 Rachel Larson |
Strobe Umbrella Wattage Question I'm looking to buy a strobe light umbrella kit. Is there anything in particular I should be looking for? What is a good wattage strobe to use? It will be complementing two 250 watt softboxes. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Rachel
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Mark Feldstein |
Depends on what you're shooting Rachel. 250 w.s. are good for fill lights but not too swell for your main. For that, if you're using a modifier like an umbrella or softbox, I recommend at least 750 w.s.. I shot all the portraits on my website with a single bowens 1000 w.s. monolight and a chimera 3x4 foot softbox and a fill card. You don't necessarily need to buy a manufacturer's kit. Umbrellas in various sizes are pretty cheap and softboxes, while not cheap, are plentiful and reasonably priced. Stands are pretty affordable as well. I'd concentrate on the light source/head. For that, I'd highly recommend Bowens monolights or even Calumet travelers made by Bowens. They're quite good. I've used them constantly for years without even blowing a tube or a modeling light. Chances are you'll get a fair number of opinions here. One thing to keep in mind is to buy as much lighting as you can afford. Better to have too much than too little and be able to switch it down. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to stretch extra light out of a head that just won't do it. Even a good used pack system, like a Norman or Speedotron is a great investment for shooting portraits or small products. John Siskin is another photographer here and he teaches a lighting course on BP. His techniques are quite good and he may have some suggestions for you as well.
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John H. Siskin |
Hi Rachel & Mark, Power is critical for making a large soft light source. If you are using direct strobe, like an on-camera strobe, a small amount of light will illuminate your subject. It will also cause harsh highlights and hard shadows, which is unpleasant. In order to reduce this, you increase the size of the light source - an umbrella is a good way to start doing this. But when you bounce light off an umbrella or even shoot through an umbrella, a lot of light is lost. So either you can’t work at the aperture you want or you have to work at a high ISO. I always recommend that my students get a main light source that is at least 600 watt-seconds. This will enable you to use large soft boxes, as Mark mentions, or use a light bounced off an umbrella and through a light panel (check out this article on BetterPhoto for ways to use one light: www.betterphoto.com/article.php?id=129). You can always reduce the power from a strobe, but you can’t get more than it has built into the strobe. I have one of the Calumet Travelites, and it seems to be a fine unit. I have a large pile of Norman gear, and it has been very effective over the past 25 years. Many of my students have Alien Bees and have done very well with them. Strobes are measured in watt-seconds, not watts. There is no correlation between a 60-watt bulb and a 750-watt-second strobe. It is best to compare real watt-seconds, not equivalent or some other kind of watt-seconds. So an Alien B1600 does not have 1600 watt-seconds; it has 620 watt-second. Still quite a bit of light. Good luck. By the way, I teach a class here called Understanding the Tools of Lighting, . Thanks, John Siskin P.S.: Thanks Mark!
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