Tips and help needed for taking studio portriats

There's no "of course" to "without flash".

Almost all studio work is done WITH flash. Softboxes and brollies and snoots and barn doors and reflectors all help you to control the light from the flash, and make it as soft or hard as you wish.

You have already stated that your living room gets little light, so flash is really your only practical option.

G

Finding it a little difficult to understand when you say that one still needs flash in addition to already using studio lights??

Quote me if im missing something here but i thought the idea of studio lights is to create soft ambience and lighting for portraits, surley by adding flash it then makes the light stronger and harsher unless you use a defuser in which case what is the point. I may as well buy a good flash gun for the top of the camera and white cover not sure ehat its called to softern the light flash.

I have taken some window lighting portraits and posted the results on another thread and they are not bad at all for the first attempt and especially with no studio lighting

Please Advise

Pete

Pete, can you define what you mean by 'studio lights' as opposed to 'flash'?

Pete,
I think you're misunderstanding something here...

There are two types of studio lighting:

1) Flash. These are just great hunking mains powered flash guns. e.g. Elinchrom D-Lite 2

2) Continuous Lighting. A bit like a very stable and controllable light bulb. e.g. Elinchrom Minilite

With either system you then modify the light using various means - soft-box, diffuser, umbrella, snoot, barn doors, honeycombs etc. These all allow you to get a different "feel" and control to the light (whether you want hard, soft etc).

You don't use a puny little battery powered flash gun when you've got a decent studio lighting setup

On the other hand, if you don't have space for full studio lighting (as in my case alas), you can achieve a studio "look" by using one or two decent electronic flashguns equipped with various light modifiers. I use two Pentax guns (AF360 + AF540) in wireless mode, mounting them onto tripods - with and without an umbrella.


Whichever approach you take - including using available or natural light - you can (and should at least learn to use) reflectors. They allow you to bounce back some of the light (whereever the light came from) and soften out shadows etc.

If you read the links I posted earlier that should give you some idea.... also the February issue of "Digital SLR User" (I think) has a nice article on portrait lighting.

Matt

Hi Guys

It is continious lighting i am looking for

Thanks Pete

No, it's not.

You have absolutely no idea what you are looking for, so listen to what more experienced people tell you.

NOBODY uses continuous artificial light for still photography.

Why? Let me tell you.

1 It is very difficult to get a good continuous light source with a colour balance which approximates to daylight, and which can maintain that balance consistently.

2 The amount of light you require necessitates huge and expensive light bulbs which generate vast amounts of heat. The equipment in which the bulbs are mounted has to be able to handle all this heat, so is heavy and unwieldy.

3 The heat creates very uncomfortable working conditions, virtually necessitating air-conditioning.

4 Studio flash, as opposed to the pathetic little units built into small cameras, is extremely versatile and can create any effect you care for. It is far and away better than any continuous light source, save the sun, and that is why it is the ONLY artificial light source used by professional and experienced amateur photographers for still photography.

What you want is some form of off-camera flash, which gives you two choices:

1 Proper studio flash, or

2 Good portable flash guns which can be operated remotely from the camera, and which can have their light diffused or in some other way modified. They can be controlled by cables, or wirelessly. This is what Matt is suggesting, and it is an excellent first step.

George

Pete,
Bear in mind that continuous lighting systems get very hot They do offer the advantage that you can see what you're going to get.

The other thing I neglected to say was that decent studio lights (like the D-Lite2 kit) have modelling lamps which give a proportional continuous lighting - so you can get an idea of the shadows etc. The flash though, when it's triggered, is stilll substantially brighter.

P.S. It was "Digital SLR Photography" that had the article. ( www.digitalslrphoto.com ) Also has a small review of the DLite-2 kit

P.P.S. Crossed in the post with George Quite agree with him Did I say I like the DLite-2 kit?? (Probably my next big purchase... unless the new star lenses come sooner )

Matt

Hi all

Can someone please explain how studio flash works in conjunction with my K10D in other words how does it syncronise and flash at the same time i press the shutter ??


Pete

Hi Pete

This has been covered a few times, try using the search facility on this site, here's one thread for starters....

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3312

Have fun

The camera has to be in manual mode. This is always the case with studio flash, on any camera.

It means you get totally consistent light, with none of the problems that can affect flash using TTL or P-TTL, such as reflections causing the meter to cut off the flash too early.

As for the synchronisation, you have three choices:

1 You can fit a pc socket adapter to the hotshoe, and then connect to one of the flash units by cable. (The others should be triggered by the light from the first, provided they have sensors incorporated. Most do, but some old ones need to have a separate sensor attached.) The problem with cables is that either they are too short, or you will trip over them.

2 You can use the built-in flash on the camera to trigger the studio flash units. This is hard on the battery, and you may not want light coming directly from the camera.

3 The best way is to attach an IR trigger to the camera's hotshoe.

G