Studio lighting camera setup

[Leonard]

Hi,
I'm setting up my own personal portrait/fashion photography studio and I need some advices of Camera standard settings according to the following lighting scenario:

Initial setup:
2 50cm/50cm softbox
2 150w/s strobe light with tripod
Camera: D90 with 18-105 lens (kit lens)
Room size: 11f/11f
Key light: (Strobe+softbox) 6 1/2 ft away from my model
Fill light: (Strobe+softbox) from top of model's right
Camera: 7ft away from model
Wall paint: Offwhite
Result: to bright to take lower f stop snap.


Tried to post Setup diagram image in this thread bu as this is first post, forum is not allowing me to post any link/image. Sorry.

Now my problem is when I shoot photograph of any portrait with 160 shutter and 200 ISO the F stop need to setup more than 14. Both strobes are turned on beauty light with 100w bulb and they flashes 150w from as described i diagram.
Pls note that i dont have any F stop control in my Strobes as their power are fixed.
My question is how am I supposed to snap in low F stop (3.5) with my exisisting strobes to get shallower effect ?
Are my strobes too close to the model or I have to use light controlled strobes instead? Or should I need a bigger room to place strobes far from my model?
I will gradually upgrade my studio with other accessories like Flash meter, Reflectors, Spots, Barndoors etc.
But now I'm trying to understand the lighting ratio with F stops and the standard manual setup for my camera.
Please help.

Regards
Leo

 

[gsgary]

Drape thin white material over your softboxes to reduce its power, you can feather the light so less light is falling on the subject, moving your lights further away will make your light harder, try setting ISO expansion in menu so you can go lower than ISO200

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

That is the trouble with non-adjustable strobes.

If you can, move the lights farther back...but that will make the light harder.
As mentioned, you can 'filter' the lights by using more material in front of them.
Another options would be to use a neutral density filter on the lens.

 

[gsgary]

Welcome to the forum.

That is the trouble with non-adjustable strobes.

If you can, move the lights farther back...but that will make the light harder.
As mentioned, you can 'filter' the lights by using more material in front of them.
Another options would be to use a neutral density filter on the lens.

Filter is one i forgot about :blushing:

 

[SrBiscuit]

good suggestions!

(non adjustable strobes...eeek)

 

[Leonard]

Drape thin white material over your softboxes to reduce its power, you can feather the light so less light is falling on the subject, moving your lights further away will make your light harder, try setting ISO expansion in menu so you can go lower than ISO200

Thanks for the idea. :thumbup:
I don't think I'll be able to find a adjustable strobe in our market. Unless I bought it from other country.

 

[Leonard]

good suggestions!

(non adjustable strobes...eeek)

Please let me know is to too bad idea to using non adjustable strobe? Should I must use adjustable instead to get professional output?

 

[Leonard]

Welcome to the forum.

That is the trouble with non-adjustable strobes.

If you can, move the lights farther back...but that will make the light harder.
As mentioned, you can 'filter' the lights by using more material in front of them.
Another options would be to use a neutral density filter on the lens.

Thanks for the advice.
Do I need a bigger room for my pro photography and should my surrounding walls need to cover with black so that the light wouldn't bounce back on to my object when I'm doing creative light photography?

 

[SrBiscuit]

good suggestions!

(non adjustable strobes...eeek)

Please let me know is to too bad idea to using non adjustable strobe? Should I must use adjustable instead to get professional output?

absolutely not...if you cant get adjustable lights at the moment, go with what you've got.
you could get professional output with a cell phone and a flashlight if need be.
i only said eek because my strobes are adjustable, and it makes it much easier for me to get my exposures the way i want them. a little less power out of one, maybe a little more out of the other...

as suggested, you will be able to adjust your light...or atleast how much of it hits the subject with distance, position, and filtering.

good luck and post up results. im curious to see how it turns out! :thumbup:

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

That is the trouble with non-adjustable strobes.

If you can, move the lights farther back...but that will make the light harder.
As mentioned, you can 'filter' the lights by using more material in front of them.
Another options would be to use a neutral density filter on the lens.

Thanks for the advice.
Do I need a bigger room for my pro photography and should my surrounding walls need to cover with black so that the light wouldn't bounce back on to my object when I'm doing creative light photography?

A bigger room is nice, especially when you can't adjust the power of your strobes. Light falls off over distance, so moving the light closer or farther from your subject, is almost the same as adjusting the power output.

It can be troublesome when the light is bouncing around the room, off the walls & ceiling and back to your subject. It's especially bad when you want low-key images. Painting the room black might help, but a better solution is to find a way to control & constrain the light. For example, using softboxes rather than umbrellas, can help to control the light. You can also use grids on your softbox or something like barn-doors, to keep the light only where it's needed.