Home Studio Lighting

[ron hampton]

What is the minimum lighting equipment needed for an amateur portrait photography in a home studio?

[rpcrowe]

The absolute minimum lighting might be considered a window and a reflector of some type.

I would read the portrait tutorials above.

A single hotshoe flash on a bracket bounced and modified with a flash diffuser (like the Joe Demb Flash Diffuser Pro) can also work...

http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Portraits...44320241_7kTXJ

A single flash with an umbrella (either shoot thru or reflecting) or modified with a softbox on a stand and a reflector of some type can do very nice portraits.

Finally, a portrait could use up to four lights...

Main light, fill light, hair light and background light.

You can easily spend thousands of dollars on a lighting setup. However for the casual or weekend photographer; there are some choices which will do quite well at a far lower price. I would recommend looking at the various Flashpoint monolights and monolight kits from Adorama in New York City.

http://www.adorama.com/SearchSite/De...oint+monolight

For a photographer learning to light portraits, I would strongly recommend true studio strobes rather than modified hotshoe flashes for lighting. The main (but, certainly not the only) advantage of a studio strobe over a modified hotshoe flash for portrait work is the modeling light which will give you WYSIWYG lighting...

[Melkus]

Cowboys also have some great stuff at a fair price.
http://www.cowboystudio.com/index.php

I have been thinking about making my own light set up and see how it works. You can check YouTube for videos about how to do this there are many to watch. Talking about a flash diffuser, here a cheap trick and it works great. Get a white index card and using two rubber bands attached it to the top of the flash you can now bend it along with angling the flash to get what you want. Normally I set this at 45 so as to bound the light off the ceiling.

[Rob Douglas]

You can do a fairly cheep DIY setup pretty easy. I made a 4 light setup for under $150. I bought 2 pairs of cheep 7' medium duty light stands for $20 a pair on eBay. Also got 2 pair of 43" black reflective umbrellas for $30 then got 4 light sets (sockets with clamps & reflectors) from homedepot for $10 each.

[rpcrowe]

Here is a video showing three types of lighting which can be accomplished with a single strobe and a reflector...

http://www.prophotolife.com/video-ep...ust-one-light/

Despite the propaganda from the Strobist advocates, you can see how the WYSIWYG lighting allowed by the studio strobe modeling light is a great advantage because you can see the lighting before you snap the shutter. Using a modified hotshoe strobe, you are basically guessing regarding the lighting. I also like shooting in a studio with the only ilumination coming from the modeling lights. That is obviously not possible with hotshoe flashes.

This series has many other interesting short videos covering all sorts of interesting subjects. As an example, the use of cement filled paint cans and 1x2" wood stakes for reflector holders as well as other uses is a very economical idea.

http://www.prophotolife.com/video-library/

[ron hampton]

Am I better off to start with continues light soft boxes since I do own an external flash? If yes what kind of light bulbs should I use or can I mix different type of bulbs in each soft box. Thanks.