my home studio - suggestions needed (Adelaide, South Australia)

[BJWOK]

hi folks,

i have an amazing opportunity to shoot a friend of mine in the upcoming few months, however the catch is:

a. i don't have a studio
b. i don't have lights
c. i have never shot glamour before

my housemate uses the downstairs lounge area for band rehersals and music production and he has offered me share the space as a stidio.

the area is large enough and just this weekend i bought 2 lots of 10m high x 2m wide black cotton and a rod and cup hooks to hang it from the ceiling.

Once i have stitched all the sheets together and hung it as the background i will post a pic, however my real question here is about lighting.

I have no idea about what to use and why? for the time being i have two 500w halogen lamps (used for a lightbox - thanks to another amazing thread here on POTN!) plus my 550EX speedlight.

I wonder if someone could suggest a nice simple two light setup and approx how much i should spend on it?

And while we are here am i heading in the wrong direction if i say i was thinking of using permanently lit lights, not strobe? i don't see why i would need strobe (and would this then mean NOT using the speedlight?) or am i completely noob and off the mark?

i have many questions about this and i really want to get the studio up ASAP and get some of my friends in there as guinea pigs before the real thing. the real gig in a month or so is an amazing opportunity - my friend is currently doing shoots for hustler and penthouse and to have this chance is something i don't want to mess up!

will post that pic as soon as the background is done...

cheers all

[RPCrowe]

Hello Down Under...

I have recently purchased a neat computer program called Portrait Professional. This can be a stand alone program or used in conjunction with Photoshop of any generation or any other photo editing program you might be using.

Although a Photoshop guru can do anything that can be done with Portrait Pro - I don't have that level of talent. The program is quick and extremely user friendly. Even a duffer like me gets great results almost immediately.

It can rescue portraits - especially glamour type portraits from bad lighting, bad makeup and ugly women, including bad teeth, acne and bloodshot eyes. I haven't found a woman who doesn't like what Portrait Professional does to their images.

You can download a test free at:

http://www.portraitprofessional.com/?gclid=CPCqm4KIw5MCFScuagodSlXkDA

By the way, for glamour lighting; do a Google search using "Butterfly Lighting" or "Paramount Lighting" as the search parameters. Butterfly or Paramount lighting is usually a broad light from directly over the camera lens and another light from the camera position. The term "butterfly" comes from the distinctive shadow below the subject's nose. The term "Paramount" comes from the type of lighting done for stills of glamouous females by Hollywood studios including Paramount Pictures.

[BJWOK]

thanks champ.

i appreciate the link to that product, however as a graphic designer i am pretty competent with photoshop and correcting images (do it daily!)

thanks for the tip on butterfly lighting, i read about the technique and will certainly be trying to achieve something along those lines when i do get this studio set up!

[RockSlut]

I've got the Elinchrom D-lite 4 kit which fits your description. Retails at approximately AUD $1500. there's been a lot of positive feedback about them here at PoTN, and they shouldn't be hard to find in Adelaide (I bought mine in Sydney's Vanbar Imaging)

[BJWOK]

thanks rockslut, $1500 is out of budget at the mo, but i do have some lights I can borrow from a friend. don't know what they are but when i know i will post here.

got the background up. here's a few pics as planned.

thoughts?

note the bunched up material at the bottom - there is another 5 meters or so wrapped up - nice amount to cover the foreground :)

[BJWOK]

another angle, the computer desk is on wheels so it is able to be moved aside when i have a shoot on.

and the curtain can be pulled the whole width of the room (when no one is in the kitchen)

i have a friend who is gonna do a test shoot with me this weekend, will post results (but it will be with the halogen 500watt lights)

or maybe i will only use the speedlite?

[Rudi]

The D-Lite 4 kit is currently $1150 at Kayell, which is a hell of a bargain!

[BJWOK]

nice find rudi, i wonder if the D-Lite 2 (at $950) is also something i could be looking at? i notice it has only 1 sync cable and is only 200watts? is 200watts too little and will i need the 400 eventually. i don't want to outgrow 200w too fast then find i should have just gone the 400!

[dave sparks]

Hi BJ,
Just a thought. You could use two bed sheet, a work light from a home improvement store and a few pieces of PVC pipe for frames.
Make two 4x6 frames from PVC and attach the sheets to them with simple cloths pins. Put one at a 45 degree angle with the light behind it and use the other as a reflector on the opposite side about 90 degrees from her and close. Should light her O.K.
Now for the fun. The cheap light should be about 2800 degrees or so. White balance for daylight and it should give a golden tone to her almost like sunset. Experiment a little with white balance and see what works. Additionally use sand paper to rough up the safety glass on the light to soften it a bit before it hits the sheet. Should be sweet.
Now for the bad. Hot lights put out a lot of heat so keep them FAR from any material you aim them at. Bad JuJu if something catches fire! And it is a serious risk! A better solution is to find material that is fire resistant. I just chose bed sheets to give a good idea of what I'm talking about.
Whole set-up should be less than 100 USD. Add a second cheap light as a rim, hair or back light and you should be golden.
Again, please be carefull with those lights!
Sparky

[Hermes]

nice find rudi, i wonder if the D-Lite 2 (at $950) is also something i could be looking at? i notice it has only 1 sync cable and is only 200watts? is 200watts too little and will i need the 400 eventually. i don't want to outgrow 200w too fast then find i should have just gone the 400!

200w is plenty for a space that small. Even 100w would be fine.

Your camera only has one pc port so you can only use one sync cable - use it to trigger the key light and then you can set the optical slave on any other strobes to trigger them.

[BJWOK]

thanks heaps for that suggestion dave, i think i am gonna bite the bullet and go the d lite kit.

and hermes thanks for that advice. so 400w is overkill for the area i have? what do others think? (not questioning you hermes, just want to get a good overall opinion!)

[Rudi]

If all you're ever going to do is use that small space then yes, the 200Ws D-Lite 2 kit is all you need. With glamour, a lot of the time you will be shooting from a bit further and at small apertures, so I'd go for the D-Lite 4. Either will do the job in the space that you have shown, the D-Lite 4 will be more versatile if you ever decide to shoot elsewhere.

For example, with my D-Lite 4 at minimum power, the subject can be around a metre away from the 53" Octa and the exposure is around f/5.6 at ISO 100 (going from memory). Now, the Octa has two diffusers in place, but it still gives you an idea - if your strobes will be a couple of metres away or more from the subject, you will have no problems getting reasonably large apertures if you want, but also have the possibility of cranking up the juice and closing the aperture right down. Not that you won't be able to do this with the D-Lite 2, you will just run out of juice earlier. :)

[BJWOK]

right, well rudi you have sold me on the d-lite 4. nice work! now, i am gonna order it while it is still on special at kayell. thanks heaps for all the info here guys. i would have been lost without your help.

hey rudi i see you're down the gong way? you know dee kramer? he's an old mate of mine, has a studio in albion park.

i love your storm shots btw. how are you shooting those? any tips?

[JasonW]

Madsens (http://www.madsens.com.au/new/elinchrom/index.php) also have them for around the same price as Kayell...

[Hermes]

If all you're ever going to do is use that small space then yes, the 200Ws D-Lite 2 kit is all you need. With glamour, a lot of the time you will be shooting from a bit further and at small apertures, so I'd go for the D-Lite 4. Either will do the job in the space that you have shown, the D-Lite 4 will be more versatile if you ever decide to shoot elsewhere.

For example, with my D-Lite 4 at minimum power, the subject can be around a metre away from the 53" Octa and the exposure is around f/5.6 at ISO 100 (going from memory). Now, the Octa has two diffusers in place, but it still gives you an idea - if your strobes will be a couple of metres away or more from the subject, you will have no problems getting reasonably large apertures if you want, but also have the possibility of cranking up the juice and closing the aperture right down. Not that you won't be able to do this with the D-Lite 2, you will just run out of juice earlier. :)


If a single D-Lite 4 head at MINIMUM power with a 197cm Octa will give f/5.6 then I really don't see how a lack of power could ever be a problem when the OP will be using multiple lights and (I'm assuming) won't have anything like the massive Octa which absorbs a lot more light than most modifiers.

On the other hand, If he wanted to open up the aperture to blur the background and get a nice shallow DOF he's stuck, the light is already at minimum power and giving exposures of f/5.6 and upwards. In that scenario a 100ws strobe like the D-lite 1 would give a range of exposures from f/2.8 to f/11 and a 200ws strobe would give f/4 to f/16 - much more usable and sensible options IMO.

[Rudi]

The original D-Lite is no longer available, AFAIK... only the 2 and 4. And I never said the 197cm Octa...

[BJWOK]

in the interest of getting the best price i have sent an email to masdens to see if they can beat kayall's price...

thanks for the heads up :) lets see if i can get it a little cheaper...

[Rudi]

They won't, I tried. They even tried to charge me more, even though they had an ad in the paper with the current "special price". I'd avoid Madsens unless they're the last resort... I've never seen a good deal at Madsens! BTW, the Kayell price is better than you could get it for from B&H (after freight and GST).

Disclaimer: No affiliation, just a satisfied customer! I frequently do NOT buy from Kayell because I can get stuff in cheaper from the States or elsewhere, but this time they have the best deal. Also, their after-sales service has never disappointed! I wish I could give them more business, but when I can save thousands on one deal, it would be foolish. I do give them a chance every time though, and if they're reasonably close, they're my supplier of choice. :)

[Hermes]

The original D-Lite is no longer available, AFAIK... only the 2 and 4. And I never said the 197cm Octa...

Ah... confused by the inches measurement :)

Yeah, I heard that the 100w D-Lite was stopped - just pointing out that more power is not always better, especially when shooting glamour. I used to use 400w lights in a small studio and had to use them on their lowest settings just to get f8-f/11.

Unless you shoot outdoors or have a large studio with huge umbrellas and softboxes, the lower power levels achievable with 100-200w lights will be more valuable than the higher levels you can get with 400w lights unless you're content to shoot everything with a lot of DOF.

[Rudi]

I agree with you, Hermes. Best of both worlds would be to have both kits! :) The other thing that I would do, if I needed to shoot really shallow DOF (I have the 85L), would be to just shoot with available light, or bounce the flash off a couple of walls. No one says you have to use the softboxes that come with the kit! :D

[Hermes]

I agree with you, Hermes. Best of both worlds would be to have both kits! :) The other thing that I would do, if I needed to shoot really shallow DOF (I have the 85L), would be to just shoot with available light, or bounce the flash off a couple of walls. No one says you have to use the softboxes that come with the kit! :D

Best of both worlds for me is the 300RX with a 6-stop range - with some light ND filters (0.3 and 0.6) and the right modifiers you can get just about every aperture you could want out of the lights from f/2 to f/16. If you turn the 250w modelling lights up and switch the WB to tungsten you can use them as continuous lights and get even wider apertures.

[Rudi]

That is the kit I will end up getting - the 600RX kit with another 300RX strobe. Just a matter of time (and clients paying their bills LOL)... :)

[BJWOK]

no response from masdens, order sent to kayell. thanks again folks! delivery next week. same week the iphone announcements are made for 3g and local release = good week!

[Rudi]

no response from masdens, order sent to kayell. thanks again folks! delivery next week. same week the iphone announcements are made for 3g and local release = good week!

After all that, I hope you're gonna show us some of the photos! :D

[BJWOK]

you know it! i will post the test shoot with my german friend who is here for another couple of days too. (but this will be using two 500w halogens from my lightbox!)

[BJWOK]

ok as planned i had my german friend model for me over the weekend

i am waiting on delivery of my d-lite 4, so i used my two 500w halogen lights from my light box and got some interesting results.

first shot is another closer look at the background with the lights on: bright!! (excuse the focus)

[BJWOK]

first pic i took in a studio ever! and it's a keeper!

[BJWOK]

some black & white work with the halogen lights - blown out, but still works i think. no photoshop smoothing on skin here btw.

[BJWOK]

last one, my friend wanted chocolate as part of the deal to get her in front of the camera. i thought this pic was cheeky, fun and sexual too.

[BJWOK]

hi folks, just received the d lite 4's today and have set them up (and struggled with the softbox assembly like others here lol!)

doing a shoot tomorrow night with my housemate, in the meantime heres a couple of pics.

what settings does everyone think i should be using? for these shots i had the power adjustment setting on both lights at 2.0 (the lowest) and the modelling lamp set to MAX.

i shot using M mode with a shutter of 160, ISO 100 and with my 24-70L i was at 2.8 the whole time.

rudi? be keen to hear your thoughts on these settings champ as i really don't know what i am doing!

[BJWOK]

right light is too powerful, but realistically i would not be this close to the subject and the subject would not be that close to the background...

[Rudi]

All right, leave your shutter speed at 1/160 or slower (1/125 or so), and control your exposure with your aperture. So, if you're shooting at f/2.8 and they're coming out too bright, stop her down a bit. :) Looking good so far, I think you'll be right! If you want to see how the lights will expose the subject, put your modeling light into "proportional" mode, that way they will mimic what the flash will do as you change the power settings.

See? Simple! ;)

[BJWOK]

damn! that was a quick response champ! lol

will try both your suggestions tomorrow night. and yeah i looked at that "proportional" mode but was a little confused by it. could you elaborate on what you mean by mimic?

looks like a lot of fun will be had regardless!

i am gonna give myself 2 weeks of shooting/playing around before i even think about booking the real gig with my friend.

[Rudi]

The modeling light is showing you what the flash will do when it goes off. So, you can see how the light changes as you change the power settings on each flash... Understand that it's not showing you the power of the flash, it's showing you the proportions (as in - the flash will be more powerful than the modeling light, but it will fire in the same proportions that you can see when you have the modeling lights set to "proportional").

[BJWOK]

thanks for all your tips rudi, here's the results from the shoot - and let me just say i am DAMN impressed with these lights. i still have a lot to learn, but for the first real shoot i am stoked (and so is fi, the model)

no surprising we would pull the axe out - the studio is also my housemates band rehearsal room...

what is surprising is that i got fi to lick it! (although it is her boyfriends, so i think she was cool lol!)

[BJWOK]

a more "regular" pose with the axe this time...

[BJWOK]

playing with hair always looks good i recon

[BJWOK]

and i always get one of me and the model (something to remember the session by - blurry as crap but it ain't for any purpose except mementos.

[Rudi]

Legend! Well done! :)

[BJWOK]

thanks champ! and i did follow your guidelines and most of the shoot was on either 1/125 or 1/160 at ISO of 100. I switched up and down between f5 and f4.5

thanks again mate, your info was WAY helpful and like i said we are both STOKED on the results!

now i am heading down the beach to do some long exposure stuff, drink a few beers and enjoy the fact it is friday night and no alarm is getting me out of bed tomorrow :) lol!