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Ring vs Strobe vs Continuous light and shadows
I was looking for suggestions on still photography of people for portraits as far as lighting. I have used 3 - 4 strobes. Some have told me about Alien Bees, I am looking for quality not cheap. I dont know anything about continuous lighting. I have heard and some ring flashes from alien bee which is new but probably more interested in the ones from hensel or lumedyne. Biggest problem is shadows, which is probably due to my inexperience of knowing where to position strobes, which is what I currently use. If strobes are the way to go, which ones and how many are needed, how many watts per second? For portable stuff, I use a quantum t5d. Jan 20 07 02:43 pm Link 4 lightbars from broncolor (about 3,000 each) and a 12 foot silk backlit with another Broncolor strobe and a total of 3 A-4 packs...  2 lightbars, no backlight  but than this photo was one alien bee outside no diffusion  I guess what I am saying is that concentrate on technique with the simpliest first, don't worry about the cost of your lights Jan 20 07 02:49 pm Link Tigerkws Photography wrote: If your not worried about price I would say broncolor or Profoto 7a/b series at least three packs and 5 heads. then you start on modifiers and there are plenty from both. Jan 20 07 02:58 pm Link Modifying & positioning lights in central to artistic studio photography. I'd start with a flexible setup. I'm partial to strobes, myself. I can use up to four heads (although I usually get by with three). I also have soft boxes that range in size from small (12" x 18") to large (4' x 6') -- I also use grids to "focus" the strobe light to a soft spot. I have one set of barn doors for one head. I never use my umbrellas -- I prefer the soft boxes instead. I have a variety of stands, ranging in a heavy duty stand that can go up to 10' to tiny stands that are essentially the same as putting the strobe heads on the floor. I have only one boom arm, and that's usually enough. (I won't talk here about props, backgrounds, furniture, etc.). I am still using my ~15 year old Speedtron brown line unit, but I might recommend a more advanced setup -- one where you can control the output of each strobe head. Still, I get by. (See my site at http://www.looknseephoto.com). Reasons why I prefer strobes to continuous light: >>> Strobes freeze action -- the flash duration is about 1/3000th of a second. >>> Strobes are close to daylight color balanced. >>> Strobes are bright, meaning that you are using the sharpest parts of your lenses. >>> Strobes don't generate a lot of heat. I just got some Pocket Wizards, so that I don't need a wire from my camera to my strobe unit and so that my camera is protected from any voltage irregularities. Advantages to continuous light: what you see is what you get. Comment about ring light: Ring lights provide an interesting effect, but it is a uni-tasker. A ring light is the last thing I'd invest in. Jan 20 07 02:59 pm Link They may be less expensive, but the Alien Bee's are as good as any other comparable system. The reviews are all over the web about the Alien Bee's system. Versatility is a plus when you include the Vagabond power system too. Not that you were looking for one but good luck finding a bad review on them. For the money, you can't go wrong. As for rignlight vs softbox or other setups, I have yet to use a ringlight system, so I'm not qualified to remark on that system. As far as lighting setups and shadows, trial an error. Jan 20 07 03:10 pm Link Tigerkws Photography wrote: Then you need to worry about technique before you start sweating about what equipment to buy. Jan 20 07 03:17 pm Link With practice you can get the same results with strobe or continous. I learned with continous lighting and natural light. I still find myself shooting with just the modeling lamps and cool continous lights some of the time. I just find I get the results I want faster and without much work. Again that is because of the way I learned to shoot. A very slow shutter and higher ISO is second nature to me but would drive other photographers crazy. Buy good quality and they will last a long time. Jan 20 07 03:53 pm Link |
