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TP: advice on a Studio Lighting setup

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rpenmanparker View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote rpenmanparker Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: TP: advice on a Studio Lighting setup
    Posted: 26 March 2012 at 19:56
I have been doing studio type portaiture since the mid-1970s always on the cheap. Started with incandescents, and believe me that was no fun. Never enough light for the fine grain films and so hot. But I couldn't afford either strobes with modeling lights, a flash meter or a medium format camera with Polaroid back, so the WYSIWYG aspect of incandescents was my only choice.

Now everything is different. The grain-free, high ISO capability and instant feedback (even onto a high quality monitor)of modern digital photography makes the high power and modeling lights of professional type strobes totally unnecessary for occasional, non-paid work.

I have found a setup that I relly like, which I call "bright room and a main light". Using two and three light setups over the years, I was never really satisfied, but didn't want to spend lots for many more lights. Now I have 10 Vivitar 3500 (vintage early 80's) flashes all equipped with the variable power-slave modification. These cost less than $15 each for the flash unit and another $15 or less for the variable power-slave replacement for the dedicated camera type module all from ebay within the last couple of years. Oh and they only take two AA batteries each. I bounce as many of these as I need all around off my white ceiling and walls to make the "bright room". Then I set up one umbrella with my Sunpak 544 on a synch cord (adapted to the camera, up to now a KM 5D) or Sigma dedicated flash on a Minolta OS/OC-11 cord and shoe as the main light. The main triggers all the "bright room" slaves. I sometimes need a few of the Vivitars to fully light my background paper, but that is it. The light from the walls and ceiling illuniates hair beautifully and gives lovely, even skin illumination. Since it is coming from all over (like overcast sky), there are no harsh shadows on the faces and very little shadow on the background except from the single main light. It really does remind me of very well filled in sunlight. Easy to meter with a gray card, just meter all the Vivitars, then the main. No expensive add ons like soft boxes. And what I really like is that using only one umbrella, I get the much sought after single highlight in the models' eyes. Never could do that with a main and fill umbrella.

One more nice thing is that there is plenty of light when using ISO 400 to set all the strobes at 1/4 or less power so recycling is nearly instantaneous.

I have never seen anyone describe this before. Comments would be appreciated.
Robert
 



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Post Options Post Options   Quote tomiZG Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 May 2010 at 01:06
Originally posted by Alanbrowne Alanbrowne wrote:


I can't emphasize how much better flash is than continuous in the studio. You can get to higher shutter speeds, but you will need a lot of lights which gets big and cumbersome (and expensive) in the studio while continuously giving off heat - albeit much less than incandescent.


Matt, I totally agree with Alan. I was in the same situation a few weeks ago (topic: Lumen/Watts/Wattseconds- how to compare light output ) and decided to get a cheap set of strobes and am actually very, very happy with the results. Check out my portfolio -> portraits, the last 9 of the photos are done in my new improvised studio, 2 light set-up.

Bought therefore a set of three cheapo Chinese 180Ws strobes, firing one by cable and the rest by integrated photocells, "Jinbei Delicacy Series (Promotion Kit) D-180 Kit (3x180Ws)", got them with two softboxes, tripods etc. for less than 500 Euros. Also got meself a used Minolta Flash/Lightmeter (the praised v4) for 200 Euros which helps a lot and now I'm ready to go! Once I will need them I will definitely get better Strobes, but these are great at this price! They do the job, at least for me. No explosions or smoke yet :-) The guy in the shop also said that they rock and that no one complains about failures, everybody is buying them like crazy.

Edited by tomiZG - 12 May 2010 at 01:11
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Alanbrowne Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 May 2010 at 20:14
Originally posted by flyingscot4 flyingscot4 wrote:



Before you decide on strobes, check out the new fluorescent tube lighting systems which make lighting truly WYSIWYG. Monte mentions it in one of his videos.


Before you decide on fluorescent tube lighting be sure to understand how it irretrievably (non-correctable) alters the light spectrum and the colour content of your images.

Not to mention that it requires longer exposure times, thereby increasing blur in your images from shutter release to subject nervousness. A couple banks of fluorescent lights will result in exposure times of about 1/15 to 1/30 at ISO 100 and f/8. This is also a shutter speed range where mirror slap manifests itself.

A flash exposure at full power takes place in 1/500 s; at lower power levels it could be as little as 1/20,000 s. No blur or movement.

I can't emphasize how much better flash is than continuous in the studio. You can get to higher shutter speeds, but you will need a lot of lights which gets big and cumbersome (and expensive) in the studio while continuously giving off heat - albeit much less than incandescent.

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Post Options Post Options   Quote flyingscot4 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 2010 at 03:36
Also, while going through web sites of some of my friends, teachers, etc, I tried YouTube. Surprise!!! Go to the sites of Dean Collins and Monte Zucker. They will teach you more about lighting than anyone I know. They are both dead, but in their time, unlike many professionals, they stayed on the cutting edge of our medium and embraced digital almost immediately. One time when I was visiting Monte I noticed that almost all of the magazines that he had on photography were amateur magazines. When I asked him about it he told me that the amateur magazines were years ahead of the professional tomes.

Before you decide on strobes, check out the new fluorescent tube lighting systems which make lighting truly WYSIWYG. Monte mentions it in one of his videos.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote flyingscot4 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 May 2010 at 05:47
First, what is the studio set-up to be used for? Is it solely for studio work or is going to be used on location, or both. Each has a separate solution. For studio work, you can get by with less power, but you need higher-quality strobes because the time between exposures is less and you need modeling lights in the strobe heads. Whether you use mono-lights or power pack units is up to you, but make sure that the units have cooling fans (or wait a full 30+ seconds between exposures). As far as I am concerned, a four light system is best - Main (key) light, fill light, background light, and hair light. Most people who use a three light system just eliminate the hair light, which I think is a mistake. Personally, I would use a reflector to replace the fill light because you have lots of different things that you can do with that hair light (personal choice).

Just for definition sake, the main light creates the illusion of a third dimension (depth), but most importantly, it creates the lighting ratio; the fill light (reflector) softens the shadows created by the main light and is the basis for the exposure; the background light provides separation between the background and the subject, besides illuminating the background; the hair light adds further separation and highlights the hair (it can also be used as a kick light when using split light or other more dramatic lighting.

Location lighting requires power. You really can't get by without it. Studios typically have ten or twelve foot white ceilings. Light is bouncing all over the place. Locations with lots a room eat light; it's hard to get enough. My minimum would be 1600WS in 3 or 4 heads for location settings (if you want to photograph a car or something large in a big location, you can easily triple that).

I have used primarily Photogenic Machine lights in my studio, but I have also used Norman Enterprises and Balcar lights as well. They're all great it you own a couple of oil wells. My portrait set-up today uses a lot of PVC pipe and about 14 Vivitar 283 and 285 strobes. That is only because I collected all those strobes (they are workhorses) through the years and didn't really know how many I had until I retired. I use Quantum 1 and 1+ power packs which are also excellent. The system works for me, but I think that if I were starting today I would look at the Alien Bee monolight units. They have good designs and are very adaptable. They also have good modeling lights and allow for moderately fast shooting. Good luck.

(Criticism is welcome)
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Alanbrowne Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 April 2010 at 20:55
Originally posted by jaje jaje wrote:


I tested the light output on my Sony 56 vs my alien bee b800's. At full power, the bee was 6 stops more light than the Sony --> that's 64 times more light output. A b400 would be 5 stops more light than the Sony.

Jay


No. You've made some measurement error there - I have no idea what.

A properly controlled test between the 56 (or 58 for that matter) against the AB800 'bees shows at most 2 stops more power from the bees.

Don't forget that you have to set the "zoom" of the flash head to illuminate an area similar to the bees before making the measurement. Further, you have to set the flash to manual and 1/1 (full power) (same for the 'bees) and of course shoot over the same distance.

With the 5600 set at 35mm zoom I get (2 minutes ago in the studio).

AB800 (1/1):      f/10.2
5600HS (1/1):      f/ 5.0

About 2 stops less from the 5600 (about 1 less than the AB400).



Edited by Alanbrowne - 14 April 2010 at 20:57
 



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Post Options Post Options   Quote Pirate Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 October 2009 at 10:11
Post deleted. Started separate thread.

Edited by Pirate - 27 October 2009 at 10:16
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Post Options Post Options   Quote mudslinger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 May 2007 at 19:34
Hey Matt...thanks for posting the information on your soon to arrive lighting kit. Looking forward to reading your review of the kit and seeing some of your pics.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote H20boy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 May 2007 at 18:56
My lighting kit mentioned above is arriving today. I hope to have it setup this weekend and can take some pictures to test it's limit...otherwise it won't be for another week until I can comment on whether it is a good value or not. hopefully it will be. :)
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Post Options Post Options   Quote sooten Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 May 2007 at 17:26
Thanks Jaje for the info. That is exteremly useful. And I add my thank to Nigel for the link to the lighting booklet. Thanks!

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Post Options Post Options   Quote nigelbrooks Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 April 2007 at 20:07
Gentlemen, my pleasure.

They're selling the same pamphlet on ebay for $6.00 :-).
No copying issues, Elinchrom have it as a free download.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote LTTay Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 April 2007 at 18:07
Same Thanks from me Nigel, that is very helpful!
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Post Options Post Options   Quote H20boy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 April 2007 at 16:38
Nigel, thanks for that link! That is going to be GREAT reference for me in the upcoming weeks! Now, off to print...
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Post Options Post Options   Quote nigelbrooks Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 April 2007 at 16:06
I found this useful little guide (linky) from Elinchrom which I hope will help fellow Dyxumers.

Went searching for something as result of my son picking up 3 Elinchrom EL500's, umbrellas, soft lift stands, softboxes, IR triggers all cased and bagged for L200/$400. Came from a photostore closing down and the only fault we can find is that one of the protective covers has been very slightly heat damaged - presumably from being put back before the modelling lamps cooled sufficiently.

Anyway, hope the little guide is of use.

Edited by nigelbrooks - 27 April 2007 at 16:08
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