Studio Lighting

[Beauty Through a Lens]

How difficult is it to learn lighting for portrait photography? Also If I buy

• four pcs 7 foot fully adjustable Light stands
• Two pcs single light sockets & 2 pcs 33" translucent umbrellas
• Two pcs 20"x28" rapid softbox with socket and diffuser

Would I be limited to what I can do?

[Manfred M]

You are not really giving me enough information to give you any feedback. I assume you have not done any studio lighting before?

If these are continuous lights, rather than studio strobes, they will be useless for portraiture work. I wouldn't go with anything less than 350 W-s lights, preferably 500 W-s. A 7-ft stand is too short, unless you want to sit your subjects on the floor. Most of my stands are 12 ft ones, but of course, your ceiling needs to be high enough; you want your key light to come down onto your subject from above.

I personally prefer softboxes to umbrellas as I can direct the light better without too much spill. I do use umbrellas, but generally just with my Speedlights, not with studio lighting. I use both shoot through umbrellas (this is what I think you are describing) and reflective umbrellas (one of mine is actually a convertable that can be used both ways).

If you are just starting out, I would go with a single, decent light and a simple home-made reflector (white coreplast or foam board). If you have an assistant, get them to hold the reflector, if you are shooting by yourself, you are going to have to get a stand and something to hold / angle your reflector like an assistant would.

The moment you are shooting with more than one light source, I would suggest you also get a flash meter to help you set up the lights. Trial and error just takes too long and is too inexact. I would suggest that you start with a single light and not move to a second one until you have mastered shooting with one light.

The softboxes are a medium size and should be fine for single subject head / chest shots; but only if you are using studio stobes. Continuous lights and speedlights simply don't have enough light output. Are these softboxes silver lined and have two baffles? What kind of speedrings do they come with. Usually these are custom to a particular strobe configuration and for the most part not interchangable, so you might be boxing yourself into a non-standard configuration.

Would you be limited to what you do? Of course, but its a start.

I hope that this helps.





This is one of my first serious portraits taken over 4 years ago; small light stand, with flash/ umbrella holder, single SB600 slave Speedlight with white reflective umbrella shot with a D90 in Commander mode. You don't need a lot of gear to get going. I owned the Speedlight; the rest cost me about $100 including a bag to haul the umbrella and stand around in.

[Mark von Kanel]

Hi Adrian.

This is a huge question and a little broad for a quick answer. Manfred has given good accurate advice as usual! umbrellas will spread the light a lot more than a softbox and so are of more limited use for portraiture and generally the more of the subject you wish in the image the larger the softbox you will need. below is a link my for my first ever portrait shoot just enter cic in the password box i used 2 x ellincrom rx600 and 2 x sb900, i hired a local room with a high ceiling to get the height i needed soft boxs were lencarta octa box about 90 cm i thing sometimes with grids.

it was a good learning experience!

http://www.theartofimages.co.uk/inde.../Client_images

lots of info here

http://www.bowensdirect.com/bowenstv

sectonic and pocket wizard also have lots of tutorial videos, for speed light stuff try smoking strobes and strobist.com

[Shadowman]

Somewhat limited, but not at a standstill. There are a lot of accessories (backdrops, barndoors, beauty dishes, an assistant) used for studio/portrait photography that could give your images a different look. Whether or not you'll need them will depend on your imagination, client's requests, and time available to complete the assignment.

[ajohnw]

How difficult is it to learn lighting for portrait photography? Also If I buy

• four pcs 7 foot fully adjustable Light stands
• Two pcs single light sockets & 2 pcs 33" translucent umbrellas
• Two pcs 20"x28" rapid softbox with socket and diffuser

Would I be limited to what I can do?

You haven't mentioned what form of lighting you will be putting in them?

Assuming continuous have a look at this

http://www.lightstalking.com/use-con...c-portraiture/

I'll add one comment to that. It mentions one lighting source not overpowering another - if all lamps are the same distance can be used to take care of that on a simple 2 light set up. There will still be a problem with hair and back lighting if that is added. Hair may need a different type of stand and both may need lower power bulbs in them because of light placements and distances. The more lights that are used the more complicated set up becomes and it isn't a quick easy thing to learn.

One major problem with continuous lighting is cost. While cheap set ups can be bought they are by no means ideal generally because they have been thrown together rather than designed. The real things cost a lot more and are generally bigger and heavier. The above link for instance shows something similar to a type produced by Bowens. There are others such a largish diameter photofloods which cost rather a lot more.

Flash has the main advantage that powers can be set individually and decent high powered modelling lights if fitted will give some idea what the results will look like. Cheaper heads can have modelling lights in them that don't last very long although things are probably a little better in countries that use 110v mains. 240v mains will blow high powered halogen bi pin bulbs regularly and rather quickly. Light placement and powers have the same problems as continuous and the more sources there are the more difficult it gets.

Flash can offer one simple set up. A high powered unit plus brolley at some distance. What is actually happening is that the brolley is providing direct light and bounce the rest. It's a set up some commercial outfits use a lot to churn out "portraits" but needs a fair amount of space.

I haven't done any portrait work for a long time and it was all on film mostly using what is in practice is now rather expensive continuous lighting and flash heads in hired studios at times. I would be inclined to say that learning to use even 2 lights effectively on all sorts of subjects isn't a quick and easy thing to do. People are even more difficult - they don't all look like models and still expect flattering photo's. Even the lenses and angles used have a distinct effect on that aspect.

John
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[Manfred M]

John some good points on continuous lights and perhaps I should not have rejected them so quickly; but suspect the ones that Adrian is thinking about are unlikely to fall into the usable category. In his article Ed refers to 650W hot lights.

When I was doing my studio lighting course some years back at the local community college, we hauled out some of the rather ancient Mole-Richardson hot lights that are probably older than the college building; these units were 1200W.

Even in the winter they heated the studio up quite nicely and we had to use heavy leather gloves whenver adjusting them. Light modfiers were the built-in fresnel lenses and they were equipped with barn doors so we could flag the lights. Even in the middle of the winter they heated up the studio quite nicely.

This shot was taken that day; none of the nice diffuse light that we get out of soft boxes...




I do have a hot light (500W) that I use for some video work; I might haul that out some day and shoot with it.


The other alternative(s) are the cold light setup; Kino-Flos and some of the LED panels. I have no personal experience with them, but that's because I can't afford them. They make even high end studio strobes look like a bargain. The well known head shot photograher Peter Hurley does most of his work with Kino-Flo lights; and he shoots pretty well wide open and at very slow shutter speeds.

Again, I suspect these lights are not what Adrian is looking at buying.

[shreds]

I think John's last point is important. Whilst using a friend to model is likely to be cheaper than using a professional, the latter just fall into poses that you can then tweak to suit and the results will be 1000 times better. I would strongly suggest going on a few courses where you will have a tutor who can guide you and explain the lighting setup firstly, which will lessen the grade of the learning curve.

..... as has been said, kick off with one light and build from there.

Many light modifiers can be simple household items, and to start with you do not want to be buying too much expensive kit.

We use some large handmade cheap and cheerful white painted panels about 12'x4' on either side to reflect light back into and onto the model. These cost so little as to be almost embarrassing to tell, a few pieces of wood and some old hessian wallpaper stretched over it. The obvious thing here is to make it stable and sturdy but not so heavy as to injure anyone if it falls over.

White Correx / card / similar can also be used to throw light back up under chins etc.

A step ladder is also incredibly useful for gaining height and you probably have one already.

I would also suggest speaking to a studio who will have many such items and hiring say with a couple of friends for half a day may be very useful too. (As well as being able to split the cost of the studio and any model(s)).

A light meter and wireless triggers should also be on your list of future items to buy, the latter avoiding miles a cable that becomes a serious trip hazard when you are doing something else/using the view finder.

Lighting: we use 500w Bowens on stands and they are regularly at height to simulate sunlight. If you decide to use something like a Lastolite pop up background, then you may need another pair of light/stands to illuminate inside the background. All depends on what you plan to shoot. (I am assuming people here).

My final point, don't buy cheap kit. It might be cheap but it is usually for a reason, such as being badly made, (the last time a rep persuaded me to buy a cheap soft box, it was sharp, badly finished and whilst it did the job, (after a month of getting hold of a missing part from the importers) I resented saving the few GBP rather then getting the proper kit. They often don't last long and the investment in quality kit is usually worthwhile, especially if you have to resell it. There will always be a market for secondhand.

HTH

[ashcroft]

Your thread is entitled 'studio lighting' and you talk about portraiture. But might you want to also shoot portraits outdoors, using a mixture of flash and ambient light? If you do (and you probably will) you might be better with more mobile light units such as strobes with softboxes. I always think that one of the problems with studio portraits is they can all end up looking rather formulaic with similar backgrounds and poses. Moving out-doors sometimes will open up much wider possibilities, but that might necessitate different lighting than that used for just studio work.

[Loose Canon]

Would I be limited to what I can do?

Yes. Very.

To start, if you are looking at a single socket continuous light you are going to need a lot of wattage in a single bulb. This will be exponentially exacerbated by trying to push it through an umbrella/softbox. I’m not sure this kind of power can even be had by a single socket/single cold bulb and would have to concur with Manfred that this will be pretty much useless.

Manfred also touched on what I would consider the biggest problem you are looking at and that is if you don’t have enough light available you are going to have to shoot wide open and/or at slow shutter speeds. Neither one is a good option and both is really going to make it limiting to the point of impracticality or most likely impossibility.

[rpcrowe]

You "CAN" do very nice portraiture using window light and a reflector. Yes you will be somewhat limited but, it can be done...

You "CAN" do some very nice portraiture using a single hotshoe flash on a Stroboframe camera flip bracket and modifying the light with a Joe Demb Flash Diffuser Pro http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Portraits...PGK4/i-LXnFVZC Again, you will be limited as far as the portraits you shoot.

Traditionally a full portrait lighting setup is comprised of four light sources: main or modeling light, fill light, hair light and background light.

HOWEVER, I would start with a decent pair of monolights with either softboxes or shoot through umbrellas plus at least one reflector. The monolights don't have to be too powerful and the umbrella/softbox doesn't need to be too large if you are intending to begin with head and shoulders portraits. Unless you plan on shooting professionally, you don't need top line monolights. I have some very good lights and I also have a couple of inexpensive Chinese monolights. I would have no qualms about recommending the Chinese lights for a casual shooter. After you get experienced in portraiture, you can always use the cheaper lights as background or hair lights....

One light setups:
https://www.google.com/search?q=one+...w=1097&bih=539

Two light setups:
https://www.google.com/search?q=one+...rtraits+setups

Three light setups:
https://www.google.com/search?q=one+...rtraits+setups

Four light setups:
https://www.google.com/search?q=one+...rtraits+setups

Window light setups:
https://www.google.com/search?q=one+...ight+portraits