Advice on equipment

[beds]

Hello all,

im looking to start portrait photography at some point in my life! i dont have £1000's to spend in 1 hit, but im prepared to look for bargains and get bit by bit so when i am good enough i do have the equipment to give it a go.

in my local 2nd hand ads there is a fella selling a Courtenay 1000W studio flash with a stand and a mains sync lead, he is not after a lot for it.

he says he has been doing portrait photography for 30 years and has only ever used 1 flash and a reflector, i do not know how good he is.

would this be a good investment for now? or is it a steer clear?

cheers

 

[DavidSutphin]

I would suggest investing in this book:
[h=1]Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Studio Photography[/h]by Kirk Tuck
He has done several and they are all good.

To rush out and by any lighting gear without having a good idea of what you want to do, how you light it and what equipment you actually need, is a waste of money.

I also suggest to anyone that they start with 1 light and master it before moving up to 2.

Best,
David

 

[BlairWright]

I would suggest investing in this book:
[h=1]Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Studio Photography[/h]by Kirk Tuck
He has done several and they are all good.

To rush out and by any lighting gear without having a good idea of what you want to do, how you light it and what equipment you actually need, is a waste of money.

I also suggest to anyone that they start with 1 light and master it before moving up to 2.

Best,
David

Very sound advice..

 

[KmH]

Here is a direct link to the Kirk Tuck mentioned above:
Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Studio Photography
and I too recommend Kirk's other books, as well as lighting/editing books by Scott Kelby. Neil van Niekerk, and others.

For other minimalist OCF (off-camera-flash) techniques you can also visit www.strobist.com and start reading through the Lighting 101 archived articles.
www.planetneil.com has both OCF and on-camera flash technique information.