If you only have two lights, use one at a 45degree point on each side of you - if you have a 3rd - use it for background light (to seperate subject from background) - if you have 4, add a hair light. Pretty easy set-up and works fine for those types of sessions.
I've tried a number of things and have pretty much settled on 3 lights when possible, 2 when not.
2 300ws studio strobes with 60" umbrellas - one to shoot thru and one for bonuce, and 10' stands. one light behind and above me, one to the side at about 45 degrees, shoot thru. use the side as main and the one behind you as fill.
No reflection in glasses, no shadows, some modeling so there is some depth to the image.
BG is muslin about 6 feet back and shoot at f 5.6 - it softens the muslin nicely.
the other light is a hair light - it helps a lot BUT it's a PITA as it may need adjusted from shot to shot depending on what you're shooting.
notice top left image of couple and any other couple - MUST turn the couple to avoid one casting a shadow on the other. and note Elvis - I wasn't 'set' for full length so the wrinkly muslin showed at the bottom.
No hair light on any of these.
and a close up - note the glasses and catch lights in the eyes
What would be a good general purpose setup for this?
Technically, a four light setup would be the most general purpose, but I think a nice two light setup (two 300 w/s strobes) will serve you quite well. As Cindi indicated a 45 degree opposing setup will serve for most portrait needs.
OK... lighting newbie (obviously). Would a strobe be like a stand light that turns on with a signal from the camera? Or is it like my external flash, mounted off-camera?
A strobe is a studio light on a stand. Check out Alienbees.com the AB400s would be strong enough for the space you're talking about and are great in studio situations as well. Depending on your budget, I would recommend you buy at least 2 of them, 3 if you can afford. You will need a sync cord to direct wire one to your camera - or you can buy a wireless transmitter and ONE reciever (also from Alien bees) if you want to avoid cords in the way. You only need one receiver because the one light that its attached to will fire the other lights. The transmitter sits on your camera's hotshoe mount.
What are the advatages of STROBE vs. CONTINUOUS lighting? Seems to me that continuous uses a lot of power, but would be, well, continuous allowing me to set things just right in a shorter amount of time -- instead of strobe, check, strobe, check, etc.
Got an email from PhotoFlex on a basic home studio lighting kit. Two 250W continuous lights and umbrellas, plus a bonus third light (for backdrop lighting, hair, etc. It runs about $250 or so.
What are the advatages of STROBE vs. CONTINUOUS lighting? Seems to me that continuous uses a lot of power, but would be, well, continuous allowing me to set things just right in a shorter amount of time -- instead of strobe, check, strobe, check, etc.
Most strobes have modeling lights in them which are like standard bulbs to give you an idea of the light produced etc. It takes a lot of juice to run a continuous 400-600watt not to mention the generate a ton of heat. It would become very uncomfortable very quik for someone having to sit behind cont. lights for any length of time.
Reflected light is fine, but remember light falls off quickly with distance. Thus it requires more power to be generated. If you are using continuous lighting that produces even more heat.
Reflected light is fine, but remember light falls off quickly with distance. Thus it requires more power to be generated. If you are using continuous lighting that produces even more heat.
I guess my thoughts are this. I'm just starting with doing other people's portraits and this seems a good starter kit. Also, I think I'll be outdoors in mid-October. So a little more heat may be a good thing, especially for people in lighter costumes. I don't forsee taking many shots of each group or person, just come in, sit down, make a few adjustments, snap snap, off you go. Most of what I'll be doing will be these short session things, not longer shoots. But I can see the heat over time would be an issue with a model sweating off his/her makeup. :)
the heat could liklely damage the light units seeing as they aren't really made for 'continous' lighting. that option is more for testing the positioning, etc.
If you go with hot lights you might want to go with something with a little more power. I use Smith-Victor hot lights and I have to shoot at a pretty slow shutter speed (1/50-60 and no flash to freeze movement) to get good exposure. I have 2 600 watt lights with umbrellas and they push your luck. They do get hot in an enclosed area, but if you are in a room (read hotel meeting room) the AC can usually keep up with the heat generation. I have been using my SV lights for over 4 years and only replaced one bulb due to seperation of the bulb from the ceramic base. Here is a similar setup to what I have. Smith-Victor Hot Light Setup. These are on Adorama and they are very reliable to order from.
Edit to add a shot from a shoot in May 2007. Shot over 200 portrait settings in a little over 4 hours and the lights stayed on the whole time.
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Not the best setup, but it is inexpensive and you can work with it. If you can afford alienbees go for it. That's what I am going for next. I have to get past my financial advisor first (the wife). :-)
Edit again: I just noticed that the lights you pointed out are only 250W per light. You can see what my 600W lights require to get a decent shot. You'll be shooting an even longer shutter speed, higher ISO, or smaller aperture. OR, you may have to put the lights so close that the people will cook. I had my lights about 8 feet from the folks getting shot.
The watts in a hot light and the watt-seconds on a flash are in no way comparable.
A 580 flash unit or similar is about 50watt-seconds - go into your living room (at night) and turn on all the room lights (add up the watts you're using) and check the exposure. Take a pic. Turn on the flash unit and you can easily get 2 to 4 stops more light - from say 1/50 @ 2.8 to 1/250 5.6.
Also, strobes are not hot - so you're client is not going to sweat, your not risking melting something or starting a fire or burning you, a kid, the client, etc.
There are continous lighting alternatives out there using flourescent lights. Most flourescents have phases and the color shifts at each phase making WB very difficult and time consuming even shooting RAW.
I did a small home school portrait session last year in a church auditorium using hot lights. Two 1000w units were barely enough to provide decent light. Aside from that, the limited ability to set the intensity of the lights made it problematic. I've since purchased a pair of AlienBee 800's and I'll never go back to hot lights.
I haven't tried them so "your mileage may vary", but Amvona (ebay item number: 200153650828) has a couple of 300ws strobes in the sub $200 range. I've had good luck with other Amvona products, so you might get lucky with their strobes.
If I get a AB, then I can only afford one strobe right now. Any other good quality starter strobe sets out there?
I got paterson stellar units from B&H - 2 300WS lights (= in power to AB800 units) with stands and all and a bag to carry is, with umbrellas, was a few bucks under $500.
You'll also need a light meter - a sekonic L358 is excellent, $300 ish.
And in a bout a week you'll want wireless triggering...so figure in 2 pocket wizard PlusII units at $200/each...then the PW module for the sekonic..$50 i think. It lets you trigger the lights wirelessly to meter them - a feature I can't live without!
no offense but I wonder why you worked/ are working a portrait deal with an event but didn't know what a strobe was. I think you should practice and get down your portraits before you make it a service, this will increase your likelihood of further business.
I would definitely stay away from continuous (hot) lights, it can make people sweat quicky and needs tweaking to get decent colors. Hot lights are usually used in the studio only with still life objects because the long shutter speeds used doesn't matter with still objects.
If you can't afford to get a strobe set up, save up and pass up this event. It will be better for both parties involved. Otherwise get some Alien Bees or other strobes and start practicing a bit.
no offense but I wonder why you worked/ are working a portrait deal with an event but didn't know what a strobe was. I think you should practice and get down your portraits before you make it a service, this will increase your likelihood of further business.
I would definitely stay away from continuous (hot) lights, it can make people sweat quicky and needs tweaking to get decent colors. Hot lights are usually used in the studio only with still life objects because the long shutter speeds used doesn't matter with still objects.
If you can't afford to get a strobe set up, save up and pass up this event. It will be better for both parties involved. Otherwise get some Alien Bees or other strobes and start practicing a bit.
No offense taken and re-reading my earlier response, I can see how you misunderstood. I know what a strobe is, what I didn't realize is that there would be different choices being billed as 'portrait' lights. I was confused by the marketing :)
