In need of basic studio lighting under £150?

[JayEssKay]

Hi, I've had a look through the site and can't find any suggestions of studio lighting on a budget so I'm asking for your help.

I'm looking for some decent lighting around the £150 mark to light up a mannequin for photographing clothes on against a white wall.

Here's the best that I can do so far with the flash on my Panasonic TZ5:

I'm looking to create something a bit more like this:

I also have a space limit of 42" wide x 60" deep.

I really need to get something this week.

Thanks for any help .

 

[Garry Edwards]

Quite frankly you're wasting your time trying to do it with a hotshoe flash mounted on a camera. The flash needs to be off camera, at an angle that flatters the design and texture, the light needs to be controlled and you will need, at the very least, a reflector to mitigate the contrast - or more likely you will need a separate fill flash.

Then you need at least one extra light for the background (if you don't mind spending a lot of time retouching on the computer) or 2 if you want to do it properly and avoid unnecessary computer work.

So, you need 4 lights.
Now, you can do this in 4 different ways...
1. Hotlights. Something like quartz worklights, definately the worst option in terms of controlling the light, and they will be hot and short of power, but they're cheap and if you're not prepared to spend on lighting then that's your cheapest option.
2. Fluorescent lights. Again, a lack of control and lack of power (but enough) but it will be difficult with some colours to get accurate colour rendition. That's if you spend money on proper photographic fluorescent lights. if you want to save money by using the household type then some of the colours will be hopelessly wrong
3. Hotshoe flashes, used off camera. If you get some cheap second hand ones and make or buy modifiers you will be able to get reasonable results, but it won't be the easiest way of doing it. Flash in the pan (on talk photography) sells the bits you need.
4. Studio flash. By far the easiest and best answer, but your budget is way out.

Only you can decide whether or not these products are worth photographing - if they are then surely they are worth spending money on?

 

[JayEssKay]

Quite frankly you're wasting your time trying to do it with a hotshoe flash mounted on a camera. The flash needs to be off camera, at an angle that flatters the design and texture, the light needs to be controlled and you will need, at the very least, a reflector to mitigate the contrast - or more likely you will need a separate fill flash.

Then you need at least one extra light for the background (if you don't mind spending a lot of time retouching on the computer) or 2 if you want to do it properly and avoid unnecessary computer work.

So, you need 4 lights.
Now, you can do this in 4 different ways...
1. Hotlights. Something like quartz worklights, definately the worst option in terms of controlling the light, and they will be hot and short of power, but they're cheap and if you're not prepared to spend on lighting then that's your cheapest option.
2. Fluorescent lights. Again, a lack of control and lack of power (but enough) but it will be difficult with some colours to get accurate colour rendition. That's if you spend money on proper photographic fluorescent lights. if you want to save money by using the household type then some of the colours will be hopelessly wrong
3. Hotshoe flashes, used off camera. If you get some cheap second hand ones and make or buy modifiers you will be able to get reasonable results, but it won't be the easiest way of doing it. Flash in the pan (on talk photography) sells the bits you need.
4. Studio flash. By far the easiest and best answer, but your budget is way out.

Only you can decide whether or not these products are worth photographing - if they are then surely they are worth spending money on?

Thanks for your help. It's put things in perspective for me.

The items I sell are priced at £50 - £150 per item so I guess it's worth possibly investing more money in photographing them properly. It's just I haven't had any problems selling them using the current photographs.

I'm actually thinking of buying a DSLR for upto around £500, but I'm new to all of that and would have to have a good read up on everything to do with them firstly.

Fluorescent lighting would probably be the cheapest and easiet option for me at the moment.. Would you recommend these as they're in my budget range at the moment.

 

[Garry Edwards]

They'll do, not my choice but usable.

The camera is almost irrelevant for this type of shot, this is one of those times when you should be thinking of spending 4x as much on the lighting as on the camera, because it's the lighting (+ knowledge & care) that will produce the selling shots.

I understand what you're saying about the products selling well without good photos - but how much better would they sell with better photos?

 

[Chaz Photos]

For cheap lighting you can use anything from work light get two tall ones on stands and one or two floor ones next you can use the low energy light I have seen some very high powered ones with continues light you do gain in that you see the effect of the lighting.

 

[JayEssKay]

They'll do, not my choice but usable.

The camera is almost irrelevant for this type of shot, this is one of those times when you should be thinking of spending 4x as much on the lighting as on the camera, because it's the lighting (+ knowledge & care) that will produce the selling shots.

I understand what you're saying about the products selling well without good photos - but how much better would they sell with better photos?

What would your choice be for around the £100 - £200 mark?

It may improve but not by much as the item sells itself. It's more about looking professional and people recognising the style of shot and knowing that it's me.

 

[Garry Edwards]

What would your choice be for around the £100 - £200 mark?

I'd go for studio flash with the right light shaping tools, but as I said earlier, your budget is unrealistic. You need to add a figure to it - a little round one at the end would make life easy, half that would make it possible.

 

[JayEssKay]

I'd go for studio flash with the right light shaping tools, but as I said earlier, your budget is unrealistic. You need to add a figure to it - a little round one at the end would make life easy, half that would make it possible.

Well hopefully I'll be able to afford that in the near future.. Thanks for your help .

 

[CGeezer]

Linky This is the for sale section for my local camera club. Could do for what you need.

 

[JayEssKay]

Linky This is the for sale section for my local camera club. Could do for what you need.

Thanks for the tip.

Could you possibly explain what all of this means as I'm pretty new to photography:

2 Stands
2 Portaflash 336vm flash
1 Series 2 flash with clipon adapter
1 Colaspable reflector
1 12" Softbox
1 Silver& White brolly
1 Transparant brolly (shoot through)
1 Series 2 Difuser
1 " " Barndoors
1 " " Colour filter set
1 Snoot
1 Honeycoombe
2 Tilt umbrella bkts
2 Power leads
1 Extension lead

 

[HoppyUK]

I think you could do it just about within budget, and do it well, with two hot-shoe guns on the background to blow it white and evenly, given the very small space you have. Then a third gun with a brolly (cheapest) or softbox as the front key light, plus a reflector.

Yongnuo guns and Yongnuo RF-602 triggers, all from FlashInThePan here http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=157807 Mount them on Konig stands from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photography...ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1263515011&sr=8-1 They will need to be set up carefully but once that's done, it's shoot and go.

I disagree about your camera, if the shot you've posted is anything to go by. It looks horrible, with smeared colour typical of over-processed compact images. A decent compact should be capable of better than that, or a DSLR for preference.

I can't see why a simple shot like that should be at all complicated, but it's not just a question of gear, it's knowing how to use it

 

[Garry Edwards]

I think you could do it just about within budget, and do it well, with two hot-shoe guns on the background to blow it white and evenly, given the very small space you have. Then a third gun with a brolly (cheapest) or softbox as the front key light, plus a reflector.

Yongnuo guns and Yongnuo RF-602 triggers, all from FlashInThePan here http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=157807 Mount them on Konig stands from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photography...ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1263515011&sr=8-1 They will need to be set up carefully but once that's done, it's shoot and go.

I disagree about your camera, if the shot you've posted is anything to go by. It looks horrible, with smeared colour typical of over-processed compact images. A decent compact should be capable of better than that, or a DSLR for preference.

I can't see why a simple shot like that should be at all complicated, but it's not just a question of gear, it's knowing how to use it

Yes, that kind of flash arrangement is do-able - just about - but it's a hard work way of doing things and will require MORE knowledge and skill than a better setup.

This type of shot is simple, but some shots are bound to need more resources, more knowledge etc so some reserves of both are important.

As for the camera, some misunderstanding here...
You do need a DSLR. What I was trying to say is that you don't need to spend a lot on one for this type of shot, it won't make any difference whether you spend £500 or £5000

 

[mastertrinity]

ive just had a photoshop edit and really to get a decent image all you need to is open up the image, get the levels palette up, select highlight dropper, then put it on the background and then the background should be blown out while the subject remains in tact.

 

[david1701]

Yes, that kind of flash arrangement is do-able - just about - but it's a hard work way of doing things and will require MORE knowledge and skill than a better setup.

Quick someone get this on paper, gary said strobists have more skill (messing with you here btw )

ive just had a photoshop edit and really to get a decent image all you need to is open up the image, get the levels palette up, select highlight dropper, then put it on the background and then the background should be blown out while the subject remains in tact.

it's massively never that easy as anything but perfect white bg looks floaty and weird

 

[Garry Edwards]

Quick someone get this on paper, gary said strobists have more skill (messing with you here btw )



it's massively never that easy as anything but perfect white bg looks floaty and weird

Gary might but Garry didn't What Garry was saying was not that Stobists necessarily have more skill, but that they NEED to have more skill, simply because the light is less controllable.

But I do agree that it's never just a case of clicking around with a computer mouse instead of lighting properly - if it was, there wouldn't be any professional photographers...

 

[david1701]

Gary might but Garry didn't What Garry was saying was not that Stobists necessarily have more skill, but that they NEED to have more skill, simply because the light is less controllable.

But I do agree that it's never just a case of clicking around with a computer mouse instead of lighting properly - if it was, there wouldn't be any professional photographers...

w/e it's cos we're hardcore

 

[MJ Stebbings]

For your budget, i would get someone else to take the pictures for you

 

[Porky4]

Hi, a lot of you seem to be missing the point that the camera that JayEssKay uses (Panasonic TZ5) doesn't (as far as I am aware) have a hotshoe, or any direct means of triggering external flashes, so any proposed solution should bear that in mind.

HoppyUK's suggestion using FITP flashes would be OK, but triggering the external flashes as slaves, rather the the Yongnuo RF-602 triggers, would do the business, I reckon.

Also, the TZ5 is a "decent compact", with a Leica lens, I believe, capable of producing some stunning images. Just do a search on Google or Flickr to see examples of what you can do with it.

Yes, a DSLR and £1000 worth of lighting equipment would be capable of doing a cracking job (at a price), but I would lay odds that someone who knows what they are doing using the TZ5 and some slave flashes would get better results than someone using a mega-dosh setup who doesn't know how to carry out product lighting.

All just my opinion of course, worth what you paid for it.

Paul

 

[CGeezer]

Thanks for the tip.

Could you possibly explain what all of this means as I'm pretty new to photography:

2 Stands
2 Portaflash 336vm flash
1 Series 2 flash with clipon adapter
1 Colaspable reflector
1 12" Softbox
1 Silver& White brolly
1 Transparant brolly (shoot through)
1 Series 2 Difuser
1 " " Barndoors
1 " " Colour filter set
1 Snoot
1 Honeycoombe
2 Tilt umbrella bkts
2 Power leads
1 Extension lead

I have no idea but it all looks the part

 

[JayEssKay]

Would this do the job?

 

[HoppyUK]

Would this do the job?

To do a pure white background properly, you need two lights just for that - it's got to be evenly lit, you can't just blast it. Plus one and a reflector for the main front light.

If you don't want a white background, and a grey one will do, you don't need any background lights at all.