Buying my first studio lights?

rwilliams

TPF Noob!
Joined
Mar 6, 2014
Messages
104
Reaction score
16
Can others edit my Photos
Photos NOT OK to edit
I've been taking portraits for awhile now and have just always taken them outdoors. I'm wanting to set up our extra room as a small studio and am ready to purchase lights, but I'm a little clueless on which ones to buy. I plan on buying a couple different soft boxes, umbrellas, and reflectors.. but as for the actual lights, I don't know what to get. Continuous or strobe? Tungsten, Fluorescent, HMI, LED??
 
Electronic flash is overall, the most powerful and the most versatile lighting for the money spent. I own expensive Speedotron Black line and moderately priced Speedotron Brown Line stuff, but I do not recommend it for most people, simply because the majority of new electronic studio flash shooters want monlight flashes. I suggest Adorama's Flashpoint 320M as the flashes for beginners; each flash is $99.95, with accessories like stands sold extra. You get HIGHER flash output with a 320M than you do with an Alien Bee 400, and the same as the Alien Bee 800, for and save $149 and $179 PER LIGHT UNIT by buying a 320M instead of an Alien Bee 400 or 800.

The cost savings on TWO Flashpoint 320M units, as opposed to two Alien Bee 800 units means you can buy two light stands, and some modifiers, like softboxes, and have all you need to get started. THREE Flashpoint 320M units costs right at $300; two AB 800 units of the same flash power runs about $558.
 
Definitely get strobes, not continuous. Continuous is good in two situations:
1) Video, for obvious reasons
2) For completely still subjects like product or food photography. Because since you can use a tripod and long shutter speeds, you can use tiny little cheapo continuous light sources and get as much light as you want by just exposing long enough. But this is only really relevant if you already own no lighting and if you're ONLY going to do product and food photography. If you're going to do portraits (which you are), you want flash anyway, and flash works just as well for still subjects once you've invested in it. Also if you were a professional product photographer, you'd probably want flash anyway sooner or later just to speed up your workflow.


So basically, I'd only suggest continuous lighting to either videographers or to people who only want lighting to take photos of stuff to sell on ebay once a week or two.
 

Most reactions

New Topics

Back
Top