Portrait Lighting Equipment
Jeffrey Lo
recommendations for starter (read not too complex or expensive) strobe
lighting setups? Also, any recommendations on good texts on lighting and
portraiture to speed up my experimentation a bit?
Thanks,
Jeff Lo
j...@pacbell.net
Paul Rubin
> I have been wanting to try my hand at portraiture. Are there standard
> recommendations for starter (read not too complex or expensive) strobe
> lighting setups? Also, any recommendations on good texts on lighting and
> portraiture to speed up my experimentation a bit?
The cheap way to get started is with lamps instead of strobe.
Steven Van Hulle
Advantages:
1. Cheap.
2. You can see the light as it will be when you take the picture.
3. Easy to control using a common dimmer.
Disadvantages:
1. Hot! I think there are heat filters which block the IR radiation, but I
don't know where you can buy them, nor how effective they are.
2. If you work with color, you'll need color correction filters. Also be
aware that color temperature varies when lamps are dimmed. For B&W this
shouldn't be a problem.
Success!
Steven
"Jeffrey Lo" <j...@pacbell.net> wrote in message
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McEowen
stores sell "Translum" but linen or even paper would work. Place a photoflood
or just a work light behind it -- instant soft box. Use a short telephoto,
either an 85mm or 100mm/105mm. That's really all you need in the way of
equipment. The rest is up to you and the face.
gene
written a book which suggests the same approach and tells you how to use it
to get various effects. Look at:
http://www.lightingmagic.com/litbook.htm
Gene
Jeffrey Lo <j...@pacbell.net> wrote in article
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Andy White
He7G7.20788$oF7.386...@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com, "Jeffrey Lo"
<j...@pacbell.net> wrote:
> I have been wanting to try my hand at portraiture. Are there standard
> recommendations for starter (read not too complex or expensive) strobe
> lighting setups? Also, any recommendations on good texts on lighting and
> portraiture to speed up my experimentation a bit?
>
Try available light and a reflector card, its cheap. Or try just available
light. You donšt need fancy lights for portraits.
Jtown2354
therefore quite uncomfortable on your subjects. Lesser wattage works well and
will not fry the kids.
Regarding the references - there are several good references out there o)"50
Portrait Lighting Techniques", John Hart, Amphoto. o)"The Lighting Cookbook",
Jenni Bidner, Amphoto. and o)"The Photographer's Guide to using Light", Ted
Schwarz, Amphoto.
These happen to all be from Amphoto - I am not representing Amphoto - there are
other references as well. Frequently, "Photo Techniques"
(www.phototechmag.com) carries articles on lighting by a Bobbi Lane, a
professional photographer on her lighting techniques. Bobbi Lane is one of the
photographers featured in the "Lighting Cookbook".
All of these contain good information regarding lighting. ------ Jerry /
Idaho
NickC
A way to learn is to take outdoor portraits using the sun as a top or
side light and the camera flash as fill flash. The subject can be
placed in front of a background of your choosing.
Kodak publishes some good handbooks for starters.
Nick
Martin Francis
reflector (okay, so it's not ABSOLUTELY inexpensive). Something like a piece
of white card works too, but not as well. Reflectors are a good idea anyway,
particularly if you only have one light source. Also find an eager
friend/relative/girlfriend/wife to hold the reflector. have a beer/ten $
note/box of chocolates ready to show your appreciation, too, as otherwise
next time they won't be so eager :)
--
"Everyone's always in favour of saving Hitler's brain, but when you put it
in the body of a great white shark, ohh-ohh-ohh, suddenly you've gone too
far!"
-- Prof. Hubert Farnsworth
Anthony Polson
Hi Paul,
Lamps (photofloods) may be cheap, but they are far less suitable for a
newbie portrait photographer than a simple two strobe (electronic flash)
set-up. With photofloods, by the time the subject/model's make up has
melted and here mascara has run in rivulets down her face, the newbie
will still be changing framing, focus and exposure.
With electronic flash, the subject/model won't melt. Even with pro
flash units that have tungsten modelling lamps to help get everything
set up right, the heat generated is very small.
Believe me: heat, and its consequences, are the biggest enemies of
portrait photography.
Of course, the *real* cheapest way to get started in portraits is by
using available light. It can help you produce portraits of stunning
quality, and costs *zilch*.
--
Best regards,
Anthony Polson
Andy
using a model, here's the approach I'm playing with. Get some props
with colouring in the normal range, such as fake fruit with mild
colours, something ceramic and slightly shiny with light beige tones,
and so on. Also have a camera mounted flash, and either a photoflood
or slave flash on a stand. Or both. And a pack of cards.
The advantage of the props is they will always be the same colour for
all the experiment sessions. The cards are to identify each shot
since otherwise they'll all look almost identical.
Shoot them, and for each shot have a different card in the scene.
Record how you used the lights on each shot; camera flash direct or
ceiling bounce? Slave light close or far off to the side, and close
to the props or farther back?
When you take the film in to be developed, insist on no colour
correction on the prints. Otherwise the prints are useless.
Lay the prints out and compare subtle differences:
- shadow differences between light arrangements
- brightness of front or sides for different lights
- depth of shadow when the side light is close or far
- brightness of reflection due to the camera (center) flash
- interesting effects such as tradeoff between lights; having the side
light close will supply more of the total exposure before the camera
closes the shutter, so the front light will have less effect.
(I haven't bought a softbox yet for the center flash, that's for the
next set of experiments).
Andy
On Wed, 07 Nov 2001 09:34:31 GMT, "Jeffrey Lo" <j...@pacbell.net>
wrote:
Bob Hickey
pupils of the eye. Rectangular reflections are soft boxes, round ones
are umbrellas. Reflections will also show height and angle. You can do
an awful lot with 2 strobes and a meter. Bob Hickey
Anthony Polson
> Get a couple of issues of Vogue or W or Vanity Fair. Look at the
> pupils of the eye. Rectangular reflections are soft boxes, round ones
> are umbrellas. Reflections will also show height and angle. You can do
> an awful lot with 2 strobes and a meter. Bob Hickey
Well said Bob.
Richard Cochran
to hook up inexpensive strobes for portrait lighting. That's the
barest basics of equipment and exposure measurements -- others have
pointed you toward books that describe setups and techniques.
Unlike some other responders on this thread, I really don't recommend
hot lights for portraiture. They're hot, they cost about the same as
battery operated strobes, they run up your electric bill, they aren't
color balanced for daylight color film, you end up using a long shutter
speed, and they're hot.
They DO let you easily see what your lights are doing, but did I mention
that they're hot?
--Rich