Question about lighting

[DB4L90]

I will be the first to admit, I don't know much about studio lighting. I have always just used natural light for my photos.

I was given for free 2 Smith-Victor Q60 lights and I was wondering what I can attach to them to soften and even out the light.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

[Hopelessdfilms]

Pick up some umbrellas. They can be found very inexpensively and will give you a nice soft light to start with. Once you advance you can get into more light modifiers like snoots, grids, beauty dish, softoxes, brollybox, etc etc etc etc but at that point you may want to switch platforms to a different brand of light...

Lighting is much like cameras, bodies come and go, but lenses are where the investment truly lives. With lights, your light modifiers are what tie you to a certain platform. Keep this in mind as you grow with lighting.

just my .02c

[DB4L90]

What type of umbrellas would you guys recommend?

[Hopelessdfilms]

Brand recommendations?

Calumet
Paul C Buff
Creative Light
Profoto
etc etc etc....

There are hundreds of umbrellas to choose from. Different sizes, backing, no backing, shoot through, etc etc etc...

Pick up a few in different sizes and if possible some that either have a removable backing so you can try using them as a shoot thru, or just pick up an assortment of them. Umbrellas for the most part are very inexpensive and are a good cheap investment.