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Photo Forum / Digital Photography / DSLR Cameras / January 2005Studio lighting - need advice please!
I get a lot of requests from family, friends and customers to do high-key portraits but have had to turn them down as I've simply not got the set-up and equipment to do it. So I'd like to get myself sorted and have convinced SWMBO to let me convert one of our reception rooms into a studio. The room is 10'8" x 9'6" and the ceiling is 8' high. Not massive but luckily one of the long walls has a wide archway into another room which I can shoot from - adding about 6' to the 9'6" - so my 'studio' will be effectively 10'8 wide x 15'6 long I intend to have a pull-down background (off a roll) mounted on the archless 10'8" wall. I only shoot digitally and therefore can easily compensate for colour temperature - so that shouldn't be a restrictive factor. I'd like the lighting to be portable (I'll have a separate portable background system for mobile use) - but am tempted to have wall-mounted heads on positionable arms. Anyone had experience of these? So.... Which manufacturer? Bowens, Elinchrom, another brand? What type? - generator or monoblocs? 2, 3 or 4 heads? Presumably I'd need at least two to blow out the white background? What power rating should I go for? (Many of my subjects are kids and I'm imagining needing to use quite fast shutter speeds to freeze them as they leap theatrically about my studio! - so presumably low-powered heads won't suffice) Are systems designed specifically for digital photography worth looking at? I get the impression constant lighting sources aren't as powerful and can get too hot for the sitter's comfort. I don't want to buy a budget system that I'll outgrow within 6-12 months - unless I can add to it rather than replace it. My budget is about ?2500 - all in. (i.e. all lighting, cables, backgrounds, stands, softboxes/umbrellas etc) Thanks in anticipation,  SignatureSorby > another room which I can shoot from - adding about 6' to the 9'6" - so my > 'studio' will be effectively 10'8 wide x 15'6 long Small but adequate, except for large groups. > So.... > Which manufacturer? Bowens, Elinchrom, another brand? > What type? - generator or monoblocs? Lots of choices, including White Lightning, Norman, Speedotron. Look for used stuff in good condition. Monoblocs are good for travel but put the heat of the modelling light next to all the electronics. I prefer head-and-pack style; they give you more choices of how to split the power, too. > 2, 3 or 4 heads? Presumably I'd need at least two to blow out the white > background? Minimum of 3 heads (one behind subject for the b/g, 2 for subject). 4 is better. > What power rating should I go for? (Many of my subjects are kids and I'm > imagining needing to use quite fast shutter speeds to freeze them as they > leap theatrically about my studio! - so presumably low-powered heads won't > suffice) Surprisingly, no. The lower the power the faster it dumps through the flashhead. Most studio strobes have a flash speed of about 1/200 sec, which should capture all but flailing arms, etc. But at minimum power you may have 1/1000 or so. A more serious consideration is depth of field. If children are moving around, do you need some extra dof to keep the critters in focus? But for exposure reasons you'll need to keep from getting too near/far from the lights. All that being said, most portrait studios put 50-100 watt-seconds (Joules) through each light, giving about f/5.6 or so. With my big Normans I'm always struggling to use minimum power when I shoot portraits. > Are systems designed specifically for digital photography worth looking at? No. Just be sure the trigger voltage across the sync contacts is not too high for your camera. Digicams are more fragile that way. > I get the impression constant lighting sources aren't as powerful and can > get too hot for the sitter's comfort. Yes, they're unsuitable for portraiture, especially in a small room. > I don't want to buy a budget system that I'll outgrow within 6-12 months - > unless I can add to it rather than replace it. > > My budget is about £2500 - all in. (i.e. all lighting, cables, backgrounds, > stands, softboxes/umbrellas etc) In the US you'd be able to put together a decent 4-light system for half that, buying used equipment. You may have fewer choices, thus higher prices, in the UK. Remember, if you buy used and don't like it, you can probably resell it for close to what you paid. Good luck! Tom Nelson Tom Nelson Photography >> another room which I can shoot from - adding about 6' to the 9'6" - so my >> 'studio' will be effectively 10'8 wide x 15'6 long > > Small but adequate, except for large groups. That's fine. Besides, we don't have enough coffee-mugs in the house for large groups! ;-) >> So.... >> Which manufacturer? Bowens, Elinchrom, another brand? [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > head-and-pack style; they give you more choices of how to split the > power, too. Ok, makes sense, noted. >> 2, 3 or 4 heads? Presumably I'd need at least two to blow out the white >> background? > > Minimum of 3 heads (one behind subject for the b/g, 2 for subject). 4 > is better. Ok. Would the one for the b/g need to be at least as powerful as the main head - or does a white b/g not need that much power to blow it out? >> What power rating should I go for? (Many of my subjects are kids and I'm >> imagining needing to use quite fast shutter speeds to freeze them as they [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > for exposure reasons you'll need to keep from getting too near/far > from the lights. Hmm - Hadn't even thought about DOF! Food for thought. > All that being said, most portrait studios put 50-100 watt-seconds > (Joules) through each light, giving about f/5.6 or so. With my big > Normans I'm always struggling to use minimum power when I shoot > portraits. Ok - so I should ensure the system I get allows me the smallest possible power settings? >> Are systems designed specifically for digital photography worth looking >> at? > > No. Just be sure the trigger voltage across the sync contacts is not > too high for your camera. Digicams are more fragile that way. Yup - had heard about that. Will keep this in mind. >> I get the impression constant lighting sources aren't as powerful and can >> get too hot for the sitter's comfort. > > Yes, they're unsuitable for portraiture, especially in a small room. Ok >> I don't want to buy a budget system that I'll outgrow within 6-12 >> months - [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > higher prices, in the UK. Remember, if you buy used and don't like it, > you can probably resell it for close to what you paid. Noted, thanks. It's tempting to go for new kit for peace of mind (i.r.o. warranty & lifespan) but spending less means the kit will pay for itself all the sooner. > Good luck! Thank you Tom! You've been a great help. SignatureSorby > > Minimum of 3 heads (one behind subject for the b/g, 2 for subject). 4 > > is better. > > Ok. Would the one for the b/g need to be at least as powerful as the main > head - or does a white b/g not need that much power to blow it out? To maintain white as pure white, your want the background light a stop brighter than the main light. It depends on how you set things up. You're probably using a light modifier (umbrellas, soft boxes) for the main light, so a direct light on the background can use less power. But in order to light the whole background evenly without falloff at the edges, you may want to increase the distance between the background light and the background. If you use two lights on the background you can aim each at an opposite corner and get more evenness without having the lights so far away. It all depends. > > All that being said, most portrait studios put 50-100 watt-seconds > > (Joules) through each light, giving about f/5.6 or so. With my big [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Ok - so I should ensure the system I get allows me the smallest possible > power settings? You'll pay more for a flash that gives you a wider range of power settings. The Norman 2000Ps have about a 5:1 range (full power is 2000 w/s, minimum with one head is 400 w/s). But you can plug two heads into the 400 w/s bank, giving your 200 w/s each. Some strobes (the new Norman P404, for instance) will let you dial in a small exposure adjustment. You pay for the convenience. For the system you're describing, I'd say a total power of 400-800 w/s should be just right. To keep your cable runs low, you probably want at least 2 power packs, one for the background and one for the subject. So that's two 200s or 400s. More power lets you use light more inefficiently (bounce it into the ceiling corner for a wall of light). It might be a good idea to rent equipment to see if you like the brand. BTW I'm not particularly pushing Norman; it's just the brand I use. > Thank you Tom! You've been a great help. I aim to please ;-) Tom Nelson Tom Nelson Photography > To maintain white as pure white, your want the background light a stop > brighter than the main light. It depends on how you set things up. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > can aim each at an opposite corner and get more evenness without > having the lights so far away. It all depends. High key needs the white background TWO stops brighter than the subject which should be lit relatively flat. Not to start a flame war, with digital I'd expect 1 stop to be all you'd need. Depends on the whiteness of the background, of course. (Superior Artic White is nice.) Tom Nelson > High key needs the white background TWO stops brighter than the subject > which should be lit relatively flat. >Not to start a flame war, with digital I'd expect 1 stop to be all >you'd need. Depends on the whiteness of the background, of course. That depends on your camera and what mode you're shooting in. You really need to experiment. I use the Canon 10D and 20D cameras, and they are what I am most familiar with. With a majority white scene, brighter than the subject, I would shoot at about +1.67 or +2 stops in JPEG, or +2 to +3 stops in RAW. Unfortunately, the people at Canon ignorantly decided that -2 to +2 is all the range anyone would need for exposure compensation, so +3 is only achievable in manual mode (possibly using an external meter, but that opens up another can of worms, as that will under-optimize a RAW exposure by up to 2 stops if you do it like you were shooting film). If I were shooting under incandescent or any warm, reddish light, I might go even further. The reason is that RAW has about a stop, at least, of extra headroom in the three color channels, with the most headroom in the red channel, which is ideal for warm light. On the 20D, there 1.87 stops more headroom in the red channel than in the green. The common wisdom that advises to underexpose for dark subjects and such is based on deterministic outcome from the original capture. Of course, a black wall and a white wall will both come out grey in a slide, without compensation, but digital images processed by the photographer can map the exposure range captured anywhere they want in the output, and the best capture is obtained (exposure-wise) when the full dynamic range of the RAW data is utilized, regardless of whether or not the subject is dark or bright. >> High key needs the white background TWO stops brighter than the subject >> which should be lit relatively flat. Signature<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<> John P Sheehy <JPS@no.komm> ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<> <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< > Not to start a flame war, with digital I'd expect 1 stop to be all > you'd need. Depends on the whiteness of the background, of course. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > High key needs the white background TWO stops brighter than the subject > > which should be lit relatively flat. Digital...film...doesn't matter. Just one stop will make the background a little gray. > Which manufacturer? Bowens, Elinchrom, another brand? Stay away from Novatron. |
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