budget around £100 - £200) for home portraits of baby/toddler.

I have a super cheap flash for my canon 7dmkii camera at the moment but nothing else. Am I better off investing in a better speedlight, or going for a strobe as my main light?

Also is a continuous light better as a fill light or just a second flash??

Many thanks in advance
H
 
Get any mains powered studio flash of a reputable make, with a removable reflector. In reality, you will need two flashes as a workable minimum, and it's usually better / cheaper / easier to buy in kit form, with one softbox and one umbrella.

Speedights are useful, but are a "make do" tool for studio use and nowhere near as good, simple or convenient as studio flash. Continuous lights are totally unsuitable, they have relatively little power but appear to be incredibly bright, not a good idea to dazzle young children with them.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Get any mains powered studio flash of a reputable make, with a removable reflector. In reality, you will need two flashes as a workable minimum, and it's usually better / cheaper / easier to buy in kit form, with one softbox and one umbrella.

Speedights are useful, but are a "make do" tool for studio use and nowhere near as good, simple or convenient as studio flash. Continuous lights are totally unsuitable, they have relatively little power but appear to be incredibly bright, not a good idea to dazzle young children with them.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I'll see if i can get a studio flash in my budget :D I'll avoid continuous lights for now!
 
Han_Photo said:
Thank you, I'll see if i can get a studio flash in my budget :D I'll avoid continuous lights for now!
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If you can only afford one studio flash, also buy a reflector.
I did baby/kids portraits for years with one light and a reflector.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
If you can only afford one studio flash, also buy a reflector.
I did baby/kids portraits for years with one light and a reflector.
Click to expand...

Ok Great i'll look at this. If I place my flash one side of and the natural light the other, will this be the best way to shoot it, or keep all shadows to one side?
 
The light source is only part of the equation. Youll also need a light stand and at least one modifier like an umbrella or a softbox.
 
Han_Photo said:
Ok Great i'll look at this. If I place my flash one side of and the natural light the other, will this be the best way to shoot it, or keep all shadows to one side?
Click to expand...
Don’t fall int the rookie mistake of trying to ‘balance’ less get sources at opposite sides of your subject.

1st principal of lighting is ‘there’s one Sun and it’s in the sky’. The main light is called a key light, and any additional light is to fill shadows (Fill light - best near camera so as no to introduce 2nd set of shadows) or to emphasise other objects (kicker, accent light, rim light etc).

I’ll see if I can do a quick shopping list for your budget.
 
Han_Photo said:
Ok Great i'll look at this. If I place my flash one side of and the natural light the other, will this be the best way to shoot it, or keep all shadows to one side?
Click to expand...
I used a studio flash with umbrella on one side, and the reflector on the other.
As Phil says, the flash is the light source, and the reflector helps add a bit of fill to the shadows.
I used this set up for years before I started dabbling with multiple lights.
 
Thank you everyone :) this is all super helpful stuff. I don't want to jump into buying anything yet as I'm changing my mind every day about what I need.
I'll keep absorbing info for now!
 
Scooter said:
It's a good overview. I knew this wasn't you though Garry - it talks about C-stands :p (Page 16-18 is pretty good as well btw :) )
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You're right, I don't understand why so many people like those dangerous monstrosities, I suspect it may be because so many photographers like buying shiny things:(
I didn't see your article, don't know how that happened:)
And I agree with everything you said, don't know how that happened either:)
 
Han_Photo said:
Thank you everyone :) this is all super helpful stuff. I don't want to jump into buying anything yet as I'm changing my mind every day about what I need.
I'll keep absorbing info for now!
Click to expand...
Well, when you do make up your mind, run it past us first - it's easy to buy the wrong gear..
 
Garry Edwards said:
Well, when you do make up your mind, run it past us first - it's easy to buy the wrong gear..
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Will do thank you all.
More research and i'll let you know. I think a single studio flash and a reflector (to keep it less complicated for now) will be the way forward.

If I was to put my super cheap amazon speed light off camera as my main flash, would I get half decent results? (apologies if i'm asking stupid questions btw) Gotta learn :D
 
Han_Photo said:
Will do thank you all.
More research and i'll let you know. I think a single studio flash and a reflector (to keep it less complicated for now) will be the way forward.

If I was to put my super cheap amazon speed light off camera as my main flash, would I get half decent results? (apologies if i'm asking stupid questions btw) Gotta learn :D
Click to expand...
Probably not. :-)
 
Han_Photo said:
Will do thank you all.
More research and i'll let you know. I think a single studio flash and a reflector (to keep it less complicated for now) will be the way forward.

If I was to put my super cheap amazon speed light off camera as my main flash, would I get half decent results? (apologies if i'm asking stupid questions btw) Gotta learn :D
Click to expand...
Bobsyeruncle said:
Probably not. :)
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I probably agree . . .

It's doable but far from ideal. Firstly, unless you're going for an ultra-hard lighting effect, which you might want to do to emphasise the character of an ugly old b****r like me
garry_mugshot.jpg
or a farmer, fisherman etc., the tiny flash will need to be diffused.
And the flash won't have a modelling lamp, although you can get around this to a large extent by trial and error
And it takes a long time to recycle, compared to studio flash. You can sort of get around that by setting your camera ISO very high, this will allow you to set the flashgun to low power so that it recycles quickly, but the trade-off is that whatever ambient light is also present will be greatly amplified, which is the opposite of what's needed. Slow recycling is annoying at the best of times but is a real issue when photographing young children and similar.
 
Right I'm on a mission to get something good now :giggle:

I'm currently looking at

Interfit F121 200w Twin Head Softbox Kit


It's a bit over budget but I can stretch. What do you think?

Maybe buying two lights at this stage is overkill because I'm so novice.
 
Han_Photo said:
Right I'm on a mission to get something good now :giggle:

I'm currently looking at

Interfit F121 200w Twin Head Softbox Kit


It's a bit over budget but I can stretch. What do you think?

Maybe buying two lights at this stage is overkill because I'm so novice.
Click to expand...
It's a good idea to start off with just a single light, but you're bound to end up buying at least one more. So, a good approach is to buy a kit of 2 or 3 but to do your initial learning using just one.

I don't think that Interfit fully justify their reputation, but you'd do much better buying something made by Godox. One of the big advantages is that their radio trigger system works with all of their flashes, so whatever you may add in the future can use the same trigger. The Interfit one doesn't come with a radio trigger, which you will need to buy separately.
Bobsyeruncle said:
I'd go for something like this....
https://www.lencarta.com/all-produc...-4-with-95cm-profold-octa-softbox-light-stand
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I agree, but be aware that I used to work closely with Lencarta, so not altogether impartial.
I see that it's currently out of stock, you may want to ask them when it will be back in stock. There are supply challenges at the moment because of the Covid 19 situation, they arrive by air and most of the very limited air freight is (rightly) being used for PPE.
 
Garry Edwards said:
It's a good idea to start off with just a single light, but you're bound to end up buying at least one more. So, a good approach is to buy a kit of 2 or 3 but to do your initial learning using just one.

I don't think that Interfit fully justify their reputation, but you'd do much better buying something made by Godox. One of the big advantages is that their radio trigger system works with all of their flashes, so whatever you may add in the future can use the same trigger. The Interfit one doesn't come with a radio trigger, which you will need to buy separately.

I agree, but be aware that I used to work closely with Lencarta, so not altogether impartial.
I see that it's currently out of stock, you may want to ask them when it will be back in stock. There are supply challenges at the moment because of the Covid 19 situation, they arrive by air and most of the very limited air freight is (rightly) being used for PPE.
Click to expand...

Godox are a little pricey :confused: They seem to be the best on the market though.
 
Garry Edwards said:
It's a good idea to start off with just a single light, but you're bound to end up buying at least one more. So, a good approach is to buy a kit of 2 or 3 but to do your initial learning using just one.

I don't think that Interfit fully justify their reputation, but you'd do much better buying something made by Godox. One of the big advantages is that their radio trigger system works with all of their flashes, so whatever you may add in the future can use the same trigger. The Interfit one doesn't come with a radio trigger, which you will need to buy separately.

I agree, but be aware that I used to work closely with Lencarta, so not altogether impartial.
I see that it's currently out of stock, you may want to ask them when it will be back in stock. There are supply challenges at the moment because of the Covid 19 situation, they arrive by air and most of the very limited air freight is (rightly) being used for PPE.
Click to expand...


And absolutely rightly so at the moment!!
Perhaps i'll drop them a message in case they know it's coming in soon .
 
I photographed my granddaughter every month in her first year - and the vast majority of the shots were lit by daylight, helped by the fact my daughter has massive patio windows.

So the cheap option is a window and a reflector.

Next cheapest option is to buy a trigger set for your speedlight - a bracket and softbox - and a stand. (don't buy the cheaper stands they're a H&S nightmare.

There are cheaper triggers, but if you're going to get serious, buying into Godox now will save you money in the long run.

If you really want to buy a mains powered flash; then this flash, this softbox, and this trigger with the stand and reflector above is all you need and isn't much more than £200
 
Phil V said:
I photographed my granddaughter every month in her first year - and the vast majority of the shots were lit by daylight, helped by the fact my daughter has massive patio windows.

So the cheap option is a window and a reflector.

Next cheapest option is to buy a trigger set for your speedlight - a bracket and softbox - and a stand. (don't buy the cheaper stands they're a H&S nightmare.

There are cheaper triggers, but if you're going to get serious, buying into Godox now will save you money in the long run.

If you really want to buy a mains powered flash; then this flash, this softbox, and this trigger with the stand and reflector above is all you need and isn't much more than £200
Click to expand...


I did get some nice shots of my girl by the window before. Hindsight, a reflector would have helped fill in the shadows a bit.

So my purpose for buying lights now is a cake smash style shoot, so the window isn't going to cut it to light the whole scene.

These look like a great option thank you (y):)
 
Phil V said:
I photographed my granddaughter every month in her first year - and the vast majority of the shots were lit by daylight, helped by the fact my daughter has massive patio windows.

So the cheap option is a window and a reflector.

Next cheapest option is to buy a trigger set for your speedlight - a bracket and softbox - and a stand. (don't buy the cheaper stands they're a H&S nightmare.

There are cheaper triggers, but if you're going to get serious, buying into Godox now will save you money in the long run.

If you really want to buy a mains powered flash; then this flash, this softbox, and this trigger with the stand and reflector above is all you need and isn't much more than £200
Click to expand...


Sorry to bother you Phil, But do you think I should go for the 120cm softbox over the 80cm one? I'm getting the godox light you suggested (and all the trimmings) :D
 
Han_Photo said:
Sorry to bother you Phil, But do you think I should go for the 120cm softbox over the 80cm one? I'm getting the godox light you suggested (and all the trimmings) :D
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Yes - I'd have linked a 120 if it was in budget, but be aware that in a domestic environment a 120 Octa is an unwieldy beast, You'll need it touching the ceiling for a sat adult and not much lower for a child on the floor.

I'd also recommend adding a grid if it's a decent deep one for extra versatility later.

Just one further tip for that big Octa - if you're not struggling to shoot round it, it's probably not close enough.
 
Phil V said:
Yes - I'd have linked a 120 if it was in budget, but be aware that in a domestic environment a 120 Octa is an unwieldy beast, You'll need it touching the ceiling for a sat adult and not much lower for a child on the floor.

I'd also recommend adding a grid if it's a decent deep one for extra versatility later.

Just one further tip for that big Octa - if you're not struggling to shoot round it, it's probably not close enough.
Click to expand...
I use the 120 phot-r octa.
I think mines came with the grid
It definitely touches the ceiling even with my grandkids sitting on a stool.
:-)
 
Phil V said:
Just one further tip for that big Octa - if you're not struggling to shoot round it, it's probably not close enough.
Click to expand...

Too right :) thank Adobe for content aware fill :) Erasing 120 octa's from images for the past 3 years or so :)
 
Phil V said:
Yes - I'd have linked a 120 if it was in budget, but be aware that in a domestic environment a 120 Octa is an unwieldy beast, You'll need it touching the ceiling for a sat adult and not much lower for a child on the floor.

I'd also recommend adding a grid if it's a decent deep one for extra versatility later.

Just one further tip for that big Octa - if you're not struggling to shoot round it, it's probably not close enough.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yes it does seem like it might be massive and maybe too big for the space I have to work in (my dining room). Perhaps i'll go for a smaller one for now and maybe add a larger one in time :)
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
I use the 120 phot-r octa.
I think mines came with the grid
It definitely touches the ceiling even with my grandkids sitting on a stool.
:)
Click to expand...

I've got the same one - you get the option for with or without grid when you select the size.
 
Han_Photo said:
I did get some nice shots of my girl by the window before. Hindsight, a reflector would have helped fill in the shadows a bit.

So my purpose for buying lights now is a cake smash style shoot, so the window isn't going to cut it to light the whole scene.

These look like a great option thank you (y):)
Click to expand...
You’ve had some great advice in this thread, don't go spoiling it with a cake smash!;)
 
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