SoulEyes Photography
*SoulEyes Photography>>>Flash Photography

Photography lighting..I am so confused?


I am just wanting to take some pics of my grandkids and want a small studio in my home. I have the stand and backdrops...now what about lights? I am so confused about flash, strobes, continuous lights etc. Please help an amateur take a good portrait. Thanks.

making a home made studio don't have to cost a fortune.
background. buy 6 meters of white sheeting of the roll the sheets come off the roll at about 3m wide and is not expensive. tape to the wall and floor with gaffa tape
stretch out with a curve at the bottom and along the floor to make seamless floor to wall line
machine mart Twin 500W Halogen Floodlights 拢29.36inc.VAT each 1 or 2 of this will more than do you
make reflectors from white sheeting tapped on to old picture frames also can be used for defusing light by holding over lights
also make reflectors from kitchen foil tapped on to old picture frames
use daylight where possible

This can cost a reasonable amount of money or cost as much as your home, so you just need to study various systems. I do know you can get a lot of quality for the price with the Adorama Flashpoint light kits. Alien Bees are also a very good brand and can purchased at relatively low cost.

I feel what you are most confused about is terminology and just what type of light you need.

A strobe and flash are the same thing. That is, the light emits a powerful flash, or strobe, to light your subject. Most of these style of lights will have what are called modeling lights built in so you can see where to position your lights and get an idea of how the end result will look. The advantage to strobe lights is they are much cooler to work around, both for you and for your model. Also, since they use a flash style of light, they will tend to "freeze" the subject. This is probably what you will want for pics of your grandkids, as kids do not tend to sit still for posing.

Continuous lights are just what the term says. They do not flash. They emit a bright, HOT, light at all times. The advantage is what you see is EXACTLY what you get. You can position the lighting and know precisely how the photo will look. The disadvantages of these lights are, again, the heat emitted, plus they cannot "freeze" motion. Your subject has to remain relatively still to avoid blur in your photo. You CAN get lights with so much power that you can set your camera to high shutter speeds to avoid blur, but you are then talking LOTS of heat and lots of money.

For your needs, strobe style lighting is what you will want. Use a white umbrella to bounce the light. Avoid the "mug shot" look and do not position the light pointing directly at the subject. Move it off side for a more pleasing and professional portrait look. You can also use a large reflector opposite the light to bounce some nice fill light back onto the "dark" side of the subject.

You will have to experiment with camera settings. Usually a shutter speed of around 1/80 will work well. The larger your aperture, the less strobe output you will need, but you have to keep a small enough aperture to maintain some depth of field. f/5.6 to f.8 will probably work well for you.

If you are using digital you have it made, You can test all you want to arrive at the best settings. If using film, you will likely need a light meter to get it correct.

Guess that is the basics. Here are some of my studio shots if you want to see various looks that can be done with these lights:

http://www.pbase.com/s_parrott/portraitu...

hope this helps

steve

I don't believe you need all that for taking pics, just good image editing programs.

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pixelba...

With a program you can make lighting and other effects

Tags
Popular Photography Portrait Photography Nude Photography Nature Photography Landscape Photography Flash Photography Digital Photography Wedding Photographer Professional Photographer Portrait Photographer
Related information
  • Help with blurry photography...?

    It all has to do with the shutter speed. Is this your first camera? The exposure of the sensor is determined by three things. The sensitivity of the camera's sensor (ISO), how large the...

  • Is it possible to persue a career in photography.?

    Is it possible? Yes. I would suggest going to photography school to learn the basics, learn about lighting and different techniques, and also what is available out there. Your professors are goin...

  • How am I suppose to cope with this?

    i think you should be able to trust and believe in yourself i'm sure that's why people make fun of you. for as long you believe in yourself no one in this world could shatter your dreams....

  • Any ideas for black and white film.....?

    Take photos of black and white people.

    ...
  • Outdoor Wedding + NikonD40.. help!?

    If the wedding is outdoors in daylight you shouldn't have much trouble with blur from camera shake. Even if overcast your shutter speed should stay up at least above 1/60 or 1/125. Meter th...

  • Canon EF-S 55-250mm IS Lens. I need some help specifically about the Image Stabilisation from Pro/enthusiasts

    In practice it is more like a two to three stop advantage (this depends upon the focal length of the lens). Most sports and nature photographers have long ago learned how to stabilize their came...

  • Canon 580EX, 430EX and Pockewizards..do they all work together??

    Yep, that should work just fine. You may need to buy a special cord to go between the 580 and the pocket wizard, I'm not sure. ...

  • Please help me with dance recital pictures!?

    1) Practice taking photos in the same lighting *first* so you have some idea of what will work and what won't work. That way you're not trying to figure things out during the actual reci...

  •  

    Photography Categories--Copyright/IP Policy--Contact Webmaster