first studio lights question

Bill.Bolte

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upfront, i'm a total newb. i've been thinking about buying some lights to learn, yada, yada, yada. and i don't have a lot of money to shell out. i've looked at alien bees since they seem to be so popular.

but here's my question. take a set up like this being sold on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/1250w-STUDIO-PHOTOGRAPHY-LIGHT-KIT-Smith-Victor-KT900_W0QQitemZ7576392485QQcategoryZ3860QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

in my price range, i'm probably only able to do the beginner kit at alien (http://www.alienbees.com/beginner.html) and a couple of reflectors (probably home made with foam core, etc).

so is that Ebay set up good, bad, worthless? :confused:
 
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ok, upon further research, i realize the alien bee light is a flash and not necessarily a continuous setup. i'm thinking that i want to start out with continuous. any thoughts anyone?
 
They refer to them as hot and cold lights. Strobes/flashes are "cold", and the continuous are "hot". And boy are they hot. They are cheaper and what I started with, but they can be uncomfortable at times. I much prefer strobes, though I don't own a set of my own. The strobes have a modeling light that stays on so you can get a good idea of how the light will fall on the model when the strobe fires.

On a budget, hot lights are a good way to get more lights for the money. Anyone near you offer a lighting course? This would give you a chance to see what each is like to use.
 
I was on the quest for a 'continuous light source' as well.
The latest issue of American Photo had this interesting article about Martin Schoeller. His works in the new book, 'Close Up' were lighted with two banks of Kino Flo lights. They use low-wattage flourescent tubes and are most commonly used in movie making - Sample work

Here is a quote from him on the lights,
I use a couple of banks of KF lights, which are used in the film industry. I haven't seen a lot of other photographers using this kind. They are very soft flourescent lamps, and color-balanced to be like daylight, so they are not harsh or as green as your regular flourescent lights....
 

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