What would you say is better: Light bulb or fluorescent strip light

J

Jem

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I want to take some nice pictures soon of the family who i dont see much,Now i could take it in the living room where they would be comfortable but i just have one 60w bulb in there,Or take it in the kitchen where i have a nice bright place as it lit with a nice big fluorescent tube.

I thing the strip lighting is more comfotable any thoughts?
 
No ive not got a flash gun yet,Will hopefully get one soon i also want to get the nifty fifty 1.8.

Ill have to see how bright the kitchen is then if it means ill have to leave out the nifty fifty then thats what i shall have to do. Thanks
 
If doing it in day light, open the curtains and try getting as much natural light in as possible. If you do get the f1.8 it should be bright enough.
Another option, get a couple of desk lamps to boost the light in the room. Just try and use the same type of bulbs as the main light or you may get problems with the white balance.
Just a quick note of caution, having only 1 light in the room suggests the room isn't very big. You may find that a fixed 50mm is too tight to fit everybody in especially if you're using a crop camera. Try setting your current lens to 50mm to check how far back you'd need to be to get the whole sofa etc. in shot.
:)
 
Go careful when mixing light sources. If you use the kitchen with the fluorescent tube, you don't really want to add tungsten to the mix with the desk lamps. You'll find some of your subjects tainted either orange or green, depending on which white balance you select to use.
 
Your kitchen fluorescent will have a discontinuous colour spectrum - magenta will be missing from the mix, so even if you ONLY use that light, with no other form of light, and even if you adjust the white balance to suit, you'll still get strange colours.

My advice in this situation is to up the ISO and take your photos during the day, with natural light coming through the window. Use a reflector of some kind (a sheet of white card or paper will do) to bounce window light back onto the dark side of the subject.

The light probably won't be flattering (that's why we use artificial lighting that we can control) but there should be enough of it.
 
Thanks better sort something out,Ive ordered the 50mm 1.8 so should get that before they come down.

Of course im not expecting the pictures to blow me away as its still quite new,But im going for something thats better than a point and shoot kind of photo.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Your kitchen fluorescent will have a discontinuous colour spectrum - magenta will be missing from the mix, so even if you ONLY use that light, with no other form of light, and even if you adjust the white balance to suit, you'll still get strange colours.
Click to expand...

Exactly, also fluorescent lamps flicker which is annoying.
 
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