Considering upgrading my studio lighting. Advise?

[Rebekah5280]

I love my camera, I love my studio (of course more room would be better, but I can work with what I got), and my lighting has suited me well so far (3 speedlights with shoot-through umbrellas).

I've heard of AlienBees and was told that I would only need one for my studio. I think I would need three, in order to overexpose my white background to get the pure white that I'm going for. A photographer friend said that one AlienBee 400 with a softbox would over expose my background while still lighting my subject perfectly. I'm thinking this isn't possible due to fall-off, but I thought I would ask. I can't seem to wrap my head around this claim of a one light that does everything set up. lol

I definately want to get softboxes and put my umbrellas to rest. I have outgrown them. lol I would like suggestions on size though. I do portraits. Generally I do 1-2 subjects (Children), but occasionally I will do families up to approx 15 people. Also, would you suggest Softboxes for hair lighting/background lighting?

Thanks for your consideration and any suggestions/links you can provide to me!!

~Rebekah

 

[Designer]

Watching this thread bump.

 

[12sndsgood]

I'm not an expert by any means. i'm still learning proper lighting. I picked up one ab400 with a 30x60 softbox and absolutly love it, but i couldn't imagine being able to use it and blow out the background at the same time. i use to cheap vivitar 285's for the background. allot cheaper and do the job. I would like to pick up another one, but for right now its a good start and definate improvement over my SB-900

 

[JClishe]

A photographer friend said that one AlienBee 400 with a softbox would over expose my background while still lighting my subject perfectly.

He lied, your background will appear gray.

I definately want to get softboxes and put my umbrellas to rest. I have outgrown them.

How so? What can't you accomplish with umbrella's that makes you feel like you need softboxes?

 

[Buckster]

It can actually be done with one light, but it's not terribly elegant. Dean Collins used to do complicated lighting like that with one or two lights, and I've done some just to experiment with the concepts and learn from them based on what he taught in that regard. It just takes a bit of thought outside the box.

Here's an example of one way you could blow out the background and still diffuse your subject with a single light (with a reflector thrown in for kicks to help with the subject's shadow side):

 

[tirediron]

As Buckster shows below, you can make one light work for both background and subject, but it's really not practical. This is more of something in the "You can do it that way..." If you're doing studio work, I really feel that you need a minimum of three lights. Alien Bees are a good, consumer-grade light, and modestly priced with some useful accessories, but it really depends on your budget. IMO, if you're doing professional work, you should be using professional equipment, and I would buget somewhere around $500-750/head for lighting.

I don't understand how you can "outgrow" umbrellas. I have shoot through umbrellas, reflecting umbrellas, SBs, and my favorite toy of all, my 60" brolly-box. They all have their place, and the result which they deliver best. I would suggest that a statement like that means that you should probably NOT spend any more money on lighting just yet, but rather spend some time learning more about it.

I would NOT suggest SBs for hair or background lighting. For hair lights, I generally like either a snoot or gridded reflector, and for background, just a plain reflector. The whole purpose of an SB is to provide a large, diffuse source of light; just what you DON'T want for those two situations (usually).

 

[kundalini]

Personal opinion here: Although white backgrounds do have their place and purpose, by and large, I find them cool.... as in void of an emotional attachment, not that they look good for general portraiture. My preference is one the darker side and/or gelled for color so that the subjects can be highlighted as the predominant element. White backgrounds give me a sense of starkness and are clinical, sterile if you will.

I often combine my PCB mono's (I have the White Lightning line) with my Nikon speedlights. For my speedlights, I have 15" and 24" soft boxes, snoots, grids, and YES.... umbrellas. For the mono's, I only have a medium soft box, a couple of strip boxes, octabox and grids and I can also mount...... wait..... yep, you got it..... an umbrella! I would suggest to look into getting some more modifiers for your speedlights in addition to a monolight. You might be suprised how much you can control light with them. And after all, that's what you want, isn't it? If you were to get a single monolight, I would further suggest to get an octabox or John's favorite 60" brolly-box. In a multi-light setup, I'll often use the large diffused light from the octabox or even an UMBRELLA for Fill light.

I agree whole-heartedly with John that you will want a snoot or grid for Accent and Hair lights. One clarification though. When John (tirediron) said " and for background, just a plain reflector. ", I'm pretty sure he is referring to THESE, not the reflector in Buckster's diagram above.

 

[tirediron]

...he is referring to THESE, not the reflector in Buckster's diagram above.

He was indeed! :thumbup: Thanks, didn't mean to confuse.

 

[Village Idiot]

Read this:
I've moved the blog –> zackarias.com/blog » White Seamless Tutorial :: Part 1 :: Gear & Space

 

[Mike_E]

IF you have a small space be aware that you can get too much light in there and you'll have to compensate with much smaller aperture or -more likely- neutral density filters for your strobes.

Now, having said that, if you've got the money I'd get 5. You sound like you want to do this right and if so, 5 is a good place to start.

For large groups you'll need to break out your umbrellas again. A 4 or 5 foot SB is fine but at 200 w/s I'd stick with the 4 footer (it may not make a difference but I'd be a little concerned with powering it for a main -fast moving kids-, I use a 600 w/s), I like grids but a snoot would work fine for a hair light, barndoor with gels for the background, a brolly withstrobe side diffuser or another SB for the fill light and more grids for your kickers. You will also want two booms, one for the hair light and one for the main. You seem to want to stay with your background so you're good there.

That ought to get you started anyway

 

[chuasam]

If you're serious about it, go for Elinchrom DLite4 or Dynalite pack. AlienBees has great customer service but really poor build quality and hard to upgrade while sticking to the same mounts. I myself chose to go for broke and got myself a demo unit Profoto Compact system. Amazing stuff...but so bulky and expensive but amazing options when it comes to light modifiers.