Lighting Newbie

whitey

whitey

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I am told continuous lighting for portrait work is useless [never tried it ***] but if you already have a nikon flash gun, start using it off camera for portraits. Search on flickr for 'one light' to find some great shots, but more usefully, set up ideas and plans for getting the best out of it. Also, strobist.com has some great ideas too. Adding a 2nd flashgun of any make [optically or wirelessly triggered] can give you even more flexibility and power and cost less than that continuous set.
 
I will take a look at that site when i get home, thanks

I keep getting and selling a second flash as i dont use it often :lol:
 
Agreed, it's useless.
'Strobist' is one way to go and a lot of people love it. It's near perfect for truly mobile flash but a very poor solution for studio use IMO.

Please see my brief guide to choosing studio lighting
 
Agreed, its horses for courses really, depends what you want to do. I am just setting out along the long road of using both methods, depending on circumstances, and love the flexibility of having both options. Which isn't bad for someone that was terrified of the mere idea of using a simple camera mounted flashgun 6 months ago :lol:

Whitey, have a look at the first 3 or 4 pages of my flickr photostream, there are a selection of portrait shots using both methods, strobes and studio flash, examples of what a total newbie can achieve very quickly with help from TP friends like Garry, FITP, MD and DD - with more practice, I hope to be as good as all those guys :thumbs:
 
Garry Edwards said:
Agreed, it's useless.
'Strobist' is one way to go and a lot of people love it. It's near perfect for truly mobile flash but a very poor solution for studio use IMO.
Click to expand...

:agree:

A half-decent entry level set of studio lights costs about the same as a couple of decent Nikon Speedlights, but with the Speedlights you still need to add stands and adapters and umbrellas which, as I know all too well, can soon start adding up if you buy even half-decent stuff :bang:

If you've still got a Speedlight then you could be up and running for just over £30 for a stand, umbrella and umbrella adapter...
 
I have one of the stands and they are up to the task as long as you aren't a pro and giving them heavy use. For the price I was happy.Carry bag included :)
I haven't tried the jessops adapter as yet.
 
If you go the Strobist route:
I started with an Ebay swivel... it was ok, but plastic and required a bit of modification to take a Nikon flash foot properly. I now have the Manfrotto 026 swivel bracket and it is in another league! Cast metal body, superb and solid grip of the umbrella (especially when fully extendedfrom the bracket. Wish I'd spent £20 (incl postage) to start with. One note though, I use the Speedlight stand (AS-19) that comes with the Nikon SB*** or CTR-301 trigger, both of which have a 1/4" thread mount.

Edit:
http://www.fotosense.co.uk/manfrotto-026-lite-tite-swivel-and-umbrella-adapter.html

Edit2:
I have the Konig stand also... again, for the money it's fine, but the clamps are plastic and I worry that one day they will be left in my hand, but for non-heavy duty use, and if you are gentle with the clamps it should be fine.
 
Thanks for all of the advice everyone

decided to get some light stands, umbrella's and adaptors and try out my currect flash (and maybe another) before buying loads of studio lights i wont use often
 
My £10.99 stand arrived......

(Excuse the on-camera flash pics :lol:)

7dayshop stand on the left, Manfrotto 001B Nano on right

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Fixtures and fittings are fairly low-rent plastic...

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but what do you expect for £10.99, delivered :nuts:

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Comes in a nice wee carrycase too :thumbs:

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I wouldn't imagine they'd stand up to heavy duty use, day in day out, but for occasional use they'd do the job nicely :)
 
Yep, that's my thoughts also. I tend to clamp up the column clamps until I can't push down the column, rather than when the clamp is right up hard closed... just in case the clamp breaks when trying to open it again. So far it's lasted though, including trips up the woods. The Manfrotto 026 swivel bracket I put on top is indestructible though :thumbs:
 
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