I'm in the process of trying to put together a budget for buying studio lighting gear. Not for a studio of my own, I'm a renter still, and I'm not patient enough and good enough at portraiture to make a go of that kind of work. I'm looking for lighting that will let me shoot stock images with models - yes, I do know how tough stock is, but I made it through the first couple barriers now and have an opening for some permanent ongoing work.
I'll be renting studios, or going on location, to shoot. The range of images will be from full body "scenes" to closeups of just fingertips and a raspberry. I've been looking at monolights versus wired lighting. Seems to me that monolights would be wonderful for mobility and flexibility on site, but they seem to be "slow" in flash duration - most wired systems like Alien Bees are near 1/2000 of a second. I also worry if monolights will make it through a 6-8 hour shooting day. Any opinions or experience?
My second issue is how many lights and power levels. I studied lighting design for theater decades ago, and to me, lighting a scene involves 30 or 40 lights, four or five different gels, and other insane levels of technology that only make sense in a theater. How many is enough?
Power levels also are a problem for me - huge numbers of lights at 300ws, but that's about the same as my SB80Dx. Doesn't seem enough, at ISO 100 and distances of 8-15 feet. Few, and very expensive, lights at 600-750ws and above. But I have a rule, buy once only and the right stuff only even if it means waiting to accumulate enough $$, don't buy and trade and trade and trade. What's a sensible solution here?
I already know that I'll be shooting mostly with softboxes, honeycombed backlighting, ring lights, and beauty disks. That seems to be the easiest set of decisions, no choice of gear closes those doors.
Any and all experiences and advice welcome. I'm kind of a sponge when it comes to making decisions like this.
Thanks.
I'll be renting studios, or going on location, to shoot. The range of images will be from full body "scenes" to closeups of just fingertips and a raspberry. I've been looking at monolights versus wired lighting. Seems to me that monolights would be wonderful for mobility and flexibility on site, but they seem to be "slow" in flash duration - most wired systems like Alien Bees are near 1/2000 of a second. I also worry if monolights will make it through a 6-8 hour shooting day. Any opinions or experience?
My second issue is how many lights and power levels. I studied lighting design for theater decades ago, and to me, lighting a scene involves 30 or 40 lights, four or five different gels, and other insane levels of technology that only make sense in a theater. How many is enough?
Power levels also are a problem for me - huge numbers of lights at 300ws, but that's about the same as my SB80Dx. Doesn't seem enough, at ISO 100 and distances of 8-15 feet. Few, and very expensive, lights at 600-750ws and above. But I have a rule, buy once only and the right stuff only even if it means waiting to accumulate enough $$, don't buy and trade and trade and trade. What's a sensible solution here?
I already know that I'll be shooting mostly with softboxes, honeycombed backlighting, ring lights, and beauty disks. That seems to be the easiest set of decisions, no choice of gear closes those doors.
Any and all experiences and advice welcome. I'm kind of a sponge when it comes to making decisions like this.
Thanks.