 Summer1 |
what lighting kit should I buy
I am shooting with Nikon D70. I need a inexpensive light kit, mainly for shooting black and white studio photos. My backrop is black and I would like to keep it as black as possible. I will be shooting people so I am worried about what their skin will look like when I convert the photos to black and white. I have heard that tungsten is best for studio but then I have heard the exact opposite. I need to know which kinds of lighting to buy, strobes, photo flood lamps, softboxes etc. Also wattage? I was looking at a kit from b&h,The Smith-Victor KT750. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
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Nicole Kessel |
I took this photo of my son with my D70, the Smith-Victor KF2U strobe light kit, and converted it to grayscale in Photoshop. I'm really new to studio lighting and portrait photography so this set up was the perfect choice for me right now until I get the hang of it. Then later I plan on buying stronger ones. These probably wouldn't be strong enough to photograph large families. So, I guess it depends on exactly what you want to do. Hope this helps.
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Debby A. Tabb |
hi Sandra, please take a look at the 1st part of the studio photography thread: http://www.betterphoto.com/forms/qnaDetail.php?threadID=17534 there is a lot of info that should be helpful to you and a vender that myself and a couple of the girls have used and find easy to use- maybe contact laura and see how she feels about here's as well.
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Summer1 |
Hello, Thank you both for replying, Nicole your son is adorable and that is the type of pictures I am trying shoot. I have taken many already however I need a decent kit to start off. The problem I had when taking them was there was light being reflected onto the backdrop. I had to adjust the brightness in photoshop so the backdrop would be black and in turn the person I shot was a little darker. I feel I am ready for a light kit, I really only want to use photoshop to convert to black and white at this point. I feel if I want to get better, using photoshop for things like that will make me lazy although the technology is great. Nicole is your kit a fash kit and how does it work.
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Summer1 |
Sorry I forgot to ask, if it is a flash kit can it work continously. If I wanted shadow or light only on a certain part of the body could I do that with your kit?
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Nicole Kessel |
What type of backdrop are you using? You want to make sure you get something that will absorb the light and not reflect it. My kit is a flash/strobe kit. There are no modeling lights on it though. So you won't see the results until you take the picture. (That is where digital comes in handy!) The kit comes with two umbrellas which will spread and soften the light. You could highlight a specific feature by removing the umbrella and pointing it to focus on that feature. This would give you much more dramatic shadows and harsher light.
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Summer1 |
Hello again, Right now I am using black sheets, I know they are not very professional but I have been improvising. What kind of black backdrop would you suggest?
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Nicole Kessel |
Velour works really well with the black. You should be able to buy it at any fabric store in a variety of colors. I think in runs about $9 a yard.
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