continuous lighting

[Alyssa15267]

What do you all think about CFL continuous lighting soft box for newborn photography? I don't really know a lot about lighting but think that I got to start somewhere....where did you start when tackling studio lighting? Is there any good books out there that can help me understand it better?

 

[tirediron]

Waste of money. They don't put out nearly as much light as you might think. A couple of inexpensive Yongnuo speedlights and shoot-through umbrellas would be a much better option. As for books... get the bible! This is also a great 'site.

 

[Vtec44]

Continuous lights typically don't have enough output power for photography. I've seen some very powerful LED's out there that may work, but you should learn how to use flash. I worked as an intern for a studio many years ago when I was in college and needed money. I learned all the basics from watching the main photographer. @tirediron posted some great resources already. To me, there's nothing better than to actually try it.

 

[DavidVote]

If you are going to do indoor portraits... You should definitely invest in some quality lights. Not having good lighting equipment (an example from me below) WILL bite you in the @$$ during post big time.

I'm not going to give you further advice because I have no lighting equipments except for the built in pop up flash but you should definitely take advice from these guys.

Continuous lights typically don't have enough output power for photography. I've seen some very powerful LED's out there that may work, but you should learn how to use flash. I worked as an intern for a studio many years ago when I was in college and needed money. I learned all the basics from watching the main photographer. @tirediron posted some great resources already. To me, there's nothing better than to actually try it.

If you are shooting at f1.8 + at least 400 or 800 ISO, continuous lighting works well enough.

 

[AKUK]

Really it's going to depend a lot upon the amount of bulbs you have in the unit. Some CFL softbox units only have a couple of bulbs. Some have considerably more. Among all the studio gear I own is a Lencarta Quadlite, which as the name suggests, has 4 bulbs inside. That does put out a very reasonable amount of light. Of course the distance the light is to your subject will affect exposure greatly, so getting it as close as you can without it being in the frame would be advisable. You also have the option to raise your ISO, with most modern DSLR capable of getting clean images at ISO 800 to 1600. Older DSLR like the D90 and below, I wouldn't venture above ISO 800.

With all that said, if it's for newborn photography, generally the kids are asleep or at least not exactly jumping about the place, so you aren't going to require a particularly fast shutter speed. If you're hand holding the camera aim to get a shutter speed equivalent to your focal length + any crop factor. If you're tripod mounted then even very slow shutters can be achieved with the use of a release cord or wireless remote. Alternatively using a timer. Which ever you use, enable the mirror lock up or exposure delay to avoid mirror slap blur. If you're shooting with a 35mm or 50mm lens, then achieving a blur free shutter speed shouldn't be a problem even at native ISO (usually 100-200).

I use the YN560 II strobes myself in studio and they are great value for money. However, for newborns I wouldn't use flash. Mainly because of disturbing the child if it sleeps. Continuous light is something they will much more readily accept, than a strobe going off. One major bonus of a CFL light or a monolight (PCB Einstein, Alien Bee, Elinchrom, Bowens, etc), is the ability to see in real time, exactly what light and shadows are doing. If you are using strobes like the YN560, you will have to chimp your exposure in the absence of a light meter, as they aren't TTL. Yongnuo do make TTL strobes for a few bucks more. The downside to speedlite type flashes is that you won't see what the light is doing, until you have taken a picture. This will mean the flash firing a few times to fine tune your light, which can be a disturbance to a new baby. If you do go with strobes, be sure to turn off the recycle beep.

 

[Alyssa15267]

Tbh off camera flash scares me

 

[AKUK]

It can be pretty daunting but once you understand the basic principles it gets quite easy, quite quickly. If you're wanting some help getting started with flash, there are a number of articles and guides on my site that may help you, as well as equipment reviews. I also compiled all the articles and guides into a free ebook too, so grab that if you like.

 

[DavidVote]

It can be pretty daunting but once you understand the basic principles it gets quite easy, quite quickly. If you're wanting some help getting started with flash, there are a number of articles and guides on my site that may help you, as well as equipment reviews. I also compiled all the articles and guides into a free ebook too, so grab that if you like.

Your lighting work is a-maz-ing.

 

[AKUK]

Thanks David. A lot of the studio stuff is lit with a PCB Einstein as the key, using the YN-560 IIs as rim and fills. I've swapped the latter out for some cheap but good performance monolights recently, so fine tuning the light is a bit quicker but, if you're on a budget cheap strobes can be highly effective, so long as you modify the light. For that I use speedlite to bowens adapters, so I can use all my generic bowens S mount modifiers on YN560 II flashes.

 

[DavidVote]

Thanks David. A lot of the studio stuff is lit with a PCB Einstein as the key, using the YN-560 IIs as rim and fills. I've swapped the latter out for some cheap but good performance monolights recently, so fine tuning the light is a bit quicker but, if you're on a budget cheap strobes can be highly effective, so long as you modify the light. For that I use speedlite to bowens adapters, so I can use all my generic bowens S mount modifiers on YN560 II flashes.

Sorry, I have no idea what you are talking about. I'll have to probably google those terms and products tomorrow or something lol.

 

[Alyssa15267]

Where would I find your articles and eBook?

 

[AKUK]

Haha. Don't worry, you'll get there. Photography is a learning curve and something you don't really stop learning either. Plus there is always new equipment being released. Stop reading news sites or magazines for 6 months and you feel out of touch

 

[unpopular]

Have you looked into LED instead? I can understand not wanting to use flashes around babies, but I agree, unless you're willing to invest in massive 100W CFLs you might as well have invested in LED. CFLs at that size aren't very compact.

One thing about LED is that they're cool to touch, robust, and inherently diffused.

As for your fear of off-camera flashes, don't worry about it. They're not that scary ... once you get over the several thousand volts sitting around in them just waiting for exposure seriously though, they're not that bad and with a light meter there isn't a lot of guesswork either.

 

[Alyssa15267]

I haven't really thought too much about LED, are they better than cfls?

 

[Vtec44]

If you are shooting at f1.8 + at least 400 or 800 ISO, continuous lighting works well enough.

I would assume that will depend on the power output of the continuous light. Standard traditional studio work for me is around f8, 1/125, ISO around 100-400. It doesn't mean I'm always going to stick to that, but it's my base setup.