Studio Setup Practice on a Budget

MichaelHenson

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I'll start by saying that I know this flies in the face of convention and that I may get flamed for even suggesting it...

That being said, I've seen a post or two on TPF where others have worked out a studio lighting setup on a budget using a wide range of lighting equipment from OLD school strobes, etc. to hardware store lighting. This is kind of what I have in mind...I would like to practice my lighting techniques but not break the bank/budget with true "studio quality" gear quite yet.

I'm looking at purchasing a couple hardware "clamp lamps" as I've seen others use these with decent results. My question is, are there any bulbs in particular that I should avoid? I know that studio lighting is going to give me the best possible results but, at this point, I'm most interesting in learning the light while producing "decent" photos.

I'm looking at a couple incandescent lights in the 75 watt to 150 watt range. Would these give me an approximation (doesn't have to be close) to studio lighting? Will an incandescent bulb give me "clean" light?

Sorry for the newbiness of the question/concept. Thanks!
 
Try and find bulbs in the range of 5500k (temp).
 
What's your budget?
what will you be practicing on ... objects or people ?
 
Okay. So, in theory, I could purchase one of those clamp lights that have the reflector and pair it with a 5500k bulb and have a decent approximation of a studio light that I can practice with?
 
What's your budget?
what will you be practicing on ... objects or people ?

Well, budget really like the $10-20 combo I mentioned above (clamp light + bulb). Depending on what I could get for a bit more than that I might consider expanding it.

Practicing on objects first, then progressing to self-portraits, then eventually begging the wife to sit-in...
 
Okay. So, in theory, I could purchase one of those clamp lights that have the reflector and pair it with a 5500k bulb and have a decent approximation of a studio light that I can practice with?
The thing you want to be mindful of is the amount of light the bulb is putting out relative to the ambient light. For working with a 150w bulb you'll need to have a dark room, otherwise the ambient will pollute the shot. You can pick up some of the 500w work lights for cheap. I've even seen sets of LED work lights for sale that put out quite a bit of light and don't cost much (relatively speaking).

Check out LearnMyShot.com, they have several studio shooting tutorials that cover basic studio lighting set ups using continuous lighting and basic diffusion materials.
 
Okay. So, in theory, I could purchase one of those clamp lights that have the reflector and pair it with a 5500k bulb and have a decent approximation of a studio light that I can practice with?
The thing you want to be mindful of is the amount of light the bulb is putting out relative to the ambient light. For working with a 150w bulb you'll need to have a dark room, otherwise the ambient will pollute the shot. You can pick up some of the 500w work lights for cheap. I've even seen sets of LED work lights for sale that put out quite a bit of light and don't cost much (relatively speaking).

Check out LearnMyShot.com, they have several studio shooting tutorials that cover basic studio lighting set ups using continuous lighting and basic diffusion materials.
^^This^^

It's going to be very difficult to do anything with lighting like this. If you can push the budget just a little bit (maybe not even), head around to local pawnshops and pick up a couple of old speedlights. Doesn't matter what brand, or anything else, as long as you can manually control the output. That should cost you $20-30, then spend another ~$20 on a couple of cheapie optical triggers, and the whole mess can be triggered from your pop-up flash.
 
^^This^^

It's going to be very difficult to do anything with lighting like this. If you can push the budget just a little bit (maybe not even), head around to local pawnshops and pick up a couple of old speedlights. Doesn't matter what brand, or anything else, as long as you can manually control the output. That should cost you $20-30, then spend another ~$20 on a couple of cheapie optical triggers, and the whole mess can be triggered from your pop-up flash.

See?!?! That's why I love you guys! :)

I'll try that first! Maybe I can find a gem or two on eBay two...Thanks!
 
Practicing on objects first, then progressing to self-portraits, then eventually begging the wife to sit-in...

There's a problem with that idea. Using continuous lighting is fine for still life, but when you start substituting humans you're going to need a faster shutter. Going from 1/2 or even one second on a tripod to cutting the exposure time way down to 1/100 of a second or even less you won't have enough light with those clamp lights.

Whatever the point of your practice with continuous lighting may be, you'd be money ahead in the long run if you just get some flashes. Either speed lights or studio strobes and a few modifiers will set you up nicely.

BTW: if you are going to use incandescents, you will have to make an adjustment to your white balance to compensate for the color cast.
 
Gotcha. I think I'm going to go the speedlight route for now. That will give me some portability while saving me some $$ for now. Once I'm more confident and doing more "in-house" shooting I'll look into a continuous lighting and/or strobe option to be added to what I have. Planning on checking out some pawn shops on the way home!
 
Gotcha. I think I'm going to go the speedlight route for now. That will give me some portability while saving me some $$ for now. Once I'm more confident and doing more "in-house" shooting I'll look into a continuous lighting and/or strobe option to be added to what I have. Planning on checking out some pawn shops on the way home!

Yuongno has several speedlights starting at $43 listed on their website. That's the new price.

YONGNUO photography online store
 
Gotcha. I think I'm going to go the speedlight route for now. That will give me some portability while saving me some $$ for now. Once I'm more confident and doing more "in-house" shooting I'll look into a continuous lighting and/or strobe option to be added to what I have. Planning on checking out some pawn shops on the way home!

Yuongno has several speedlights starting at $43 listed on their website. That's the new price.

YONGNUO photography online store

That's kind of where I was leaning...but I was looking at the 560III that has the built in wireless receiver that will work with the Yongnuo triggers I already have. That way I'm purchasing something that will streamline things a bit and cut down on all the extra little plug-ins/accessories that I have to keep track of along the way.
 
Bear in mind that there is a downside to using speedlights: no modeling lamp. You can't see what your light is doing until you take the picture, which makes fine tuning the lighting. . . .er. . . somewhat difficult.
 
Bear in mind that there is a downside to using speedlights: no modeling lamp. You can't see what your light is doing until you take the picture, which makes fine tuning the lighting. . . .er. . . somewhat difficult.
Modelling lamps are highly over rated. In most cases they're not really bright enough to accurately 'fine tune' your lighting and if we're talking 1-2 light set ups how much 'fine tuning' are you likely to need to do anyway?
 
Bear in mind that there is a downside to using speedlights: no modeling lamp. You can't see what your light is doing until you take the picture, which makes fine tuning the lighting. . . .er. . . somewhat difficult.
Modelling lamps are highly over rated. In most cases they're not really bright enough to accurately 'fine tune' your lighting and if we're talking 1-2 light set ups how much 'fine tuning' are you likely to need to do anyway?
A lot depending on what you're shooting.

Turn the room lights off and use the modeling lights. How else are you going to know if you've got enough light coming back from a reflector? How else are you going to know if your shadow transition is where you want it? How else are you going to know if your highlights are right?
 

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