portrait
@tmodns.net
| reply to TigerLord
Re: Small home studio...
you don't mention what the subjects will be; the lighting will be different depending on portrait or product photos.
as you have noted, for portraits, two big white umbrellas are nice, or one bigger one, for just one eye catchlight.
the softest lighting comes from flashing through the white fabric, but you lose 3 stops that way. bouncing from the inside of the white umbrella loses less light, but is less soft. bouncing from a silver umbrella loses even less light, but is even less soft.
with two umbrellas, a hair light, and a background light, you will like to keep it simple yet coordinated, so consider having all flashes the same type, for less thinking under pressure, whatever you pick.
or one power pack with four heads.
if you are going to flash through the white umbrellas, you don't really need the softbox.
another alternative is to flash through two white sheets for the front lighting. a little cheaper, but acts like a giant softbox.
with lossy soft white through-lighting, you will use all the power you have to get to f16, which is another reason to get a set of four 800's or ?
recycle times also will be faster if you get more powerful flashes, important for portraits.
and don't forget various black, grey etc. front reflectors, which you probably have already made for yourself.
to get the eye irises wide open, you will be modeling with dim incandescents, then the flash will catch them open.
if that is not important to you, you might consider HMI lighting, which are just strobe tubes that fire very fast continuously, but has the advantage that you are shooting with the identical "modeling" lighting.
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for still lifes, product photography, a white table is important.
that can be anything, even a regular table with a white sheet draped over it, or a white sheet of plastic, or a real swoop table with translucent white plastic, lit from underneath and behind.
for product photos you can work with only two lights, but the fancy tables will use all four.
gradient backgrounds, in color and in greys, are useful.
for products that plug in, that must be shown operating, you just cut an x slot in the background for the cord to go through invisibly.
if the lights are not powerful enough to get to f16 in one flash, you use multiple flashes, 2x, 4x, 8x, and many flash meters have the capability to measure multiples and/or to calculate them.
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sinar and broncolor have informative lighting information
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and in general, for even soft-lighting, your lighting setup should be three times the size of the subject.
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consider renting a full set for a week before you make your decisions; most pro dealers will credit the rent to your purchase.
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