Lighting for a beginner?

emilyyou

emilyyou

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Hi everyone,

I've recently been asked to take more and more photos of friends and families children, just to earn an extra bit of cash, although photography is definitely something I'd love to do full time.

I usually just set up a make-shift studio in their home using natural light and a roll of white card. I would like to start using some lighting because I know natural light is not always going to be in abundance. The attached image is one of my recent photos, very typical of my style. I'm not a fan of very high key photos with the pure white backgrounds so I thought maybe a softbox? I just have no idea where to start!

Edit: this was taken with no equipment other than a large window. Although the room was very bright. I currently have a Nikon d7000 and use my 50mm 1.4 most of the time. I have no idea about pricing! I don't want to spend more than around £300-£400 but I don't know if you can get anything in that range, good quality anyway..
 
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Hi

Welcome to TP, your photo is not showing. You can host it on Flickr and copy the bb code to the thread.

Also if you confirm what budget you had in mind and what kit you already have people will be able to give you a better answer.

Thanks
 
Strange, the photo shows fine for me - it's hosted on TP. It's nice. :)
The catchlights suggest that a relatively small (or distant) light source was present camera-left and above the subject's head-height, but the shadows are beautifully soft with a reasonable fall-off, suggesting a larger source (a window?) not too far away, again to camera-left. Then again, there are no deep shadows so I'm going to guess a fairly light and reflective environment - either the room itself or added reflective surfaces.

I agree that an idea of available budget and currently owned kit (if any) would definitely be helpful, however.

A softbox or large convertible umbrella might well be a good first choice - though a light source is going to be needed, along with a stand to keep it all up in the air! ;)

More info, please! :)
 
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Nionyn said:
Strange, the photo shows fine for me - it's hosted on TP. It's nice. :)
The catchlights suggest that a relatively small (or distant) light source was present camera-left and above the subject's head-height, but the shadows are beautifully soft with fairly rapid fall-off, suggesting a larger source (a window?) fairly close, again to camera-left. Then again, there are no deep shadows so I'm going to guess a fairly light and reflective environment - either the room itself or added reflective surfaces.

I agree that an idea of available budget and currently owned kit (if any) would definitely be helpful, however.

A softbox or large convertible umbrella might well be a good first choice - though a light source is going to be needed, along with a stand to keep it all up in the air! ;)
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Thanks, works fine on the web page but not on the app.
 
Emily,

you will get 101 answers but before I or anybody else jumps in I would suggest getting a look at equipment to see what you are letting yourself in for. There is the SWPP trade show next week in London or the biggy "The Photography Show" at the NEC in March. I am not suggesting to go to these to buy as there are those that will happily sell you anything, but just to get a hands on to see the size and weight.

Mike
 
mike weeks said:
Emily,

you will get 101 answers but before I or anybody else jumps in I would suggest getting a look at equipment to see what you are letting yourself in for. There is the SWPP trade show next week in London or the biggy "The Photography Show" at the NEC in March. I am not suggesting to go to these to buy as there are those that will happily sell you anything, but just to get a hands on to see the size and weight.

Mike
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Good advice - always research first, but personally I hate going to shows, most advice you get on forums will be people recommending what they use, nothing wrong with that but what is right for them might not be for you! However, based on your budget, there will be a very limited pool of starter kits available to you new. Are there any dealers near you (there is no location on your profile) that deal with flash equipment? Another option worth considering is also see if anyone is providing evening classes in studio photography - I've been using studio flash for over 30 years and still occasionally sign-up for a short course as my local Art Collage have great facilities, its a good networking opportunity and I like to play in a big studio rather than my tiny one...:(

Paul
 
Emily edited her original post to add the following. I'm adding a new post since it's likely that nobody will have noticed Emily's edit (I hadn't until I looked very closely!). :)

Top tip: Emily, a new post is better than editing your original one (especially after people have already replied to the thread), since it will bump your thread up the page and people will know that you have added more info. :)

emilyyou said:
Edit: this was taken with no equipment other than a large window. Although the room was very bright. I currently have a Nikon d7000 and use my 50mm 1.4 most of the time. I have no idea about pricing! I don't want to spend more than around £300-£400 but I don't know if you can get anything in that range, good quality anyway..
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Emily, I'm confident that you can get equipment to suit your needs within your budget of £300-£400. I doubt you need to spend that much to start with, actually. :)
If I were in your situation I think I'd start simply, with a single flash with a stand, convertible umbrella and/or softbox. Oh, and a radio trigger transmitter to go on my camera and a receiver to fire the flash. I would also buy some kind of white reflector to help fill in light to the shadows - a reflector is very cheap and can easily be moved to fill (or not) as necessary.

I'm not really up to speed on the specific kit that's available at the moment (I've been using the same good-quality Bowens lights for years), but I'd definitely look at Lencarta lights and modifiers. I'm sure that someone will be along soon with appropriate and up to date suggestions for specific equipment. :)
 
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@emilyyou have a look at Lencarta.

You can get a 2 head kit with good quality stands and radio control well within your budget.

If you are happy to spend on convenience, you can upgrade the softbox to a profold one, and add in one of their triangular reflectors.

But as above, learn to use one light first.

And just like when you got your first DSLR, be prepared for the quality of your work to go down at first. Lighting isn't rocket science, but there is a learning curve, and subtle interesting light is not a simple task.
 
And just to add, the bright background and clothing isn't selling that image you posted, on close inspection the light and expression are gorgeous, but they're competing with the bright highlights on the right arm and slightly awkward pose.
 
Very nice photo, I can see why you want to go further with photography.

Very broadly speaking, which part of the country are you in (north, south, Wales, whatever) as people can suggest stuff within travel distance of you.

Lencarta are good for lights
Bessel for modifiers.
The Royal Photographic Society does 1 and 2 day courses (usually at Bath, walking distance from train and bus stations)
The photo show coming up is at Birmingham NEC

There are also roaming tradeshows you can usually just drop into for free - they have started putting up some of this years events and venues
http://www.forwardevents.co.uk/roadshow-dates.html

there is another one, but I have to look that up and I have to log off now!
 
Right, the other roaming Tradeshow is this one

http://thesocieties.net/roadshows/

This one and the one I mentioned above usually have either free or cheap lighting demos and a few stands. Both are usually free to enter and there may be more locations going up as both usually do lots of events around the country during spring and summer.

The photo show at NEC you have to pay for, but many of the classes are free - the downside is lots of people, hard to ask questions and its hard to hear the demos sometimes, the other 2 usually have much smaller training groups and you can ask questions.

You dont need to join anything at any of these - indeed hold off joining or buying anything until you have looked around quite a bit and are able to be selective.

In the meantime, while you are getting more info, try black and white portraits or product shots as you can light these with any old torch/light/household equipment as clashing colour casts and temperatures will not matter when converted to black and white, but you can see the effect of lighting and shadow casting.

These threads are also worth a read

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/best-place-to-buy-second-hand-lighting-equipment.640181/

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/free-studio-training-videos-post-your-links.641696/
 
Thank you all for your helpful replies regarding my post, the lighting and the events I could attend! I live in the north west of England, on The Wirral.

I will look into everything you suggested. As I say, I still an amateur and I know my photos need a lot of work yet! Hopefully the lighting will help to improve :)
 
emilyyou said:
Hopefully the lighting will help to improve :)
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Emily, please take this the right way, adding lighting gear will not make your lighting better, understanding light will because all we try to create with lights is something that looks natural (normally).

@Phil V commented about your initial image. Looking at it her right arm has the brightest tones and that is the direction you could have turned her face to to get much better light, this was done with studio lights but could just as easily be done with daylight f you control things and is what I mean about turning the head to the light
MGW_9544.jpg


Mike
 
I know the lighting won't make the lighting better instantaneously, I just want to start improving the quality of my photos and taking them to the next level. Lighting, as a few people have pointed out, is not my strong point. I'm often stuck trying to do portraits in really small, dark spaces etc. so I just wanted to buy some beginner lighting equipment to make the quality a bit more consistent and to start getting to grips with it all. If anybody had any suggestions regarding equipment, I would be very greatful. Thank you all for your replies thus far.
 
The 2nd hand equipment thread I posted also has links to sites selling new stuff.

Know what you want before talking to a salesperson. Some are very honest, but I encountered an ex sales person a couple of years back and he said his shop (the previous incarnation of a well known high street chain) had a policy of selling anything and everything to anyone they considered too new or 'innocent' about lighting to know they were being sold a load of expensive stuff they did not need. Its really important to do a lot of your own research or ask on several photo forums as you will meet different people and lots of view points.

Your first question is probably going to be -
- do I want to work with speedlights (on camera flash moved off camera, usually runs on AA batteries)
- some form of smallish flash head that runs from a moderate sized Lithium Ion power pack (some will also plug into the mains)
- studio strobes/monoblocks that have everything in one head and just a lead off to a wall socket (some of these will also run from a big power pack usually bought separately and not as part of a kit, the packs tend to be expensive and bulky).

Some people start off with speedlights (Yongnuo brand is your friend - cheap, reliable flashes and radio triggers). This can be a good entry point in some ways, as you have a flexible kit if you later add larger light sources to it, such as studio strobes. They can be combined in the same image.
The downside is there is no modelling light to see what results you might get in advance. If you shoot tethered to a laptop or take a good look at your camera screen in playback, you may not find it matters much, load of people do really well without modelling lights. You could start with 1 speedlight/off camera flash and see if you like it, go from there with future lighting choices.

Get a decent quality lightstand whatever you choose to light ie dont get the cheapest and get one that goes up to more than head height. If you get a decent one it will take the weight of heavy studio strobes with modifiers on similar if you go in that direction later.

Once you decide which type of light creator might best suit your needs (travelling, power output, ease of use etc)
it will start to become easier to define other aspects such as which brand offer the light modifiers (softboxes, beauty dishes - umbrellas fit most everything!) you would like / the mounting system those modifiers will need. You really need to plan ahead here, as once you have bought into a system, its expensive to jump ship and move to another mount system.

Its best to look for fairly common mount systems so you have lots of choice and also if 3rd parties make equipment to fit the brand or mount you choose. Price is a big factor as some brands do nothing cheap or even reasonable. If you decide on studio strobes I would guess Bowen S mount and Elinchrom mounts are the most commonly around in the UK and lots of 3rd party suppliers make stuff with those mounts. Quite a lot of people think Bowen S mount is more secure and reliable if using big modifiers but someone (or maybe a load of people) will be along in a minute to disagree with me!

Loads of tutorials here, marked up as 'Event space'
https://www.youtube.com/user/BHPhotoVideoProAudio/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/BHPhotoVideoProAudio/videos
 
Follow Phil's advice, post #9.

Reading between the lines of what you want to do, I would suggest Lencarta Smartflash-2 with white umbrella, umbrella reflector, trigger, stand, and also a white/silver folding reflector. Maybe a mains extension lead.

You can do so much with that, it's cheap and well under your budget, easy to transport, makes best use of limited space, will produce great results and set you on the right road. You don't need to spend any more until you know what you're doing and therefore know exactly what's wanted.

Be aware that if you start earning money, you become a business with legal obligations and tax liability. Good luck, and let us know how you get on :)
 
emilyyou said:
I know the lighting won't make the lighting better instantaneously, I just want to start improving the quality of my photos and taking them to the next level. Lighting, as a few people have pointed out, is not my strong point. I'm often stuck trying to do portraits in really small, dark spaces etc. so I just wanted to buy some beginner lighting equipment to make the quality a bit more consistent and to start getting to grips with it all. If anybody had any suggestions regarding equipment, I would be very greatful. Thank you all for your replies thus far.
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I mentioned Lencarta in my fist post.

If you're planning to work in small spaces, drop the idea of White BG shots* and get a gridded softbox kit rather than an umbrella.

A Smartflash 2 kit is well within budget, maybe get an extra stand and reflector bracket, it'll make life easier than trying to juggle a reflector on odd bits of furniture etc.

Reflectors are cheap, get a triangular one with a handle too, you can handhold a reflector to kick some light under a chin or similar.

2 tips:

Lighting is a specialist field, don't go to camera shops, they haven't got a clue.

A light is like your camera body, with modifiers being like lenses, lots of newbies buy the best lighting they can afford but then don't have money for the important stuff. The Smartflash is plenty of power and features for a home studio, a profold softbox is a great upgrade making packing up / setting up quicker.
 
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