Another Basic Lighting Question

[jbylake]

While I'm at it, can someone ball park me a $$ figure, of how much I'd need to spend on a basic package that would serve a beginner at indoor portrait photography, enough to see if it's for me.
Please don't post a link to a store, because frankly, I wouldn't know what I'd be looking at, at this point, or until I can invest a little "research" time.

Keep in mind, I just need the very basics.
I'll be using strictly film camera's at this point, so don't need all the fancy stuff that works with high-end digital, and their associated capabilities and interfaces.

It's not that I'm cheap, I just want enough to get started, and experiment enough to see if it peaks my interest to go to the next level.

Later, if it tickles my funnybone, I'll probably want to upgrade to a digital system, and better equipment. If not, I won't be stuck with a bunch of $$ worth of stuff that will go into the storage room at my place.

Thanks for any and all info that you might be willing to share.

J.:cheers:

[Hertz van Rental]

Buy a couple of good reflectors and use daylight.
If you can't take a decent portrait using natural light then you sure as Hell won't be able to do it with studio lights. ;)


I'm presuming your domicile has windows, of course.

[jbylake]

Buy a couple of good reflectors and use daylight.
If you can't take a decent portrait using natural light then you sure as Hell won't be able to do it with studio lights. ;)


I'm presuming your domicile has windows, of course.

As alway's Hertz, thank you. However the room (an empty bedroom) is going to be my "experimental" journey into a "studio" and lighting, and the available light is terrible :puke:

So, that put's me back to square one..My current lighting consists of a Canon 299T Flash, and just ordered a diffuser. Not so hot of a set-up, but if you think it'll work, I'll take your advice, and give it a try. I'd really like to try "proper" lighting, though, primarily to shoot nice shiney new "custom" Harley parts, that we sell, and maybe move into some beginner level "portrait" work.

J.:cheers:

[Mike]

As Hertz alluded to, you can save a lot of money with the use of reflectors, as you can basically turn one light source into two (or maybe more). But of course, sometimes it's just nice to have a few more lights.

Many people will tell you that the best way to start out your 'studio lighting journey' is to just get one light. Learn to do as much as you can with that one light, only adding another one when you have a good grasp of the basics and can see an actual need for another one.

A basic 'portrait studio' kit might consist of 4 lights. A key/main light, a fill light, a background light and a hair/accent light. Sometimes you may not want/need a background light but may need both a hair and an accent light. Sometimes you will need/want at least two lights on the backdrop. A reflector is quite good as a fill light.

As with anything, you get what you pay for. There are many 'cheap E-bay kits' floating around but most of them are underpowered and just plain cheap. That might be all you'll ever need...but if you do want to take this seriously, you will probably want to invest in some gear that is a step above those cheap kits.

For shooting people (moving subjects) I'd suggest going with strobes/flash, rather than constant lighting types. This means that you don't really get 'what you see is what you get'...which, as a film shooter, might create a bit of a learning curve for you to climb. You would do well to invest in a flash meter.

One brand to consider is Alien Bee. They are decent quality studio strobes, but still a far cry from the rock solid high end gear that serious pros use.

To buy 4 lights, stands, modifiers, backdrop etc. you would be looking at $1500-$2000, give or take. There are certainly cheaper ways to put together a studio kit (used etc) but there are also many other things that you may end up adding, along the way.

I hope that helps :)

[Hertz van Rental]

the room (an empty bedroom) is going to be my "experimental" journey into a "studio" and lighting, and the available light is terrible

The thing to remember about all artificial light is that it is trying to mimic daylight.
If you can't work with daylight then you can't work with any light.
Photography is all about light so if you want to do anything with photography you need to understand light.
If you start off by buying a lighting rig you will lose sight of this because - like people who buy a 'pro' camera - you think that having the lights is all there is to it. That and buying a book on lighting written by some guy that makes more money from book sales than he does from taking pictures.*
If you understand light then you can light with anything. A good lighting kit makes it easier, true, but it also makes you lazy - you are always more creative when having to improvise.
Don't anchor yourself to a room in which you intend photography to happen. You would do better to look around the house to find some nice light and use that to start with. It's easier and cheaper until you know a bit more about what you are doing.
And it will give you time to save up more money to get better lights because if you need to know one thing only about lighting it is that whatever lights you buy you will quickly find them to be under-powered and you will wish you had bought bigger ones.


*That may tread on a few toes but it's true. The really good photographers who know how to handle light are busy doing it, they don't write books about it because they don't need to.
Besides, all the books I've seen on lighting technique do not teach you the fundamentals, the stuff you need to know in order to bend light to your purpose. They merely give you a formula to a lighting style based on a successful photographer.
If you disagree with this please don't bother telling me because I'm not really interested. You believe what you want and I'll keep my own opinions and that way we'll all be happy bunnies.

[jbylake]

The thing to remember about all artificial light is that it is trying to mimic daylight.
If you can't work with daylight then you can't work with any light.
Photography is all about light so if you want to do anything with photography you need to understand light.
If you start off by buying a lighting rig you will lose sight of this because - like people who buy a 'pro' camera - you think that having the lights is all there is to it. That and buying a book on lighting written by some guy that makes more money from book sales than he does from taking pictures.*
If you understand light then you can light with anything. A good lighting kit makes it easier, true, but it also makes you lazy - you are always more creative when having to improvise.
Don't anchor yourself to a room in which you intend photography to happen. You would do better to look around the house to find some nice light and use that to start with. It's easier and cheaper until you know a bit more about what you are doing.
And it will give you time to save up more money to get better lights because if you need to know one thing only about lighting it is that whatever lights you buy you will quickly find them to be under-powered and you will wish you had bought bigger ones.


*That may tread on a few toes but it's true. The really good photographers who know how to handle light are busy doing it, they don't write books about it because they don't need to.
Besides, all the books I've seen on lighting technique do not teach you the fundamentals, the stuff you need to know in order to bend light to your purpose. They merely give you a formula to a lighting style based on a successful photographer.
If you disagree with this please don't bother telling me because I'm not really interested. You believe what you want and I'll keep my own opinions and that way we'll all be happy bunnies.

Thanks, Hertz. I actually thought I was taking a step forward, as a hobbiest. Given careful consideration to what you said, I can see that I was going off in the wrong direction. I need to rethink this whole thing, before I waste a lot of money.....

Makes perfect sense to me....thanks. Oh, and BTW, get out of the damned gutter near me...backs up the sewers and makes a hell of a mess out of the yard....

J.:cheers:

[Hertz van Rental]

I actually thought I was taking a step forward, as a hobbiest.

It's a common mistake and one I always try to correct.
What is Photography all about?
Is it about the camera? Is it about the equipment? Or is it about the vision of the person taking the pictures?
Experiment with daylight and a reflector or two. It's a very cheap way of finding out if you like doing portraits and of trying out some basic lighting arrangements. If you like the results then you can think about getting a light or two.

[anwmn1]

Open your garage door!

This entire gallery are portraits taken in the garage of his house with the door open. A piece of foam core is laid on the ground in front of the model for reflected light.

I am sure there are better- but gives you a quick example of what can be accomplished without spending money.

http://clearwaterphotography.smugmug.com/Portraits/Garage-Portraits/3521059_F7mCK#198903595_6uLGu

[Chris of Arabia]

Open your garage door!

That's an excellent example of minimalist lighting. The only thing that I can see against it is that there may not be quite enough light using that method to get as much DoF as I'd prefer to see - it does seem rather shallow at times. That said, that could just as easily be the photographers choice of aperture setting, so who knows.

[jbylake]

That's an excellent example of minimalist lighting. The only thing that I can see against it is that there may not be quite enough light using that method to get as much DoF as I'd prefer to see - it does seem rather shallow at times. That said, that could just as easily be the photographers choice of aperture setting, so who knows.

Wouldn't do me much good. My building has underground parking:big grin:

J.:big grin:

[anwmn1]

Wouldn't do me much good. My building has underground parking:big grin:

J.:big grin:


Okay- but the concept can still be used. Full shade with natural light.

The level in which you drive in at- there should be natural light in that area similar to an open garage. An alley between buildings is another shooting location.

Pay attention to the direction buildings face as well as windows and paint. I shoot a location in Tempe AZ that I position people in Full Shade facing East. Late afternoon sun reflects off buildings across the street and provides some golden lighting on their faces.

You can see how strong the reflected light is in these shots.

Facing North East in Late Afternoon.
http://aaronnewman.smugmug.com/Clients/C/PA110403/683189231_jkkun-L.jpg

Facing West- Full Shade- Hair light is reflected light
http://aaronnewman.smugmug.com/Clients/C/PA110365/679372257_DgwCF-L.jpg