Studio / portable Lighting - Continuous vs. Flash - newb help please!

Torgado

Hey Dgrinners!

Firstly-- total lighting newb here. Been shooting landscapes and scenics for a long time and lovin' it. Now excited to enter into the portrait/people/wedding world.

What few portraits I've shot so far have been outdoor, natural lighting. Now I'm looking to put together a portable / studio lighting package.

So the question for a lighting newb--- Continuous or Flash?

I've spent hours browsing and searching these forums and I've received quite an education! It seems most pro's shoot flash. I gotta be candid here- initially 'flash' makes me nervous.

The biggest question looming is, how do I know what I'm gonna get in the exposure when the light isn't there before the exposure? No WYSIWYG lighting? Gah!

Obviously, I have a learning curve ahead of me. Sounds like fun! So, here's your chance experts--- edumacate me! Fill this thread with links the likes of which no Dgrin thread has ever seen!

I've visited alienbees.com and looked at their packages. $$$ don't seem to be an issue there but since I have no idea what I'm looking at, I really have no idea about:
#1) What I'm looking at
#2) How to use it with my existing camera setup
#3) whether what I'm looking at is what I need or is ALL I need.

So, what is my setup now?

Canon 5D MK II,
Canon EF 24-70mm F/2.8L USM,
Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS USM,
Canon Speedlite 580 EXII.

What is my target shooting environment?

#1) Weddings. Indoor and Outside. We have a "Shooting Season" here in Oregon (Willamette Valley). 80% of weddings happen between May - September.

#2) Portraits. I'll be doing a lot of natural lighting, outdoor portraits during the Shooting Season, but to keep the cashflow going, will need to move indoors to a studio environment during the winter months. This means I'll also be looking for backdrop/studio shooting props & essentials etc. Any hints/tips/considerations, please chime in.

What would you do if you were going to purchase a setup for these environments?

Details here folks, please, assume I know nothing (this is a very accurate assumption btw) of portrait/wedding lighting in studio or on location. :-) :scratch

Thanks! Can't wait to hear what you come up with.

(Just a side note--- this really is an amazing, helpful community of photographers--- it really is what sets Smugmug apart from the rest! You all rock!)

ziggy53

Dan,

I'm going to give you a number of links to threads where we have discussed similar things before. I encourage you to use these as starting points in your journey towards understanding the issues involved so you can make some better informed decisions.

You need to explore issues like:

Portraiture:
Different lighting styles in portraiture.
Different portraiture types, full length through head shots for instance.
Space needed for portraiture, including vertical headroom and length to achieve proper lighting angles and distance to background.
etc.

Weddings:
Formal vs candid lighting.
Portable vs studio style lighting.
Indoor vs outdoor venues.
etc.

This is a lot to read and a lot to understand, but you have asked for a lot. Feel free to ask questions targeting specific issues.

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=468801&postcount=11
Above link is part of this thread: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=52064
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=83217
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=123485
http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=890841&postcount=2
Above link is part of this thread: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=101850
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=105877
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=85927
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=44414
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=47288

This should be enough to get you started and give you a sampling of some of the issues. Again, feel free to ask more directed questions about specifics. Lots to consider and no "right" or perfect solutions.

Torgado

ziggy53 wrote:

Dan,

I'm going to give you a number of links to threads where we have discussed similar things before. I encourage you to use these as starting points in your journey towards understanding the issues involved so you can make some better informed decisions.

This should be enough to get you started and give you a sampling of some of the issues. Again, feel free to ask more directed questions about specifics. Lots to consider and no "right" or perfect solutions.

Thanks Ziggy! Precisely the 'forum' dump I was looking for! Read every thread top to bottom.

I have to admit that I had hoped to put in $400-$500 or so and come up with 3-4 lights & modifiers, stands and a backdrop w/stand. This doesn't really look possible unless I compromise and go with 'daylight' 5000k fluorescents in a package from cowboystudio.com or something to that effect. Obviously this carries with it the various problems with non-pro fluorescents, not true full color daylight spectrum etc.

Perhaps this would be an ok start for a small/portable studio setup? What do you think?

Then work toward mono lights/alienbees/pw setup of some sort. Granted this isn't going to be a huge output of light, but it's no problem to shoot ISO 800 - 1200 with the 5d mkii without glaring noise problems. Images would require correction/touch up in post. May also require that I shoot in some form of available window light but I think that's doable.

Any input on this direction? From your perspective am I going to regreat shelling out $400 - $500 on this setup?

ziggy53

I do use the daylight compact fluorescent and long tube fluorescent for some product type images but I do not find the bulbs to render authentic skin tones so I do not think they are suitable for people unless you are going for an effect of some sort. I also prefer the larger pupils you get with flash exposures.

I would rather steer you towards a "strobist kit" using portable speedlights. You do not get a preview of shadows but at least you get a fairly continuous spectrum and they are suitable for some wedding venues as well.

Ultimately, I do like studio monolights for controlled settings and most formal shots, but there are many photographers who do nicely with speedlights into umbrellas. In a smaller setting I do like to use softboxes over umbrellas, but shoot-through umbrellas are not too bad in most uses.

I also recommend radio slave units and I use 16 channel units very similar to the "Cactus" brand slaves. The 16 channel units work much better than the 4 channel "EBay" units for both service distance and reliable performance.

rwells

Torgado wrote:

...The biggest question looming is, how do I know what I'm gonna get in the exposure when the light isn't there before the exposure? No WYSIWYG lighting? Gah!...

If your talking about exposure, a good flash meter will solve that issue, or you can shoot, chimp/adjust, shoot, etc.



If your talking about speedlights & no modeling light. ~ That's actually pretty simple once you get the hang of it.


* To tell where/how the light will fall on your subject, and where the shadows will be ~~~

Simply stand directly behind your light stand/flash head. What you can see, is where light will be on your subject. What you can't see, will be shadows from this flash.

When I first heard this, it was a "Doh" moment. So simple, yet effective.

Hope this helps...