Lighting, or would you buy other necessity first?

[clarie]

Hi, I'm doing some shopping this weekend, I have Nikon d3100, af-s 18-55mm lens and the 55-200mm, A awesome backdrop (that I dyed myself and turned out great ). But I need to invest in lighting, my studio room has great natural lighting but need something else, right?. Not alot of money so I need to know what you think is best at low cost. Has anyone used the lighting you see on ebay and is it any good? is the unbrella type what I need to start with?

What order would you buy things in
Lights or reflectors?
remote
Flash
tri-pod (mine disapered)

Thanks Clara

 

[Overread]

You'll find it helps a lot to put a number to "not a lot of money". There are some worthwhile budget setups, but it really depends how much you've got to work with as to what is the best path forward. Even a rough idea of a budget or estimated budget really helps focus the discussion around elements that will be relevant to what you can feasibly afford and put together.

 

[clarie]

I'm looking at around 1000 in the next month or so that I will have to spend, then probably 300 a month after that. that why I'm asking which should I think about first.. I'm interested in just about anything, portaits, wildlife, old buildings or barns. Yes I would like to down the road make money on the side (not full time) doing babies, kids, seniors. But I know I need to get equipment to be able to do this, just not sure which I should purchase first just can't get it all at once

 

[Overread]

You might find this thread of help: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...-studio-looking-recommendations-what-get.html

There is some budget lighting setups and ideas to consider presented in the thread, Derrels first answer even outline as full lighting setup which would fit your budget.


The thing is this, what should drive your new purchases should be what you need to get to your end goals; at present you've quite a few and each area can easily soak up a lot of money to get good gear to shoot it (wildlife is probably the most expensive you've listed for startup costs - unless you are very good at getting exceptionally close. Sadly good long lenses cost a lot - then again the thread I just linked you to shows that even portrait work can easily soak up £1000 just for a basic lighting setup).

The choice of which direction to go down first really has to be your own, we can't decide what area to expand into first; you'll have to make that choice on your own.

 

[MOREGONE]

I'm not a seasoned vet, but I would suggest looking into getting a speedlight. They are very versatile and mobile. You could get some studio lights, but the mobility of a speedlight is awesome.

 

[KmH]

Speedlights also don't have a lot of power, so sometimes you need to use 2 or more at the same light location.
That's why I had 14 hot shoe flash units at one point.

Note to that camera maker hot shoe flash units are pretty expensive when compared to the cost of decent studio lighting and their portable power accessories.