BetterPhoto Q&A
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Jennifer L. Bales		Studio lighting Hi, I am venturing into the wonderful world of portrait photography on a budget. I have now purchased two Smith Vector hotlights which are continuous lights at 500 watts each, two softboxes for over the lights (I used a Canon 10D digital and was told this would be best), my 500 watt bulbs, a backdrop stand and backdrop (white for now). My question is this... I want to purchase a third light (I do things in threes...lol) and I dont know if I should purchase a boom for a hair light or something like that. I have read about backlighting in another thread. They said that backlighting would help separate the subject from the background. Here are my questions: 1. Where does a backlight point? The background or the person's back?? How far off the ground should it be? 2. For a hair light, how many watts should it be? Should it have a softbox over it? Any other suggestions for a budget studio? Jen To love this question, log in above June 17, 2005

Gary L.		You can point the background at the person back or background itself, its all about preference. Your hair light should always be at a lower setting ...just make sure your main light and hair light reading is about a 1/2 to 1 1/2 stop in difference with your hair light having the higher reading than your main. a softbox is ok to use on your hair light the trick to that is to turn all of your studio lights off just leaving your hair light on to make sure that the light is only striking the hair and nothing else.......I suggest trying a snoot or barn door modifiers...they just isolate the light better. I know you said you where on a budget you kinda remind me of myself when I started.....when possible look into getting some mono lights....they are self contained light heads with the power pack built right into the head plus you can control the power out put of each unit separetly. hope this info helps...email anytime i'll be glad to help you with any questions you may have. To love this comment, log in above June 19, 2005

Debby A. Tabb		HI JENNIFER, PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS THREAD AS I DISCRICRBED THE STUDIO LIGHTING AS WRITTEN IN MY CHILDRENS POSING CD AND YOU CAN SEE HER BEFORE AND AFTER RESULTS:http://www.betterphoto.com/forms/QnAdetail.php?threadID=16984 THE BACK LIGHT SHOULD ALWAYS POINT TO THE BACKGROUND AT THE SUBJECTS LOWER BACK LEVEL,THE MAIN LIGHT SHOULD BE ABOUT A FOOT OVER THE SUBJECTS HEAD AT A 45 DEGREE ANGLE AND CAN BE MOVED A BOUT TO GET THE DESIRED EFFECTS , THE FILL LIGHT SHOULD BE AT CAMERA(AND EYE ) LEVEL(UNLESS THE SUBJECT WARES GLASSAS. THE HAIR LIGHT SHOULD BE USED AS A EFFECT ( IN CONJUCTION WITH YOUR OTHER LIGHTING)AND A SNOOT WILL WORK JUST FINE. I ALWAYS SUGGEST BUYING THE WHITE BACK GROUND FIRST(WITH GELLS YOU CAN TURN IT RED, PINK, BLUE , PURPLE, GREEN AND YELLOW) AND BLACK.fOR FORMAL PORTRAITS I SUGGEST A ANTIQUE BROWN AND BLUE, HERE IS A LINK TO A GUY I BUY LIGHTING AND MUSLIN FROM (HE HAS QUALITY ITEMS)ON EBAY: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZskaeserbackgrounds YOU CAN SEE MY GALLERY FOR PORTRAIT IDEAS AND IF I CAN BE OF ANY HELP JUST LET ME KNOW. I DO HOPE THIS HELPS, DEBBY TABB To love this comment, log in above June 19, 2005

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