Camera Lighting
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- version30
to do what?
- Jnr_Madison0
Strobist site is great for starting out.
- blaw0
Stobist = big quality/ability jump (from nothing) for very little cash.
- joewigdahlphoto0
I generally agree with sticking with strobes for lighting but there are a few instances where continuous is a good option. Kino-flo lights are daylight color balanced flicker free fluorescent continuous lights that are nice to use when you need a large diffuse light source but don't have the space to set up an extra large bank light or octabank. Kinoflos have a profile of about 6 inches and are light enough to stick to a wall with velcro or suction cups. A chimera bank of the same size has a profile of about 3-3.5 feet and makes it really difficult to use in a small space.
the other time i would use continous lighting is if i needed to create a really fine, extremely sharp specular highlight on something. Using a small hotlight like a mini mole or a pepper light you can do it much better than you can with any strobe because the light source of those hotlights use a very small point of light created by an electric arc. Because it's so much smaller than any strobe flash light source you can create much higher contrast images- so you can use it for specular highlights that are crisper than strobe or sharper edged shadows than you could do with a strobe in some situations.
- version30
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/pr…
i started with that, works for people and products, now it sits in storage :(
- hahaha!
sikma and i have now diverted our opinion pathsversion3
- hahaha!
- sikma0
Continous lighting
1) Hot as hell.
2) 3200k - color doesn't match daylight, gelling it to match daylight will lose two stops of light
3) Non-portable, must be plugged-into a wall
4) low power output, and if you do get high wattage look out 'cause they are going to be incredibly hot.- hot lights melt gels too if you're not careful....vaxorcist
- sikma0
5) general speaking you can't get Continuous lighting in soft box form, and if you do it's a giant fire hazard
- version30
1: yes hot as fuck
2: never had a color problem
3. true, or a generator (how many lights work without power)
4. i feel like my 1250watt kit only got hot after an hour or so of continuous use, just the ambient heat could def warm a room
- vaxorcist0
Honestly, designers with thousands of $$ worth of high-tech lighting gear always make me chuckle a bit.... I've worked with guys who have lunchmoney invested in a bunch of old sunpaks and wires and homemade snoots, blackwrap, clamps and lightstands and convertible umbrellas who know that where you put the light is much more important than how sophisticated it is or how much it cost.... such hi-tech tricks as a paper towel taped to the flash is sometimes the answer....
- sikma0
the more i think about it getting into using 580's (Canon) or SB's (Nikon) flash systems probably is the best buy for beginners these days.
they're cheap and with the Pocket Wizard system they can be used in TTL mode - which is really cool
- vaxorcist0
Hang around with some photo assistants and shoot alot....
Seriously, I'd spend the money on a few lighting DVD's, Zack Arias's workshop/DVD, strobist DVD, etc.... and get a starving student light kit or two from www.mpex.com and practice alot with a plastic head from a wig store or a few willing friends... and yes, get a book called "Lighting Science and Magic"
On photographer bulliten boards, it's strange how lighting talk turns info a religious war amongst almost-pro photographers, not just Nikon vs Canon, but Profoto vs Speedotron and anything vs Alien Bees .. whatever... whereas when i was assisting, the talk amongst photographers actually working was mostly about how to bill clients, image rights and sometimes things like plume wafer vs elinchrom octobank...
Thanks to ebay, and alot of pro photograhers selling some stuff, you can get real lights like speedotron black line fairly cheap on ebay....
- vaxorcist0
There are plenty of "photographers" out there with ALOT more gear and money than ability.... strange these days, because DSLR's make the lighting learning curve sooooo much easier than it was in the film days...
- spendogg0
this a pretty useful blog about lighting