light kit for portraits
bruno
Ok, this really isn't restricted to digital cameras, but I don't see
any obvious group to ask.
I'm thinking about getting some sort of light kit for taking portraits at
home. (Nothing professional. I have 2 growing kids and I'd like to go a bit
beyound the usual snapshots).
Does anybody have a pointer to a good reference on the subject of
lighting equipment ? I'm just starting my search and
don't have a good understanding of what's available or what to look for.
I assume there is a difference between lights that are on all the time
and lights that are controlled by the camera flash. Any advantage of one
over the other ?
There seems to be some relatively inexpensive kits ($300 range) with
3 lights with stands and umbrellas. Are they appropriate or are they a
waste of money. Any brand to stay away from ?
Thanks for any suggestion.
bruno.
Eric Gill
> I assume there is a difference between lights that are on all the time
> and lights that are controlled by the camera flash. Any advantage of one
> over the other ?
They all have their purposes.
Strictly speaking, the difference is the strobes deliver a whole bunch of
light at once. A lot of light is often desireable - you can shoot faster
that way.
The constant delivery lights have many purposes - modeling lights, to see
how shadows fall, spots to illuminate particular areas and ambients to pump
up the entire scene.
(Of course, there are crossovers, such as strobe spots, and adaptors to
make standard strobes spots).
The "basic" kit is a pair of strobes and umbrellas, and it's what I
recommend to start with. Once you get some experience (and frustration)
under your belt, it's easier to see what all the toys are for, instead of
getting lost in a jungle of jargon anf hoping you aren't spending a bunch
of cash on something you don't need.
Crownfield
look at http://www.alienbees.com/
or http://www.white-lightning.com/
with strobes, you will easily shoot at f4 - f16 at 1/125 of a second,
and will stay cool.
with hot lights, you will use as much electricity as a baseboard heater,
and you will shoot at 1/30-1/60 of a second at f4. air conditioning
required.
zeitgeist
is your point to buy gear or to take some better photos of your kids? Do
you want to replicate the greasy shiny faces you see in shopping mall and
school pix portraits?
trust me on this. you can do some very nice lighting with a decent shoe
flash, just get one that allows you to tilt and swivel, aim it at a side
wall and you will get the equivalent of a very large softbox.
those kits replicate the worst of portrait lighting, mug shots they called
it in the 50's and 60's. then they used metal scoops with hot lights,
typically 18 inch bowls used about 3 feet away. now they sell flash with 36
inch brollies but you typically use them about 6 feet away, you get the SAME
lighting. and the damn instructions tell you to set them up in the very
worst set up, one on either side of the camera which is the definition of
crap lighting, cross light which only gives you greasy fat faces with glassy
eyes.
trust me, you only need one good flash and a reflector. use a tripod.
j
allow you to properly balance your lights.
Ron
"Crownfield" <Crown...@cox.net> wrote in message
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YAG-ART
Jeffery Harrison
Would be your best location to ask about this topic. As zeitgeist said you
really don't need a complicated lighting setup to get great results and a
complicated lighting setup, in addition to costing more, is very likely to
give "crap" (as he put it) results if you don't know what you're doing with
it and what you want it to do. You would do better in the beginning to play
with a single light source, like a window or bouncing your flash off a side
wall (or a piece of foamcore which is like thick poster board) and reading a
book on lighting techniques and/or portraiture.
Jeffery S. Harrison
"bruno" <inv...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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Matt
I found your post interesting (in a positive way). When you say get a
decent reflector, do you mean to bounce the flash off if there aren't any
walls/ceilings?
"zeitgeist" <blkhat...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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zeitgeist
>
> I found your post interesting (in a positive way). When you say get a
> decent reflector, do you mean to bounce the flash off if there aren't any
> walls/ceilings?
>
I thought I said get a decent flash...but you if you don't have any walls,
and walls can be surprisingly far away, I mean I've done stuff like that in
churches.
yes you can use a reflector to bounce off, but that detirmines your light
source size, IE: a 36" reflector means your light is like a small window.
Old vinyl fake wood paneling that gives an orange yellow cast? you can hang
a sheet or buy a sheet or two of styrofoam insulation panel and get a large
reflector to bounce off.
but what a reflector is for...
the first thing you learn in lighting is what you see is what you get, IE:
I've never understood people who shoot out in the bright sun, dontcha see
the damn shadows in their eyes?
the next thing you learn, and this is a bit more subtle, is 'what you see
ain't exactly what you get.' film adds a bit of contrast, its just the
nature of the beast, and while digital is more adjustable it still adds
some, thats why people standing in the bright sun loose both their eyeballs
and the their noses. but when you are looking at a pretty face in open
shade, under a tree just at the transition of the penumbra between deep
shadow and the bright sun, the eye flash, the hair glows, the skin looks
like it is lit from within, that's when you bring in the reflector to push a
bit more light on the shadow side. Visually you think Oh No! that's over
kill, its over fill, its washing out my nice light. No no no. that
reflector fill will make up for what contrast get added to the image in the
photographic process and you will get what you see with your eyes without
the reflector, that's when reflectors do their most important work, when
you think you don't really need it.
but back to the point of the statement, you need one flash and a reflector,
the one flash can bounced off a wall, shot through a curtain of white
fabric, or bounced off a reflector, (one trick wedding photogs used to do
was to borrow a groom'sman who was dressed in white to bounce off, excuse
me, would you mind standing here, oh, and open your jacket, yeah hold the
sides out real far..thanks.)