 Gretchen J. Gilkey |
Portable Lighting I am by no means a professional - but I do enjoy photography as a serious hobby. I am being ask by many people to take photos of their children, animals, etc., on location shots. I am interested in purchasing some type of portable lights ... but I am not sure what I need. Most requests are for home or outside situations. I currently own a Canon D20 and a 580esII speedlite. I appreciate any suggestions passed my way! Thanks!!!! gretchen :0)
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Charlotte K. Lowrie |
Hi Gretchen, I'm sure that you will get a lot of responses on portable lighting systems. My studio system is "luggable," but not the most fun to lug around. However, you can consider using your 580 EXII and add one or two more flash units, and you have a very light-weight and portable lighting system. I use 3 Speedlites for location portraits. I mount two on inexpensive ($25) light stands and shoot one or two of them into an umbrella. I use the third to light the background. Then I mount a Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2 on my camera's hotshoe, and the ST-E2 fires all the flashes wirelessly. It is a sweet setup and cordless. The ST-E2 isn't cheap, but it's worth the price for me to not be navigating through coiled cords. Plus with the ST-E2, you can set the lighting ratio from the transmitter itself without ever moving around to touch any of the Speedlites.
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Debby A. Tabb |
Good Day, Yes you should get many responces to this post. With many suggestions on brands, it can all get very confusing. You can take a look at my reference page for some more help, but here are a couple of different price ranges on one of the most popular brands. A 3 light system is always the best to start with. But if finances are an issue then building slowly towards your goal can work as well. Try reading the old "Studio Photography" threads. You'll see many discuss brands and make decisions and start their studios right there on the 28 threads that make up the "Studio Threads". OK, here are the less expenssive of my suggestions: http://www.betterphoto.com/forms/QnAdetail.php?threadID=17534 Studio Thread 1: http://www.betterphoto.com/forms/QnAdetail.php?threadID=17534 This would be really good:
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Jeffrey R. Whitmoyer |
If you are on a tight budget, you can always use clamp lights from Lowes or Home Depot and Daylight fluorescents in one of the higher outputs. Very cheap and very portable. You need to improvise some stands. I've used "auction find" tripods for light stands on occasion ($9 for a Vivitar Ball Head unit in almost new cond., others for $1 each). Just takes a little creativity to make it work. I just purchased some light stands and reflectors at a public auction for <$10 each so if you watch auctions sometimes you can pick up deals. I missed some monolights that way recently. If you go this route and decide to use tungsten bulbs, do not go over the watt rating of the clamp lights. I have some photobulbs here that were with a copystand I bought. The bulbs actually deformed from overheating, they still work but I'm not risking a fire with them. This is all a "poor man's" approach and is one way to accomplish what you need in a down economy. It's ok to call me cheap. LOL Jeff
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Debby A. Tabb |
Jeff is right: You can go this route, but do read about it first! Many find they are truly happier with the Mono lights and that makes it really worth it for them. there is a lot about this on the Studio Photography Threads and then also do a search here on BP for more as well as the site Jeff mentioned. Enjoy learning about all your options. Photography equiptment is so very expensive and doing the research and mapping out your plans will really pay off. wishing you the best, Debby
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John H. Siskin |
Hi Gretchen, There are advantages to going with an additional Canon strobe, it is controlled automatically and is light weight. For situations like you describe, I usually use Norman 200B strobes. These are only available used, and are pretty inexpensive. They do require a greater understanding of light to use, as they have no automatic function. Using tripods can be very helpful, as already mentioned, but a light stand, to be useful, must extend to more than 8 feet high. You just have to be able to place a light above a person’s head. I would suggest that you stay away from any fluorescent light sources - they do not have entirely reliable color. I hope this helps. Thanks,
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Bunny Snow |
Hi Gretchen, I found that learning to light a subject, be it a person, animal, or product is easier if you have studio lights first, because with incadescent modeling lights built in, one can visually see what the lighting position and pose is doing to that subject. It not always that easy to actually tell in an LCD screen. With studio lights, capture is easy even when it rains. The problem is storage, and they are heavy. After taking several courses from a local commercial portrait photographer and using his foam modeling head to practice lighting outside, I found that my portable flash (when I didn't know what I was doing) was making the light worse, rather than better because I could not 'see' how the light fell on the subject who was wearing a hat. Where the light falls, strong shadows are created. Often portrait photographers want good shadows which create form and character to a subject. But, if the light is place poorly, they can hinder a portrait. Or, if the lighting ratio is bad or too strong, the same negatives occur. Studio type lights helped me learn and were the best investment I made for the sake of learning. I purchased small White Lightnings from Paul C. Buff, who also makes Alien Bees. In 2002 prices, I paid something like $1800, which included a sturdy but heavy carrying case (extra, but included here). The price included the monolights, stands, white umbrellas, and more. I also bought barn doors and a wonderful soft box from other companies. In later years, after I better learned how light fell, and after injuries made it impossible to carry the heavy equipment, I used portable flash like Charlotte Lowrie has used. The most difficult thing for me was to actually see how posing changes the light to either work for or against the photographer. This takes a lot of constant practice that needs studio lights, instruction (such as that taught through BP.com), and persistence to learn. Hope this helps. Bunny
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Gretchen J. Gilkey |
I want to think you all to responding to my question about lighting. You have given me some excellent suggestions and a lot to think about. I can immediately see that I need to do more research/studying and perhaps take a course on lighting. Thank you again for your time. BP is an excellent forum and it is members like you that enable us "novices" to feel free to ask simple questions as we work on building our skill level. Much thanks!!!! gretchen :0)
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