Need lighting advice!

[ElenaV5]

Im a newbie to studio lighting and really wanting to start my own studio,
What's a good set up? I found this kit on ebay, is it any good? If you guys could give me some advice as to what I need for Modeling and Portriat photography? I'll admit Im kind of clueless...:confused: Thanks

http://cgi.ebay.com/Photo-Photography-Studio-Flash-Strobe-Lighting-Light_W0QQitemZ130089940989QQcategoryZ30087QQtcZph otoQQcmdZViewItem

[SkipD]

Im a newbie to studio lighting and really wanting to start my own studio,
What's a good set up? I found this kit on ebay, is it any good? If you guys could give me some advice as to what I need for Modeling and Portriat photography? I'll admit Im kind of clueless...:confused: Thanks

http://cgi.ebay.com/Photo-Photography-Studio-Flash-Strobe-Lighting-Light_W0QQitemZ130089940989QQcategoryZ30087QQtcZph otoQQcmdZViewItemWhat's your budget allow?

The Smith-Victor stuff is way at the bottom end of what can be really useful, in my opinion. I have one of their 110i lights and a few other bits and pieces, so I know of what I speak.

AlienBees has a far better system if you intend to grow with it. Check them out at AlienBees (http://www.alienbees.com). There's a lot of information that you will find useful on that site.

[ElenaV5]

I'll take a look at the web site, my budget is around $1,000. Is it possible to get a decent studio set up for that?

[DaveG]

I'm a newbie to studio lighting and really wanting to start my own studio,
What's a good set up? I found this kit on ebay, is it any good? If you guys could give me some advice as to what I need for Modeling and Portriat photography? I'll admit Im kind of clueless...:confused: Thanks

http://cgi.ebay.com/Photo-Photography-Studio-Flash-Strobe-Lighting-Light_W0QQitemZ130089940989QQcategoryZ30087QQtcZph otoQQcmdZViewItem
To set up a basic studio lighting set up you'll need the following:

Two monolight or powerpack strobes. Alien Bee makes nice inexpensive strobes and although their ringlight sucks, their regular strobes have a good reputation. Then you'll need a third light that you can use for a hair light. A simple Vivitar flash (283/285) with an optical slave to trigger it will be fine, and I use a 283 when I take my portrait lighting setup on the road.

You'll need light stands for all of the flashes, and then some light modifiers. I'd suggest simple umbrellas to start. They're cheap and they set up easily.

You also will need a flash meter. That's so you can measure each flash individually so you can set up a lighting ratio. Lighting ratios have been talked about many times here and you should be able to find lot of information about that; but without a flash meter you will never be able to reproduce a lighting setup, and especially if you ever take anything on location.

You need to figure out a way to trigger the strobes. I hesitate to plug in a sync cord to my cameras, so I use radio Pocket Wizard slaves. They aren't cheap and I read where people are using the much less expensive types. My problem with those is that most people on the Internet say that their's works fine, yet everyone that I know who uses them here, has cursed and replaced them! To start I'd suggest a sync cord but plan on plugging it into a Wien Safe Sync.

Then you will have to figure out what you are going to do about a background. There's the freestanding types and the conventional two stands and a crossbar kind. I have both and use the twist-up type for field work. But no matter what kind of support you get make sure that your first backdrop is a light grey. If it's light grey you can make it dark grey. Hey you can make it white with some work! But mostly it's neutral and you won't have to deal with a built in colour cast.

[sfaust]

Yea, I agree with David on the lighting setup for starters. I also use Pocket Wizards, but as David said, they are expensive. I also have a set of cheaper wireless transmitters I got off eBay for when people rent my studio. The have worked perfectly so far, and only cost $25 per each transmitter and receiver, so that could be an option. I might also suggest a get of grids, snoots, or barn doors if the budget allows.

[FlashZebra]

If you are looking for inexpensive lighting dedicated to a studio I would bypass modified hotshoe type flash units (Vivitar 283.285, etc).

As Skip Douglas mentioned above, look at the Alien Bee units. With a $1000.00 budget you can get a nice two or three light setup and still have enough cash for a backdrop and backdrop stand.

With AB gear you will not need the safe sync units others have mentioned.

Also, until you are comfortable with your setup, just use a cord and bypass the expense and/or extra complexity introduced by radio slaves.

For starters, keep it simple and reliable with a cord. Alien Bee packs a cord with every flash unit they sell (I think).

Enjoy! Lon