PDA

View Full Version : Mixing for color...


mrgtturbo
20th of May 2009 (Wed), 07:25
As some of you may remember; A couple months ago I was looking for suggestions in putting together a light set for under $1300-. I appreciate all who wrote in with their wisdom on the matter. A fellow member here tossed his Hensel set into the discussion... and well... I was sold on that idea right away.

There was a debate on how many lights a proper setup had in it. With these Hensels I am limiting myself to 2 lights. I cannot afford to jump into buying another set of these. no time in the near future anyways. I have a reflector on order and should have it soon. This will give me 3 points of light to work with. I do not recall anyone here being completely opposed to this type of setup... even if their own recommendation was for 3 or 4 lights to start with.

But there has been LOTS of talk about gels and modifiers on the forum, and it's mentioned to me quite regularly. This brings me to further questions.


How limited am I in working with modifiers and gels with only 2 lights?

Differant type of lighting, (and or brands), have a differant color light, How much of a differance does this make if the intent of the light is in using it with gels?

And couldn't a gel almost color correct the light?

Does a hair light need to be part of the matching set or type?

If you were to use a mix match set for the time being... how would one best set it up? And which budget lights would they add to the mix?


I really think for the biggest part all I would need to add lights for would be to throw some added color in. But feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I'm just trying to learn this lighting thing.

Thanks much.
Aaron

vincent_su
21st of May 2009 (Thu), 02:31
You can do a lot with 2-light setups. Google portrait lighting setup and find out what's available.
I would not worry about WB at this point as you can just shoot RAW and correct it in PP.
Play with one light+ one reflector and one light+ 2 reflectors combo first.
Then, play main + reflector +hair light.
Then, Play main + reflector + background light.
Then, Play main + reflector + background light with gel.
These are the basic setup.
Whenever you're trying to get some new stuff you should always ask yourself what are the limits of my current stuff or can I better utilize them.
Have fun.