Portrait lighting advice required

[mojjo1]

Hi all

I'd like to have a try at doing some portrait photography; friends family will be the gineau pigs, however I'm slightly bamboozled about what basic lighting equipement i'd require (searched on talk-photography forum).

Lights/umbrella/strobes etc etc

I currently have a Nikon D3100 with an 18-55 and 55-300 lens plus a mac with P/Shop CS4 and at the moment shoot at my local youth football club.

Would really appreciate some advice on what essential equipement I require, just the basics to get me started.

Budgetwise, god knows, had an idea of £500-£1000 for something start-up.

I'm in Hampshire so if anybody would like to earn some mega-beer tokens and perhaps give me a demo or a run through of what lighting they use i'd appreciate that.

Thanks

Ed

[Simpo Two]

You can come and play in Bloke Studio One if you like, but it's in Essex. I'll show you how the kit works, you experiment from there

[Muncle Trogg]

I've never really used anything more than an off camera flash as I prefer natural light but I'd imagine that you're budget is more than ample. IIRC there are starter kits you can buy from places like WareHouse Express for around £200-300.

It might be worth you checking out http://strobist.blogspot.com if you're serious about getting into lighting. Alternatively why not buy a reflector and try using natural light to start with. The other investment that I can recommend is a prime lens. I picked up a Nikon 50mm f1.8 (AKA the nifty fifty) for about £90 off Ebay and the quality is excellent.

As a shameless bit of self promotion here is a shot that I took of my kids for a canvas.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oliverivorybray/48317...

They were sat in front of a window and I used a reflector to provide fill light. It was shot on a Nikon D80 with the nifty fifty.

Olly

[AndWhyNot]

Get involved with the Southern Strobist group on flickr, they hold regular meets and portrait workshops

http://www.flickr.com/groups/southernstrobistuk/

[mojjo1]

Cheers for the replies and i'm now researching for a prime lens to buy, and this months Digital Photographer mag happens to have a group test on them which is handy.

As for coming to Essex, if I wasn't doing the school runs i'd jump at the chance to come have a play about with lights etc as that's exactly what I need.

Oh and 'andywhynot', nice shots of the 355 you posted up on here and the TP forum!!

Ed

[Major Bloodnok]

Have a look at this page. A couple of the bits aren't available any more, but you should be able to find equivalents.

[mojjo1]

Thanks for that link, quite impressive and quite a difference between budget and premium! So i'm guessing a specific studio light kit (e.g proline apollo 300 kit) differs from a strobist kit! Light vs flash ?!

Think i'll carry on researching the strobist route and other options but wow....there's a hell of a lot to it!

Ed

[Simpo Two]

For £1,000 you can get two half-decent (ie monobloc) studio flashes, softboxes, reflectors and probably a few other bits too.

[andy-xr]

http://www.studio-flash.com/studio-lighting-kits/g...

Here's a link to 3 x 400W heads, 1 black/silver umbrella, 1 softbox and 1 white shoot through umbrella

With upgraded stands (air cushioned) it shakes out at £761.92

They're not the best heads in the world. They're not even Bowens, which are top 10 in flash gear. But they'll take Bowens S fit accessories, they use the same if not similar flash tubes, and they have NBD warranty. I'd buy them if I was in your shoes (and I'm not on any commission from that company)

With the change, check out a Sekonic light meter

[Simpo Two]

Lighting is a personal thing but I've never got on with starfish, I mean umbrellas. Much prefer softboxes, nicer reflections.

Those heads you mentioned Andy - how variable is the power?

I mostly use 2x400W but also find a 100W most useful for tabletop stuff when you need shallow DOF. I started with a s/h Elinchrom kit off eBay, then as I figured things out I sold bits and bought bits until it suited what I wanted to do. Just like buying a DSLR, you don't know what you actually want/need until you've had it a while.

Edited by Simpo Two on Friday 1st April 21:38

[andy-xr]

Simpo Two said:

Those heads you mentioned Andy - how variable is the power?

Had to look it up, spec says 1/32 over 5 stops.

I've used them in a studio I've hired and they've been alright. I have Bowens at home and find the colour slightly better on the them. The Elementals are rated at 5600k +/- 100 - I'd say thats a little out as they seem slightly cooler in like for like tests, but still consistent enough to be useable

[mojjo1]

Thanks for the advice and todays shopping task is to get a prime lens (50) for my d3100 (will try it out at the Breakfast Club), then back to thinking about lighting.

Cheers

Ed

[andy-xr]

I think the D3100 needs AF-S lenses, so would rule out the ultra cheap 50mm 1.8 unless you want to manually focus everything.

Mention it to whoever you're shopping with to be sure

ETA - seems that you'll be looking at this one: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nikon-50mm-f1-... rather than this one: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nikon-50mm-f1-...

[mojjo1]

andy-xr said:

I think the D3100 needs AF-S lenses, so would rule out the ultra cheap 50mm 1.8 unless you want to manually focus everything.

Mention it to whoever you're shopping with to be sure

ETA - seems that you'll be looking at this one: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nikon-50mm-f1-... rather than this one: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nikon-50mm-f1-...

Cheers for the heads uo

That manual focus ones seems a steel at £100 quid but the auto focus one is, in Jessops, going for £288 ish and that'll be the one to go for. Triple the price but would like the auto focus option.

[andy-xr]

The annoying thing is that it's not manual focus on other bodies, just some of the Nikons.

If you're happy enough with the 1.8, and thinking of throwing a grand at studio lighting, would there be some compromise on the light budget to swap the body? Maybe an old D200 or D300? Completely your call of course

[mojjo1]

A trip to London Camera Exchange this afternoon to buy said 50mm 1.4g prime lens resulted in me being offered a substantially lower priced 35mm 1.8 g lens due to the sensor size of the D3100 being different to more comprehensive models in the Nikon line up.

Great advice from the guy to be honest, who let me try both out. From a layman's point of view the 35mm lens made everything appear much further away than reality (and the 50mm for that matter).

My intention is to shoot my kids and possible other family members too (camera not gun) so in-house will be the requirement of this lens.

So now sat at home with google as my friend and my credit card as the enemy while 4 cans of stella are acting as the referee.


hmm god know what i'll buy but i'm quite excited!

Ed

[andy-xr]

I'm all over this thread, sorry!

35mm will give distortion when used with people, even on a crop sensor. Faces will appear longer if you get close up to them. Depending on how much room you've got to play with 50mm really is the minimum I'd be using. Or I'd be correcting afterwards where possible.

Ideal lengths to go for in terms of portraiture (for me, anyway) is 50-85mm for full lengths and 3/4's, 135-200'ish mm for headshots.

You can def go with the 35mm 1.8, I was looking for one today myself, but just be aware that it would have some limitations or characteristics for what you're thinking of using it for

[mojjo1]

andy-xr said:

I'm all over this thread, sorry!

35mm will give distortion when used with people, even on a crop sensor. Faces will appear longer if you get close up to them. Depending on how much room you've got to play with 50mm really is the minimum I'd be using. Or I'd be correcting afterwards where possible.

Ideal lengths to go for in terms of portraiture (for me, anyway) is 50-85mm for full lengths and 3/4's, 135-200'ish mm for headshots.

You can def go with the 35mm 1.8, I was looking for one today myself, but just be aware that it would have some limitations or characteristics for what you're thinking of using it for

Cheers Andy, Hijack it all you want, I don't mind and appreciate any advice. The 50mm has been ordered, the 1.4 version for £288 so dead excited about that,

Now it's lights I need to sort out...