Lighting Equipment - For a beginner

[dilla]

Hello I am new here, and I need to take some pics for my wife she has a small clothing company, need to take pics for her childrens clothes so I am wondering about lighting equipment.

I was looking at tungsten continuous they seem like the easiest and the cheapest to purchase and work with from my limited knowledge. I will be taking the pictures indoor in my garage, but was also wondering about fluorescent lights as well and was wondering if anyone has any good advice.

Also this may be a dumb question but could it be cheaper to just buy non photography lights and put a high wattage fluorescent bulb then just get a photography umbrella?

I am just looking for the cheapest easiest option for a beginner to take descent photos of clothing.

Oh by the why I have canon slr and photoshop lol

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

dilla, if your wife cares at all for her product, I bet she'd want to hire a professional product photographer who knows what they're doing so she can get the quality images she needs to be able to send to other people for advertisement.


If it's for ebay, then I guess a coathanger would work.

youtube some videos on shooting product photography.

 

[Gregoryniss]

MPEX Strobist Kits

looks like the best kit for the money. Also comes with gels to neutralize fluorescent blubs

 

[JE Kay]

Not to be negative, but ya if this is your wife's business she should hire a commercial photographer.

If you don't know what lighting to use, then that's a pretty good indicator you should not be doing it, not if it's for her business.

 

[dilla]

Yeah we considered a commercial photographer however it would be too expensive because my wife does limited run clothing, meaning she will make an outfit and it will only be available 2-3 months tops then she will no longer make that product, its a small company and it relies on available fabric from the manufacturer when the fabric company stops making that particular fabric she cannot order it anymore, so she makes new outfits weekly and it would require us to basically have a fulltime commercial photographer.

Maybe I made myself sound like too much of a newbie, I have done some hobbyist photographing for sometime, but have gotten out of it for a while, I know the basics of working an SLR and how to get a fairly descent shot I just don't know a lot about studio lighting. We do plan on buying some lighting and I was just trying to get some tips from you guys.

 

[Village Idiot]

What's your budget?

 

[elemental]

When you say "product shots," do you mean shots of pieces of clothing on white (something you'd probably want a lightbox setup for) or shots of the items on models (which would probably be best achieved with a few strobes)?

 

[JerryPH]

Depending on the area, you can get quality photographers for a VERY good price, but please do not expect them to do it for free. Now, if you want to start to spend a couple thousand dollars for a good camera, lens and lighting and several months of time to learn photography to the point where you are doing a good job (but I promise you still nowhere near what a pro could do for you), you have that option, however... it all comes down to your budget and how much you care about how good you want to make your clothes look. Pay cheap, get cheap. it is the same here as anything else in the world... no free lunches.

I really would suggest that you find a local pro to do it for you... there are people around with very reasonable prices.

 

[dilla]

Well most likey clothes will be placed on a white background, and maybe a couple model shots. I guess my budget would be hopefully $700 or less for some basic continous lights and umbrellas, I was thinking.

 

[photogincollege]

Might want to look at something like this Smith Victor A120 12" Studio Light - SV3816 - 401019
or
this Smith Victor A50 5" Studio Light - SV3810 - 401016
if you want it smaller.

A couple of those and you'll still have a lot left over for a light box, umbrella, soft box, whatever you want.