Studio Lighting Questions...

AprilRamone · Nov 9, 2005

Hey Everyone,
Winter is fast approaching and although I'd be willing to shoot in the freezing weather, I kind of doubt my clients will want to. I recently did a shoot with this little 2 year old girl in my makeshift studio I have set up in a spare bedroom of my house. I am curious about what you guys would have done with the lighting to make it better. I was using these clamp lights (one 300 watt on the left side and a 65 watt lamp on the right as a fill light) that my bf had leftover from his days as a film major. I don't have the funds to buy anything more for the studio at this point so I guess I'd like advice on how to make the lighting better with what I have now and also how I could make it better once I have more $ to buy some more studio equipment. I appreciate any feedback at all on this!
Thanks
April

Christie Photo · Nov 10, 2005

Well... I suggest you make your light sources larger. You can do this on the cheap. Bounce the lights you have into a large (36"x36") sheet of... "something white." Maybe foam core would work. It's light weight and easy to cut, and could be taped or clamped to some sort of stand.

I hope this helps.

-Pete

Tally Ho · Nov 10, 2005

Wow! If these were done with the kind of lights that I think they were done with, you have done an amazing job! How about adding a background light to lighten up the background? ( I would NOT use a 'hot light' (incandescant light).

The only problem with incandescant lighting is that it gets REALLY hot REALLY quick (as I'm sure you have discovered by now.) If you continue to use them NEVER allow your little subjects to get anywhere close to them. Can you image the damage that one of these lights would do to the sensitive skin of a little girl that accidentally pulled one over on her. Can you imagine the millions of bucks her mother's attorney would collect in a lawsuit from you? Got insurance?

I was an insurance adjustor for years. I was always amazed at how fast an 'ambulance chaser' could get a mother to sue, especially after convincing the mother that she was not sueing the person, she was sueing that disgustingly rich insurance company with the 'deep pockets.'

Tally Ho, Da Ho, Don Ho, Heidi Ho, Heave Ho, Shovel 'N Ho, Gung Ho

AprilRamone · Nov 10, 2005

That has definitely been a concern of mine. I am looking to get some better lighting stands so that the lights can clip on in a much safer fashion. Are there lights you can buy that don't heat up so much? With the ones I have now, I have to use gloves to adjust them. I remember that when we did studio lighting at my school (we only did it for half of one semester, so not a lot stuck with me) the lights all got pretty hot too.

-April

PS Thank you for the suggestion Pete! I hope that helps with getting rid of the light line on her face.

Tally Ho · Nov 11, 2005

April,

There is a 'new' (continuous and cool) light source on the market, 'Spiderlights', but the reports I have read in some of the photography magazines has been so so at best. I guess they lack sufficient power for higher good apertures needed for group photography. That is why electronic flash is still the top seller to photographers.

TH

BadRotation · Nov 11, 2005

While not color, these two photos were done with about $20 in lighting equipment.

For my black and white shots, I just use dual 500w halogen shop lights.

Both of these photos were taken with a single 500w shop light. Unfortunately, I am still trying to figure out how to reliably use them for color shots. Even with a custom white balance, they tend to throw the colors off quite a bit.

I couldnt live without them for B/W though, and they come in handy when I dont feel like dragging the alienbees around.

They will heat up an indoor room quite nicely, to an uncomfortable level, but I use them outdoors an in an unheated garage, which has a nice effect of keeping the garage a perfect, comfortable temp uring the winter months.