Is Tungsten Lighting Good for Toddlers?

I am having trouble getting good pictures of my very active 15 month old girl, who will not stay still to "pose" for the camera. So far, I've had the best of luck shooting pictures on my bed, opening all the window shades, turning on as many lights as possible, jacking the ISO up on my 30d to 1600 and firing away with high speed continuous shutter. After about 300 shots, I'll get a few great keepers. The problem is that the lighting is not portable or adjustable (room lights, window lights, etc.)

Although I would really like to purchase a set of strobes in the future, at this time I feel I might be better off with a cheap set of tunsten lights to increase the overall lighting (so I won't have to use a flash). There are some nice tungsten sets at B&H for $100-200. What do you think? Or should I re-think this whole continuous lighting idea?

Here is an example.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

You may want to look into some "daylight balanced" bulbs. These will enable you to use proper daylight and artificial light without too many problems with colour temperature from different light sources.

I'm sure the more experienced members here will help out with better suggestions than I, but at least you have something to think about.

Any reason not to use your flashes? Either on or off camera? That would give the most flexibility.

Other than that, I would go with Pete's suggestion so that your light sources are balanced (Ie you dont need to worry about WB)

My only problem with using flash is the recharging time in between shots. If I have continuous lighting I can use my high speed shutter.

The motion-stopping capability of flash is superior for shooting fidgety kids.

You've got a 580EX II and a 430EX. Bounce them both off the ceiling and you've got plenty of power. Use ISO 400 and a moderate aperture. You won't be able to use machine gun mode, but they'll recycle quick enough you'll be able to shoot pretty fast.

Thanks Curtis. I do use a couple of off camera flashes bounced off the ceiling with moderate success. The problem lies in the short lag-time in my brain between wanting to push the shutter and actually doing it. By the time I push the shutter she usually has already changed her facial expression or moved out of position and I get fewer keepers than when I use high speed shutter. Thanks for your advice. I'll keep trying!

tungsten are HOT and I would not want to use them near kids. The lighting kits I have seen are maybe 500w and that would make some serious heat. They make CFL based continuous lighting kits that pump out the same light, daylight balanced and use far fewer watts, so less heat. That is what I would use if anything.

You may also want to try a few cheap reflectors to bounce the window light and fill in the shadows.

Am I seeing some blown highlights in that shot?

I have an almost nine month old, so not quite as active, and I never found using my 580EXII limiting (in terms of motion stopping or recycle times). Perhaps I'll report back in a few months

Tungsten is great for working in fluourescent light, equalizes the light, also can be great to work with ..for nearly anything..I think it's just you, i don't see anything wrong with the shot you posted