How many lights

Andy77

Andy77

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Hi guys just a quick question, im looking to set up a home studio, would i be better with a 2 or 3 head setup, also would 200w heads be powerful enough or would i need more power e.g 300w's??? Lights are going to be used for homes portraits ect. And here's something thats bugging me, im going to buy an octobox softbox, you can also get 1 with a grid, what exactly does the grid do when fitted?

Andy
 
im sure a real strobist will come along and explain, but to my understanding a grid has to do with focusing the light on a particular spot and gives a rapid fall off to bring out the subjects features even more. There again I might be wrong! :D
 
It depends what you're trying to achieve, and how big your space is.

3 lights will give more creative opportunity for sure.

A 200w light gives a similar output to a speedlight, I'd only bother with studio lighting if I needed to outpower my speedlights.

Plus you don't say how big the Octabox is, if it's big you'll need more power rather than less.
 
A big hot shoe speedlite is about 60-70ws equivalent max. So with 200ws you will have getting on for two stops more light, and they recyle in about one second which is a quarter of the time most speedlites take at full power. They are impossibly slow to use for portraits on full power, even with fresh batteries. And of course you get a modelling light with studio flash.

As for how many you need, well basically I think that less is more, but this is how it works for me.

There should only ever be one main light on the subject - the key light. I very often use just that, with a reflector for a bit of fill in. You can do a tremendous amount with just one light, preferably with a nice big softbox :thumbs:

You might want to use a second light for fill-in, or a third one for an effect, such as a hair light from the side or behind. A hot shoe gun can often be used for this as you usually don't need much power.

Then you'll want to do something with the background, which is effectively a separate subject. Again, you can do a lot with just one light but if you want the blown white look, you'll need two.

The other thing to consider is that the price of two or three light kits is much better than buying individually. Like Dave, I think three is a good number, especially if you've got a hot shoe gun you can work in when needed (probably not often).
 
DiddyDave said:
3 is best & enough

200w is fine for what you're suggesting

Grids are for making the light more directional - in several years of having a studio photographing mostly kids I never had a use for one

HTH

DD
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Honeycomb grids are pretty useless for photographing kids, because the light is pretty frontal and honeycombs aren't needed for that.

A honeycomb on a softbox does pretty much the same job as a honeycomb on a beauty dish or a standard reflector - it channels the light in straight lines, restricting the amount it can be spread out. It also 'eats' a fair bit of power.

We used honeycombs on softboxes a fair bit today on the Lencarta lighting workshop, on shots where the lights were placed in the rim lighting position, to the side and behind the subject. With them, it worked. Without them, there would have been horrific flare.
 
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