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Howdy folks,
I'm looking to start doing a little portrait photography. I have a Konica Minolta Dynax 5D. I'm looking to purchase a simple portable home lighting setup.
Is there any guidelines i need to keep to get the right setup? Should I go for flash heads like Portaflash or could i stick with a couple of standard flashes mounted on a stand with an umbrella and infra red trigger kit?
also, if i go down the flash head route, what wattage?
Ive seen a 2x180w kit on ebay (from Hong Kong) for about £150 with umbrellas and stands etc....
Any feedback invited and welcomed
Hiya
I have a small studio set up at home that i use with a Canon 400D. I have the Gemini Esprit 500/500 range (comes with light box umberella and also wide angle reflector which i paid approx £700. I use a mini magic infra red trigger which works fine with my Canon camera I purchased this from ebay £15. I have backdrop stands £80 ebay and also a roll of white backdrop paper which was £50 from an on line supplier ( i have used this so many times and have only cut off a small piece that got ruined). I have done many portraits at home and find that i can get away with this although if money wasn't a problem i'd go for four lights especially when using a white backdrop.
Hi Chris.
Is this something just for home use, i.e, taking some family portraits etc... or something that may grow into pro/semi pro?
The reason I ask is that 180w will struggle depending on what you are hoping to achieve. Also, what sort of budget do you have?
I have just bought a complete setup that will eventually be used professionally. I used elemental lighting (studio-flash.com).
If you do a search on here for them you will find an endless amount of satisfied customers.
I found them to have the best all-round deal, excellent advice and service, with the product being of a very high quality, check them out first and save yourself a lot of research and hassle.
Danny is very easy to deal with and there is no heavy sales push, which I liked.
Here are some recent threads asking pretty much the same question, well worth a read.
http://www.ephotozine.com/topic/t-76782
http://www.ephotozine.com/topic/t-76713
http://www.ephotozine.com/topic/t-77046
Jason
Quote: I'm looking to purchase a simple portable home lighting setup.
I would be inclined to look at any of the introductory 2 head starter kits, they are all much the same. Learn how to light with it, understand its limitations, and also what you would require for your style of photography. I would "write-off" the initial capital outlay on the Kit as education, and then look at either a mid range or high end pro lighting kit.
Broad costs
Intro Kits should be £200 - £400
Mid Range: £400 - £800
Top End Pro £800 upwards
A lot depends on what type of studoi work you want to do amount of people is power required flat even lighting need more that two i have 5 studio lights and find most of the time i only use one 300 watt with a beauty dish as i like to do head and sholders mainly,
if you want to do full length even light need large softbox,umbrella octa etc ,so i get the most from one light with beauty dish or softbox or barndoors.
so start with one and get some light modifiers forget the umbrella they through light all over the place and are hard to get the light were you want it.
On a recent Annabel Williams course called Natural and Artificial lighting all of the shots set up by the tutor (Brett Harkness) were taken using a single off camera flash with a filter, and a single min-softbox (the type that you use with off camera flash rather than a studio head). The shots were remarkably good and the setup (if you already have a couple of flashes) would cost around £80 (couple of IR trigger / recievers and am EZBox softbox). The setup wouldn't compare to a full studio set, but it's pretty good for a starting position (and fully portable - including for outdoor use!).
Example shot here: link
Must mention though that rather than cheap radio triggers the kit that was being used included Pocket Wizards, and the Lastolite Ezybox (much more expensive than the cheap eBay alternatives)
Franky,
A quick tip without breaking the bank..you can work with small flashguns if you wish,all you need is a 'trigger' to set the others off,say using them on a small tripod,from the side or back for high lights of hair.
Don't believe me,take a look at my show business pictures (turn pages) all done by this method.You got no time out in the field worrying about studio flashes.
It's a good way of starting,learning about the flash technique,and saving pennies in your pocket.I learn't my craft with flashbulbs working up to portable flash you put in your pocket.
The simplest ways are the best I can assure you...
Best Wishes.
For advice and tutorials concerning lighting I'd recommend the lighting 101 information on the strobist website
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