Question for the lighting guru's

Gary752

Hi. I had done some research for studio lighting a while back, and had decided to go with fluorescent lights for a small studio in the future (building will become available in a month or 2). This is what I bought so far. http://www.lincoinc168.com/br44dicoflli.html & http://www.lincoinc168.com/prbalikit.html Is there anything else I am going to need to get started, lighting wise?

I've also purchased a heavy duty backdrop stand and a few standard muslin backdrops and one christmas canvas backdrop from http://www.backdropoutlet.com/ and this green screen kit: http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-220/Essential-Chromakey-Photo-Kit/Detail. I still have a few more things on my wish list like posing props, etc, etc, etc... I think I have enough stuff should I get the call that the building will be available next month, and can add the rest as I go.

GaryB

pathfinder

I suggest you consider some means of creating a custom white balance setting for your images as well. Spectrasnap, Expodisc, or other means of creating a custom white balance. It will help you avoid off color images.

Gary752

pathfinder wrote:

I suggest you consider some means of creating a custom white balance setting for your images as well. Spectrasnap, Expodisc, or other means of creating a custom white balance. It will help you avoid off color images.

I have a grey/white card, but I'm considering purchasing the Spectrasnap. I checked one of the boxes that the bulbs are in, and it states they are 5500k daylight bulbs. Would setting the white balance to 5500k get me pretty close to being accurate to start?

GaryB

pathfinder

It certainly may, but with fluorescents, I would prefer a custom white balance. The Spectrasnap should work just fine. I find the BalanceSmarter reflector to work very nicely as well.

If you shoot RAW, ( and you should ) a MacBeth Color Checker will help you set the color balance in your RAW conversion workflow.

Gary752

pathfinder wrote:

It certainly may, but with fluorescents, I would prefer a custom white balance. The Spectrasnap should work just fine. I find the BalanceSmarter reflector to work very nicely as well.

If you shoot RAW, ( and you should ) a MacBeth Color Checker will help you set the color balance in your RAW conversion workflow.

Thanks Pathfinder for the tip on the color checker. I will look into getting one of those.

GaryB

pathfinder

To use a MacBeth color checker, you want to click on the second brightest white square for your white balance target, not the brightest one.

Scott_Quier

with PF on the need for a CWB target. Use it in every shoot, take a shot of it under the lights as your first frame and as your last frame. I suspect your WB from the lights will change over the course of the shoot, especially if they are not on for very long before you get started shooting.

As you have time and have gained a bit of experience working with these lights, I would be quite interested in learning how they are working for you. In particular and for example:

• How constant is the color when using shutter speeds other than 1/30, 1/60, 1/125?
• How strong is the light from these lights? For example, at ISO 100, what are you getting for shutter speed and aperture? I wonder just how accurate is the "2400W" description of the product.
• How well do the lights produce the 5,500°K light? How well do the lights maintain a consistant light color?

Gary752

I will update everyone on the results with these studio lights when I get a chance to get them setup and work with them. I'm hoping it won't be too much longer till the building becomes available, cause I'm itching to give these lights a try! If only my apartment was a little larger, I'd try them out right now.

GaryB

pathfinder

Scott_Quier wrote:

with PF on the need for a CWB target. Use it in every shoot, take a shot of it under the lights as your first frame and as your last frame. I suspect your WB from the lights will change over the course of the shoot, especially if they are not on for very long before you get started shooting.

As you have time and have gained a bit of experience working with these lights, I would be quite interested in learning how they are working for you. In particular and for example:

• How constant is the color when using shutter speeds other than 1/30, 1/60, 1/125?
• How strong is the light from these lights? For example, at ISO 100, what are you getting for shutter speed and aperture? I wonder just how accurate is the "2400W" description of the product.
• How well do the lights produce the 5,500°K light? How well do the lights maintain a consistant light color?

These are great question, Scott. I will be interested in the answers as well. Particularly how the color varies with shutter speed length, and how stable the color is over the course of a session.

Custom white balance at the beginning and end of the session sounds like an excellent suggestion.

Gary752

When I get the building, and can get these lights setup, I'll do a couple test sessions. The first one, I'll set the WB to 5500k and take a couple of shots at different shutter speeds and apertures, and post the results here. Then I'll do a custom WB, and report the changes that were made, along with a few photos for everyone to judge for themselves.

I too am going to be interested in seeing how much these lights change, if any, during the course of a shooting session. If anyone is close to the Harrisburg, Pa area that wants to be a witness and/or help with the test, PM me and I will let them know ahead of time when this will happen. It all depends on when the building becomes available (hopefully in a month or two).

GaryB

Gary752

Just to update everyone, I was on B&H Photo, and ordered a Lastolite Ez Balance, and a 50mm f1.8 lens. I seen photos taken with this lens and loved the results, so I ordered one. I can't wait till it arrives so I can try it out!

GaryB

Scott_Quier

That should do the trick, specially if it folds up a little smaller for packing.

Looking foward to your first trial images with those lights

Thanks for the update.

Gary752

Scott_Quier wrote:

That should do the trick, specially if it folds up a little smaller for packing.

Looking foward to your first trial images with those lights

Thanks for the update.

I ordered the 12" version, and they say it will fold up small enough to put it in your pocket. I have a reflector that folds up the same way, so it is possible that it will do as they claim.

You don't know how much I am looking forward to trying out these lights! If my apartment was a little larger, I'd have tried them out already. I was told by the person that is in charge of renting out the building I'm looking into renting, told me that there is an area to the rear of the studio area that can be used as an effeciency apartment, or for storage. He told me I could live in the rear of the building if I want to. How cool would that be? Walk out a door and you're in your studio!

GaryB

Gary752

Well, the Ez-Balance and lens showed up at my door today (that was quick - Thank You B&H!) and I spent some time going through the manual to refresh my memory on how to do a CWB, so now I'm itching to get outside to give it a try. It's better to realize my mistakes and correct them during a test session, and being able to do it correctly without thinking about it later when it counts. I might take a shot with AWB, and one with a CWB and see how far off the two actually are. I have a friend that wants me to get a shot of his store front for his web site, so I might kill two birds with one stone.

GaryB