 BetterPhoto Member |
architectural lighting i am about 6 months out of photography school, and have been shooting high-end residential photography for work. i've been using my canon 20d along with 5 canon 580ex speedlites. as you can imagine, the power they put out is minimal, and the photoshop time those images demand is just too much with my workload. so now that I am generating a steady income I am upgrading to an AC Strobe kit. i'm wondering what you guys think will be enough power. keep in mind I shoot a lot of large homes in the morning and around dusk. i am thinking a w/s range of 1600-2400w/s is about all I can afford, with 2 heads. I don't mind some photoshop to clean up and do perspective control, I am just tired of layer masking over nuclear-white windows, so more power is key. also, I imagine softboxes would be a smarter choice than the umbrellas that come with a lot of the kits out there? thanks in advance.
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Mark Feldstein |
Personally, for shooting "high end residential photography" with that Canon 20D, I'd recommend buying a case full of Britek lights, including a box of slaved lights with Edison-type bases to screw into table lamp sockets. I also recommend a color temp meter with a set of CC filters. When you get into the large format range of architectural work, to swing, shift and tilt for perspective correction, including forshortening, drop the dime on 6 or 8 Bowens monolights with built in slaves, standa and modifiers, including softboxes AND umbrellas. That way, you can spend your time shooting rather than fixing. Take it light.
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BetterPhoto Member |
thanks mark, but I am pretty sure you were just making fun of me. when I say "high end residential photography" I am referring to the homes and not my work. 3,000-15,000 square feet, and 1-17 million dollars. so I am trying not to take it lightly. i've shot with mamiya 645s and leaf valeo 17mp backs tethered to mac G5s. so I know what I am doing. i also shoot personal work with a sinar 4x5, but I can't shoot film for these clients, and my 5D hasn't come in yet. for the bulk of my work, when that gear is not necessary and I want to travel lighter, i've been fooling my clientele with these weak speedlights. I was looking for a little guidance, not sarcasm.
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Mark Feldstein |
OK Jeff, I still highly recommend the Bowens monolights. No cords to trip over, portable in a couple of Lightware Air cases, reliable, powerful, ratio-able, versatile and more than sufficiently rugged for travel and location work. About 80% of my work for architectural publication is on film and large format. The rest is more for architectural details done with medium format. Occasionally, we'll take Speedotron Blackline 2000 W.S. packs and heads with us along with the usual modifiers. Those will be rigged to trip with Quantum radio slaves in conjunction with the Bowens if we need them as well. A 15000 SF house? Yikes !!! Sounds like it'd be a toll call from one end to the other, or a different time zone. I don't think I've ever been in a house that big or even seen one and I live in a shack in Pebble Beach, CA.
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BetterPhoto Member |
ok, thanks. you're a real help, Mark. i am just worried about power. I don't want to be lugging around 100 pounds worth of stuff if I don't have to, so monolights look great to me. but will 3 500w/s heads do the job? I was always under the impression that you need a big power plant going through powerful heads to balance the sun coming through the windows. not true?
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Pete H |
Just curious Jeff; Why are you not shooting with a shift lens or a view camera?
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BetterPhoto Member |
oh, believe me, I know. mostly just financial reasons. but now I have the client base to justify some more serious gear purchases. i am graduating to a 5D and a 24mm TS in about a month. i'd love to shoot with my 4x5, but these guys need the images way too fast.
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Mark Feldstein |
Is 500 W/S per head enough? No. Unless you're doing strictly close-up detail work. It's not much at all for room interiors, especially when you may need to be doing multiple pops to get DOF. The Bowens lights I mentioned are pretty light and deliver a lot of horsepower. 1500 W/S per head, switchable down to 500 and 250. Take a look at their Espirit monolights: http://www.bowens.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_26 B&H generally has very good deals on Bowens lighting, either separately or in kits. They also have battery powered units that are excellent, especially if you're working outdoors. Fast recycling time even at full power. Like I mentioned, I also use Speedotron Black Line pack systems, but you literally need a piano dolly to move the packs around. Not so with the Bowens lights. They don't even need studio stands with wheels actually, but we use them anyway to prevent marring hardwood floors. [Check out the Matthews grip equipment] "C" Stands are your best bet, especially for location work. Heavy, but solid and not prone to operator error. http://www.matthewsgrip.com/ Mark
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BetterPhoto Member |
you're awesome mark. but I think it's obvious I am in a little over my head here. I have the know-how, just not the gear. I just have to remember it takes time to build up a good quiver of tools. those 1500w/s bowens look beautiful, but you're right, i'd have to "drop the dime." can you think of anything that might offer me a happy medium? enough power from a 2 head setup, like maybe a Speedo Brown Line DM1604 kit? 1600w/s and the power pack *only* weighs 18 pounds. it's defintely no bowen monolight system, but would something like that get me through a yaer or so until I can upgrade to some sweet monolights?
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BetterPhoto Member |
there's also a Calumet kit that comes with 3 x 750 heads. still probably not powerful enough, eh? it's hard because I don't make enough right now to splurge on a 3 x 1500w/s setup, but I have to get *something* stronger in order to obtain and keep these clients, so that I can charge more and eventually upgrade.
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Mark Feldstein |
Yeah, I guess I'm awsomely sarcastic. LOL !! Speedotron is great equipment, Black and Brown lines both. The DM1604 is excellent, but with 2 heads, what are you going to do when you get flush and buy more lights? Are you going to continue to shlep the 1604 on location or get a 4-5 head pack system with a lot of horsepower and end up leaving the other pack at home? The other thing is with packs come cables...lots of cables...and cable extensions some times cause your head still needs to be hardwired to the power supply. Shooting big rooms, this can be a problem, although you can use multiple packs on radio slaves like Quantums. My advice is build your system now for later. So, for now, if you can't afford 3 1500 w/s Bowens, then start with one now, score a 3x4 ' Chimera softbox and attachment ring, and build the system over time as budget permits. You can do a ton of work with that rig. If you start with say 750 units, by the time you put a modifier of some kind on them, a softbox or umbrella, you're effectively down to say 500 w/s. Whereas at 1500 w/s, if you need less, you can have less. With 750, you can't get more than 750. Seewhatimean? Remember too, you're not just buying equipment for the present but later too. It's basically an investment in your future. [My wife calls me a "shopping enabler"] Besides, you can bounce a lot of light at 1500 w/s with or without a softbox. A single light, at full power off a flat white 8 high ceiling and iso 100, you'll usually be working at f-11.5. - f16. I don't know how you like your dof, but I much prefer like f22-f32, especially working with a 90mm super angulon on my 4x5. 2 or 3 pops with a 1500 is a good way to go. Check out the deals B&H has on these things. They might even have a couple of used ones though most guys I know tend to hang onto these things. If they don't have a great deal on them now, they will again soon, I'm sure. The Calumets are good and are actually made by Bowens, but they're a similar slightly spun down version, different housings, switches, etc. In my experience, for what you get from Calumet, it's overpriced anyway, so I think B&H for new gear is a better deal in the long run. They have a program now through Chase Bank, I think, that allows deferred payment. B&H can also set up lease programs for you, depending on the manufacturer. And last but not least...maybe it's time to start raising your fees now so that your clients won't suffer sticker shock later. Hell, blame it on Katrina and the cost of gasoline. Works for everyone else. M.
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BetterPhoto Member |
hahaha. know what? I probably would've made fun of me too. so no worries. I sounded like an idiot. shooting what I do with a 20D kind of throws any/all my credibility out the window. i think you're right in that it'd be better to start out with one strong bowen than 3 weak calumets. I wish I was shooting film so I could do multiple exposures. but now with digital I have to worry about getting that recyle time into one frame, and that's frustrating. I guess i'll still be doing a little bit of photoshop, but I know it'll be much cleaner and the exposures much closer together with a strong bowen. do you think it'd be worth it now to add on a little 500w/s for fill/accent? man, if I could stop down to f/90, I probably would. with architecture I am all about it being tack sharp, especially with my tiny 20D sensor ruining (softening) anything I enlarge more than 5x7. anyhow, you've been great for letting a newbie like me pester you. ps - do you have a website? if you want to see what i've been up to lately, http://jeffkroeze.com
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