Strobe Set For Beginner

[cupcake09]

I do product and food photos for a hobby.

I get great results using natural light. However, in the winter I try to make do with diffused daylight bulbs. These aren't giving the best photos as I feel like are causing me to have shoot wide open just to get enough light in.

Fellow bloggers seem to get great results with strobes.Would this work for food as well as products? (i.e. not too harsh, nice highlights).

I'm a full time college student with a part time job so I'm not looking to spend a ton. Most I've seen are like 300/piece and I'd like 2-3.

Should I just try to make do with what I've got or are there more affordable options?

Thanks in advance
Krystle

 

[Mach0]

You can use the lights you have. Use a tripod and longer exposure

 

[Derrel]

Best bang-for-buck is this model at $99.95 each. Flashpoint 320M 150 Watt AC/DC Monolight Strobe FPML320M

Strobes give a lot of light for not much money. These have user-replaceable modeling lamps and user-replaceable flashtubes, and 150 Watt-seconds is plenty, especially when there are 2 or 3 flashes being used. The thing is, these are $99 EACH; that leaves another one hundred, to two hundred more dollars for things like light stands; diffusion panels; softboxes, and so on. Diffusion panels, sometimes called "scrims", or just "panels" are a way to create a large, soft light source, or a large source that can cause a reflection or a diffuse highlight to appear on the surface of glassware, bottles, and even soups and liquids used in food shots. Panels can be hung up by string, cord, wire, fishing line, or whatever, using boom arms, or crossbars, or propped, clamped, and so on. PANELS are better than softbozes in that they can be modified a huge amount...the degree of softness or hardness of the light shot thru a panel can be adjusted based on how far or how close the light source is placed from the panel. TWO panels can be used if needed, to make a really LARGE source of light, or two panels can be placed one on front of the other for doubly-diffused light, and so on. Panels or scrims can be factory-made or homemade, either in part, or in whole; you can make frames and buy fabrics, or buy frames and make fabrics, or whatever...make the whole thing or buy the whole thing.

By going with four or even five low-cost lights you get plenty of flash units, have a spare, and so on. I would rather have five, 150 Watt-second monolights than two, 800 Watt-second units, or whatever. FOUR of these would set you back only $400, and that's a $200 savings over two, $300 flash units, and you'd have TWICE as many flashes, AND money for stands for each unit, and so on.