Small studio lights for ebay photos

Skychurch · Oct 22, 2006

My wife and I are going to be moving in the next couple of months and we decided to sell quite a few items on ebay. I need to set up a small, economical studio to take photos of the items we are going to sell. I can't figure out what type of lighting we will need.

I found two options which seem decent but don't know which one (if either) will server our needs.

The first one consists of 2- Fluorescent Flip-Lights with a Matte White Background. These lights are only 13 watts but have a temp of 5000K which, from my understanding, it close to daylight.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

The other option I saw is to buy a couple of Floodlight Reflectors. The problem I see with this is that the bulbs you get with these are 3200K which I believe is a little on the yellow side. On the other hand, they come in either 250 or 500 watts.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=271348&is=REG

Any suggestions as to what will work best for us will be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Jim

mysteryscribe · Oct 22, 2006

either one should work if you adjust your colors afterward

jeeper · Oct 22, 2006

You might consider making one of these:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html
It will not make a dent in your wallet, and you can get very good results with it.

If your camera can shoot RAW that's what I would do. You won't have to worry about the lighting so much since white balance is easily changed on a RAW image.

I have used one of the softboxes (edit: oops, meant light box - must have had other things on my mind) above with a regular table lamp with good results. Here is an example of what you can do with such a cheap setup:

Skychurch · Oct 22, 2006

I thought that if I used the Fluorescent Flip-Lights rated at 5000K I shouldn't have to adjust the light since 5000K was supposed to be close to "natural" light.

mysteryscribe · Oct 22, 2006

All the florescnet lights I ever shot under had a green tint, but that might not be true if they are blanced for photo use.

jlbrew3 · Oct 22, 2006

Lights are nice, and either of the ones you've selected would work fine. But I also think that shooting in RAW would make a good alternative as well if your camera can do it. There are just a lot of things you can do with RAW images to make them look just the way you want them to.

Skychurch · Oct 22, 2006

Thanks for the info. I will try sooting in RAW the next time. I've never used RAW before and it's probably time for me to graduate to the next step

I'm also going to make one of the soft boxes on strobist.com (what a great idea!).

As far as lighting goes, is it better to get 250 watt lights or 500 watt lights? I was thinking that it might be better to go with the 500 watt and back them off if the intensity is too much. I've never used lights before so don't know if "bigger" is better when it comes to this kind of lighting.

Maybe it's better to get two 250 watt lights ... or two 500 watt lights??? Is 10" or 12" reflectors best?

Thanks for the help, Jim