 BetterPhoto Member |
Equipment for portraiture in home My husband and I want to take portrait quality pictures of our daughters in our home with our Minolta XTsi. Mind you, we are just getting started and are doing this just for fun and to try to save a little money by doing it ourselves as my husband shoots very good pictures. We are interested to know which type of lighting is better - umbrella strobes or softbox strobes. Would you recommend one or two? thanks so much!
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Umbrellas are cheaper than softboxes. Softboxes diffuse more usually, so you get a softer light and softer highlights. Softboxes eat up more light. But you get a better aim with a softbox but an umbrella would be better for a larger area. Made up your mind yet? For a tight face shot, I like one light cause it feels more intimate. And I wouldn't use a second light to try to fill in the shadow side. A white foamboard would work. Or if it's a small room, the walls would do it just fine. So I'd would say, start out with one light. go thru posing ideas and angles. And then you just get another one whenever you feel like you need it. Because you'll may want to use a second light more to light up the background more than you would need to use two lights just on your daughter.
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John P. Sandstedt |
Why not start with photofloods. These are lightbulbs rated at 3200 degrees K that you screw into a special socket fitted with a reflector. Maybe $25 for each one - tops. They're euphemistically called "hot lights" -because they do get hot! It's crude; it's basic. But, for a fairly low cost you'll have a set-up with which you can experiment. The problem with any strobe set-up is that you really can see the effect of the lighting. So, you'll have to wait for the film to be developed. Photofloods can be moved easily and, when you look through the viewfinder of your camera, you can immediately see the changes these placement changes made. Softboxes were developed to address the issues encountered with strobe lighting. But, they're fairly expensive. I bought four hots lights, light stands and a backdrop stand almost 20 years ago. This is the system I still use today and I get good results. Since I'd rather spend money on film, an occasional lens upgrade, etc. and, especially because the number of portraits I take is a small percentage of my shooting, I don't want to waste money on more sophisticated lighting systems since the upgrade to my pictures might not be that significant.
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