questions with lighting

his4ever · May 1, 2007

I would like to purchase some lights for my "studio". I am mostley doing the studio for fun so that I can practice capturing people for the work I will do in the future.

I want continuous. I would like fluorescent. The tungston light kits seem cheaper... and I was wondering... could I swap a tungston lightbulb for a CFL?
1000bulbs.com has some bulbs that are the perfect wattage and are 5000K. Not sure if their bases would fit. Am I crazy for thinking all of this?

I need to save money. I do not have a lot to get this stuff. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Johnboy2978 · May 1, 2007

I would encourage you to look at strobe vs. continuous light. Continuous gets VERY hot and pose a fire hazard as well as being uncomfortable for the subject. They are also inconsistent in their output. I would really encourage you to look at one light from alienbees.com and then get more as you can afford it. The quality will be exponentially better than continuous, and much more comfortable.

just my .02

his4ever · May 1, 2007

I have been tossing between continuous and strobes...

Wouldnt replacing the bulb with a cool CFL with the same wattage work in keeping the place cool? I am looking at a lamp that takes standard light bulb bases and I can get the right wattage and K and not worry about heat. If I am missing something here in my theory... please let me know... there might be something special in the bulbs that I do not know about .

(But I really do want an Alien Bee

)

kugy5 · May 1, 2007

What do you think about these
http://alzodigital.com/online_store/alzo_600_ex_cool_lite_kits.htm

Big Mike · May 1, 2007

Yes, fluorescent lights don't get as hot as incandescent or halogen lights...but they do build up a bit of heat in the base.

As I see it, the biggest difference is the light output. You would need something like 100,000 watts of continuous lighting to equal the power of a standard studio strobe (or something like that). Depending on what you are doing, that may or may not be a big issue for you.

When shooting people, you want to freeze movement...both camera movement (if you don't use a tripod) and subject movement. To do this, you need either a fast shutter speed (requires lots of light/power) or a strobe. So while continuous lights may be cheaper, you may have trouble getting shutter speeds fast enough to get sharp images. This is why strobes are so much better, if shooting people is what you want to do.

his4ever · May 1, 2007

yea... I do want to shoot people. In May I will be taking pictures of the mothers and daughters for the "Mother Daughter Lunch". Thought it would be a fun thing to do and a small momento for the meal.

his4ever · May 1, 2007

kugy5 said:
What do you think about these
http://alzodigital.com/online_store/alzo_600_ex_cool_lite_kits.htm

looks very neat... but I think I need at least two lights to do what I am doing in May... 800 is pricy. Hopeing for under 300??? (Tell me if I am dreaming r being wishful)

Johnboy2978 · May 1, 2007

Take a look at these two links. I still have just the beginner and if you arrange it right, you can get some pretty nice results with just one light. You could also use it in combination w/ reflectors. I am currently using the one as a key light and then using my sigma ef500 super on a lightstand w/ umbrella for background which works pretty well. My next photography purchase will be for a second light though.
http://www.alienbees.com/beginner.html
http://www.alienbees.com/digi.html

It's better to cry once and be happy w/ what you bought than to cry everytime you use something you later wish you hadn't wasted your money on.

Might at least check this link for more info on lighting: http://www.alienbees.com/beginnerbee.html

again just my .02

morydd · May 1, 2007

You might check out Strobist for lighting ideas to get you started. There are some kits that their affiliate sells that seem to be a pretty good low-cost starting point without sacrificing quality. I'm actually looking at putting someting like that together myself. I've already got a flash and a few of the small things in the kit, so I think I can do it for about $120 for the first light.

Garbz · May 1, 2007

You are missing one big problem with continuous lighting. Yes they are hotter, but there's another reason that photographers don't prefer them. They are bright, and they are continuous. Ok that's a given, but pupils of living things are not fast enough to react to a strobe. They are for continuous lights. Once the scene is bright enough for a decent photo you may end up with very unflattering eyes or in a worse case even squinting.

his4ever · May 2, 2007

morydd said:
You might check out Strobist for lighting ideas to get you started. There are some kits that their affiliate sells that seem to be a pretty good low-cost starting point without sacrificing quality. I'm actually looking at putting someting like that together myself. I've already got a flash and a few of the small things in the kit, so I think I can do it for about $120 for the first light.

Thanks morydd for the inspiration

.

OK scratch everyhting I was thinking about earlyer... I have an external flash... so it should be fine for me to hook it up to an umbrella and on a stand right? I am not going pro... just want to have a little fun and bless some of the ladies at church.

If I go this route... how do I get it to talk to my camera? My flash is a hotshoe mount and my camera is a Canon 300d. Whatcha think?