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Long time member here, but just short of no lighting experience!

My wife has a budding eBay business selling vintage clothing, and has been shooting the clothes on a mannequin with natural light and editing out the backgrounds, but she is getting busy enough that I think it is time to get her a decent backdrop and pair of strobes with softboxes and/or umbrellas. Her office is about 13x11'.

I would appreciate any recommendations on a decent quality backdrop and pair of strobes and accessories that should get her going.

Thank you,

Go to the hobby store and pick up a four foot roll of paper for a backdrop.

Buy a few shop lights and bulbs. If you want to go crazy, buy some 90+ CRI CFLs to go in them.

Take the money you saved and go out to a nice dinner.

Shop light:
http://lowes.com …=detail&nValue=​4294857041

Unless of course the new gear is really for you.

If you're looking for strobes I think Paul C Buff has the most bang for the buck. He has packages pre-assembled and discounted or you can build your own.

hes gone wrote in post #16625198
=he's gone;16625198]Go to the hobby store and pick up a four foot roll of paper for a backdrop.

Buy a few shop lights and bulbs. If you want to go crazy, buy some 90+ CRI CFLs to go in them.

Take the money you saved and go out to a nice dinner.

Shop light:
http://lowes.com …=detail&nValue=​4294857041

Unless of course the new gear is really for you.

That sounds like a truly excellent idea to me. Serious, SERIOUS kudos for the man who both rigs up his wife's studio AND takes her out to dinner.

Such thoughtfullness could, maybe possibly perhaps, stand you in good stead when you absolutely NEED some more gear yourself. Heaven forfend that I should impute an ulterior motive on your part, but..........

Billginthekeys wrote in post #16625156
Long time member here, but just short of no lighting experience!

My wife has a budding eBay business selling vintage clothing, and has been shooting the clothes on a mannequin with natural light and editing out the backgrounds, but she is getting busy enough that I think it is time to get her a decent backdrop and pair of strobes with softboxes and/or umbrellas. Her office is about 13x11'.

I would appreciate any recommendations on a decent quality backdrop and pair of strobes and accessories that should get her going.

Thank you,

This was my grocery list.

1 used Alien Bees AB/1600 260.00 condition like new.
1 used Alien Bees White Lightning 1600 still sealed in the box factory reconditioned 260.00
2 Paul C Buff foldable soft boxes 10 x 36 new 240.00
1 used HD 13ft light stand and one new HD 13ft light stand . 120.00
Wescott boom new 100.00

The HD 13ft Light stands and the Wescott boom are worth ever penny.
The foldable soft boxes are top notch too.


I have my white lightning set up as a slave , and have had no problems triggering it .

Farmer

Thanks everybody!

Alternative solution: You can use a continuous light kit for simple products like this. If your wife doesn't want to have to learn a lot about photographic lighting, this might be a good route. However, since the lights aren't as bright as strobes, you'll likely need to use a tripod and a longer shutter speed.

Benefits: What you see is what you get; easy to set up and use; no guesswork involved.
Drawbacks: Not as powerful or flexible as strobes. Difficult to blow out the background to pure white, without also blowing out the product. Not so good for still portraits (not quite bright enough, so you have to increase ISO).

"Hot" lights - incandescent/tungsten/​halogen kits such as the aforementioned shop lights - get really hot. Fluorescent and LED kits don't.

We got this kit for easy video lights in cramped locations, but I also use them for small product photos:
http://www.dayflolight​ing.com …e/pl-dayflo-ez-lite-1050/

Consider the the PLM for a big soft forgiving light source to go along with the alien bees.

For still life/product photography simply use the fluorescent lights that are readily available. I use a pair of lights with 4 - 100 lamp flourescents (far right in photo) that can be controlled individually. For portraits I use a pair of Norman 400 watt lights. I have various softboxes, umbrellas, etc to control them. A decent background stand and a couple backgrounds work well. My stand opens to over 10 feet which covers 4 people.

I decided to go with some compact florescent stand lights, softboxes, and a backdrop for the moment, I will report back in once they are here and setup. I appreciate all the feedback.

Just to update for anyone reading the thread, we decided to purchase the following setup for $350 along with a basic backdrop: http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …_n_natural_4_so​ckets.html

It has been working well for my wife the last few months, you can see the results at her etsy store: https://www.etsy.com …ref=shopsection​_leftnav_1

Billginthekeys wrote in post #16907089
Just to update for anyone reading the thread, we decided to purchase the following setup for $350 along with a basic backdrop: http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …_n_natural_4_so​ckets.html

It has been working well for my wife the last few months, you can see the results at her etsy store: https://www.etsy.com …ref=shopsection​_leftnav_1

It's working very well indeed. The pics look good.

Billginthekeys wrote in post #16907089
Just to update for anyone reading the thread, we decided to purchase the following setup for $350 along with a basic backdrop: http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …_n_natural_4_so​ckets.html

It has been working well for my wife the last few months, you can see the results at her etsy store: https://www.etsy.com …ref=shopsection​_leftnav_1

\Her her store looks very pro and the images are well above average for E-bay. This will inspire confidence in her customers! Good job

lens pirate wrote in post #16907150
\Her her store looks very pro and the images are well above average for E-bay. This will inspire confidence in her customers! Good job

indeed.

looks like she will be the one taking Billginthekeys out to dinner with all the extra scrilla she is pulling in.

:P