With the purchase of a nice new digital SLR (Maxxum 7d), I'm setting up a studio in my house, and I've been researching different lights for studio work. Unfortunately, it seems the more I read, the more confused I get. Could someone help me out with the advantages/disadvantages of strobe lighting over constant lighting?

Most of my work up to this point has been with natural lighting, and or modified room lighting. But I know that when it comes to studio lighting, it's a whole new ball game to do it right. If you have any recommendations regarding this, or even a good beginner's studio kit (after the purchase of the new camera, I'm left with somewhat limited resources here) I'd appreciate any advice you can offer.

Thank you!
Scott

Message edited on: 12/14/2005 21:45

my husband and i decided to go with constant lighting. here's the link that will show you the ones we got. we don't have any problems with them so far, but we've only had them for a few months.
we also ordered diffusers for them.

disadvantage of strobe lighting...you can't really see how your subject looks like under the light because strobe light pops for just a fraction of a second. So you have to take your shots and see if the lighting is right.

with constant lighting, you see immediately what adjustments you need to make BEFORE you take your shot.

advantage of strobe lighting...spends a lot less electricity than constant lighting. I haven't noticed that our electric bill is higher since we started experimenting with our lights; however, we haven't really used the lights much yet.

Strobe lights also last much longer than high output bulbs for constant lighting. Bulbs can be a bit costly for constant lighting.

strobe lights are smaller and don't develop as much heat. strobe lights have more electronics involved and perhaps are more complicated.

constant lighting...your subject can get pretty hot under them. they're simpler lights and less parts to go bad.

we always used natural lighting too. this is all pretty new to us too and we're still learning. takes some time!

Good luck, Scott!!! :) sheila

Message edited on: 12/15/2005 03:18

Message edited on: 12/15/2005 03:20

Attached Link: http://www.adorama.com/SVKQ83.html?searchinfo=Smith%20Victor%20KQ83%201800W%20Ultra%20Qu&item_no=1

oops...forgot the link...here it is. :)

Attached Link: http://www.alienbees.com/

I use...oops, better say "have" small and simple strobe lights from Alien Bees. I have not made the place to use the strobes so more "have" than "use" at the time being. These strobes have everyday light bulbs in addition to the strobe tube, used as modeling lamps to give an indication of the light balance. Taking a few test shots is not a hassle with digital.

Lots of brands are out there but some folks recommended the brand I got and so I went that direction. Controls on the lights to vary the light output are easy to understand.

Trying these lights a few times, I have tried to use a single light with reflectors, etc...aka single point lighting as in nature with the sun. To me this is a good learning approach. The second light is still in its box.

These strobes are easy to use and from my unexperienced pov, work quite well. You will need a decent light meter of the incident/reflected light sort which will read flash.
Using the meter is not really difficult.

I am not experienced with either strobe or hot lights but for me, the strobe is the way to go. To each..a choice.

Message edited on: 12/15/2005 07:33

Have used strobe and continuous lights, IMO strobe every time. As Shelia said continuous lights give off a lot of heat, if shooting models, it can be uncomfortable, especially in summer (even in Scotland) cause them to sweat this in turn will produce unwanted highlights unless you have a model with good makeup skills or a make up artist. Most probably all strobes have a modeling lamp, this is used to see what the lighting will actually look like. Strobes come in many powers, for a small shooting area 250 watt will be more than sufficient. There are many makes; Ellencrome and Bowan are very good. I have used both, some Bowans can be fired by remote radio trigger and some Ellencrome can use an IR trigger. Strobes are daylight white balanced at approx 5200k so there is no very little white balance setting issues. Either way the most important think is metering them correctly and using the right attachments (soft box/snoot/umbrella etc) for the job. Simon

I subscribe to the theory "if it works, it's right" and speak only from experience (vs knowledge and wisdom). In researching what lights to buy, I found many pros advocating both methods so that was little help. As I am mostly a studio shooter... still life and "artistic" (how presumptuous does that sound?) model shoots. I like shadow and lightplay, to "study" and play with the lighting for a shot, so for me continuous (hot) lights work best. I rarely use flash. My first light was a quartz light but I quickly changed to lights that had standard incandescent bulb sockets for the flexibility they provide. With these I can use temperature controlled photo bulbs (expensive and short life span) for portrait style shooting, or everyday soft/natural light bulbs offering a range of wattage and effect on the image for "artistic" and still life shooting. Depending on need, I have available 2 8" reflectors, with barndoors (which I can cover with translucent material to make a pseudo soft box), and umbrellas. Also one deep 6" light for hair and focused lighting. I use a boom arm for overhead lighting, which can be great. I also break with traditional wisdom and occasionally use dimmer switches to modulate the light's intensity... yes I know it changes the light temperature, but you can set WB to offset that and it gets me the light/shadow I want. This is all cheap stuff from Ebay, the total coming in at a couple hundred dollars. The only negatives are glare for the model (though none have complained and umbrellas can help mitigate that) and sometimes heat... but that's why God created air conditioning. :) Hope this helps.

Heh heh, well, that definitely gives me something to think about. Thanks everyone. I'm glad to hear that most strobes have a modeling lamp. It seems like it's really kind of a mixed bag, and it just depends on the situation whether or not to use continuous/strobe lighting. Sigh That's exactly what I was afraid of. That means that eventually I'll probably want both, lol. The next question is, which comes first?

"which comes first?" The egg or was that the Chicken lol, could never figure that out! IMO strobes are easier to use, if I was looking for lights I would go for strobes first. (maybe because I use them most) I guess it comes down to personal preference, as does everything with photography.

Attached Link: http://www.studiolighting.net/

The link has tutorials with illustrated setups. Some might be helpful. Being a newbie with studio lighting, I really did not know which way to go. Eventually it came to strobes and believe me I felt like the stobe were from Venus and I was from Mars untill I first tired using the lights. Sure, I have not used the lights much but can tell you the set-up is not really difficult. As I said, you do need good metering and a flash meter(incident/reflective flash meter) with sync to fire the lights is needed. You can hold the flash at the subject location, fire the strobe from the meter and get your reading for left, right, straight on. The link has some useful tuts. As for which to choose, hot or strobe..who knows but you. Good luck. If you get into this faster than I have it might be me coming your way for advice. : )

My flash can be fired wirelessly by my cameras built in flash. I could use additional flashes set to wireless mode and they can all be fired simultaneously. I could set them on a table, mount them on tripods, or stands w/hotshoe attachments, position them accordingly and then have a light studio. Would this work for say portrait photography studio? I know it is a technique for still life studio photography using four or five off cammera flashes to bounce light around a subject on a white surface with foam core background for bouncing light.

Yes that can be done as you say, it is quite hard to control the light as apposed to having studio flash heads, I guess you would get to know what works well with a bit of playing about.

that makes sense... thanks LostPatrol.

Attached Link: http://www.theflashcentre.com/guidetobetterpics.htm#

This link maybe useful to you.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?ByArtist=Y&Artist=mjr

The best advice about studio lights came to me from member mjr. The link is to that photographers gallery. These are mostly nudes so be ready for that. The images to me are wonerfully done. I IM'd mjr about lighting and that is where I got the suggestion to start off "considering the light" like natural light...a single point of light, like the sun, reflected as it is, etc. This is an excellent first direction. All we see in nature is illuminated from essentially the sun and the reflections and ramifications of that. To learn to do a decent studio shot with one light...something to accomplish...once accomplished, then add the other lighting. The images in mjr's gallery are to me very good examples of lighting well done. With the human body, mislighting or lighting done too dramatically is obvious, moreso than with subjects we are not quite so familiar. I credit the initial advice I got on studio lights to this 'rosity member. I hope it is ok to put a link to that gallery here. Remember, if you do not want to see nudes, do not go there. All is done well and in good taste of the artist. This member of 'rosity helped me a bunch. I am sure others are here to help also. Being a general outdoors shooter, doing indoor or even outdoor assisted lighting was a new and totally different challenge. It is not that difficult to get into. To master..well, that is a long ways off for me. Still, I at least now have direction and the basic tools to try. Tom. Happy Holidays if you are celebrating any, otherwise, have a wonderful day and the next day too.

cool links I have bookmarked them. I will study these more..hopefully someday I'll know enough to get some lights and a girl :-)

Ok late to the game, but was out of town shooting a wedding all weekend. Here is my personal experience. Started out with "hot" lights, and they served me well for the most part. The problem are blubs blow out fast, and on more than one occasion while shooting a wedding, I had blubs explode. Not good when shooting for a paid client. I believe this was caused by the heat of the lamps reflecting on to itself while bouncing the light in an umbrella. I know have Alien Bee strobes, which to me are a good value studio strobe. I used them at the wedding I just got back from and did not have any problems. I would have to say using the strobes was easy, though using strobes cost more money. Not only for the lights themselves, but as mention you will need a light meter also. So for me Stobes, are my favorite.

Fascinating stuff. I appologize for my ignorance in the matter of lighting but I have yet another a question in regards to non stand alone lights that are fired from the camera. How does one go about hooking up such various studio lights to your camera. The only place my camera has to connect lights is the hotshoe. Do some cameras have a place to plug in all those lights? Or can they connect with the hotshoe, or are they slave flashes? Or do some lights have more than one way to connect to the camera.

The connections are fairly simple. The stobe supplier can generally provide a "hotshoe" connect for your cam and their strobes. Mine cost about $8 US. The lights are wired in my connections, even if "wireless" is available. Several companies can provide a hotshoe adaptor for the cam. A wire goes from that to one strobe and then all works together.

The lights are not all connected to your camera, only one..that one is then connected to the other lights and all works together.

As for a light meter, Sekonic makes some that are not very expensive(and some that are quite expensive!) which are incident/refelctive light with Flash metering. To use these, the sync cord is connected to the flash and the meter and nothing to the camera. You sit or hold the meter where the subject is, aim the meter at one light and push the button. Bingo..you have a reading for light from that light. Do it again if using a reflector or another strobe and bingo, you have a reading from that. Then you can take a try with the meter aimed at the camera and see the overall exposture to use.

The flash readings from one light to the other will allow you to adjust the power of each light, perhaps lowering one a bit in power to make an image with a "ratio" or difference in lighting from one side of the subject to the other. This is not really complicated to get started in.
You know from the flash how much light is coming, perhaps from the left and if you want more shadow on the right then take the reading, adjust the power of the strobe down a bit and take another reading.

The cords all work from the single hotshoe adaper of your camera...then the strobes work together with their own connects.

I hope this makes sense since I am very, very far from being experienced with the storbes I own but have used little. At least, I know the setup is not difficult as it sounds and is fun to expeeriment with.

The camera should use "manual" exposure settings. If the camera is not on "manual", it will try to average or correct the exposure. You don't want that. You get the settings from the flash meter aimed at the camera, for instance.

I do hope this helps a bit. If I screwed up in advice, someone will correct any misinformation. I tried to cut it to the basic and simple startup.

Oh, most stobes can be used wired(ore wireless with costly adapter) or fire from the flash of the other light, using a light pickup on the secondary unit. I would only need to wire to one light and the second sees the light of the first to fire.
Tom.

Message edited on: 12/19/2005 19:50

Message edited on: 12/19/2005 20:01

There is one sync cord(ore wireless) from the hotshoe to the flash. The other flashes work either by cords or by light sensors. Set the light(s) up, take a reading or two to get an idea of how the light varies from one side to the other, take a few test shots to see how it pans out in actual shooting..adjust from there. I use foamcore white board for reflectors(and one covered with crinkled aluminum foil) and have found good results from that. I personally am not going to try the second strobe untill I get used to the "single" light source..with reflectors, etc. Then, who knows. We are learning together. : ) Tom.

That explains a great deal. This is almost starting to make sense. Thanks for explaining about these various wiring scenerios. I still like my idea about using multiple wireless hotshoe flashes because they are more portable as opposed to big studio lights, but as LostPatrol mentioned such wireless flashes would work but it would be much more diffictult to control the lighting than with studio lights...but apparantly not for certain applications of still life photography as I described above. Someday I would like to learn how to take portrait photography...I studied some lights at a Walmart studio the other day and it didn't look too complex. I say if Walmart can do it then so can I! I think I'm gonna book mark this page so I can study it. Lighting is still a sea of confusion to me, but lots of cool info in here...very interesting and educational for me. :-)

The set-ups of using multiple wireless hotshoe flashes, like the "Nikon system" of using light connected strobes is to me a backstep compared to studio type lights. Studio lights offer the advantage of various types of reflectors such as umbrellas, etc. and the investment is not siginificantly more (and in some cases less) than investing in camera type strobes with less power to play with in the first place. The few studio photographers I know have learned their stuff and use the same settings for almost all pics, meaning exposure. They know the lighting and what it will do and simply shoot the shot. It is a mechanical thing to them for the standard shot, as in department store shootings or the picture of you as you get off a ride at an amusement park. The fun of studio type strobe to me is experimentation. Sure, small objects might be different, I haven't tried that. Neat thread you started here.. I will learn something for sure!

I will show you what the lights I have look like. Sorry for all the pics...it might help, though. I am not recommending one brand over another since I know little about it. This is just to take away some of the "MYSTERY" associated with strobes. Fair enough? This first shot is the flash unit overall.

The strobe ring is obvious. The regular lamp is the "modeling lamp" which might need a really dark studio without much outside light to get a good look at what the shot will look like. The modeling lamp will vary up and down just as will the power of the strobe.

The back of the unit is shown here. The slider controls the power, in "increments" of power.

Message edited on: 12/19/2005 21:49

This is the sync cord, used with the hotshoe connect shown and the little plug pin on the left. The plug pin goes to the strobe or to the flash meter, depending on which you are using at the time. Hope this helps ease some of the mystery! Frankly, when I went to get a strobe I was lost as a fish in muddy water...opened the box and felt bewildered then, too! But, setting up and using is not so difficult at all, really. To get the artistic side you want..that is the challenge. Best wishes on whatever your choice in external lighting. Post please if and when it happens since I have a lot to learn here. Thanks. Tom.

ps...the unit is shown with no reflectors. A metal ring reflector comes with it and attaches to the little hard to see clips around the strobe and modelling lamp. The two wings at the top move the figers in and out to hold the reflector. The unit can(as do others) attach an umbrella reflector or fit into soft boxes. I got an umbrella reflector since the simple metal reflector was too harsh for the first few images I took. I also use white foam core board(any art place or Wallmart has this stuff) for reflectors. Once I get decent at it, I will post an image using the strobe(s). So far, the image I want is in mind but no time to get it set up yet. There you is...Tom.

This is great, I'm learning a lot from this conversation. Thanks!

I was checking out some flash meters on Konica Minolta's web site and I even more confused than I was yesterday. They have two auto meters, two flash meters, and a color meter. Apparantly all meter flash, so would any of these meters work, or do you need a meter that actually is a flash meter? http://kmpi.konicaminolta.us/eprise/main/kmpi/content/cam/cam_category_pages/ExposureMeters "Equipped with memory, averaging, and monitoring functions, the lightweight and compact Auto Meter IVF measures both flash and ambient light, and includes the important functions to help simplify your most critical applications in photography or cinematography, in the field or in the studio. This easy-to-use meters many accessories make it ideal for a wide range of uses. The Minolta Auto Meter VF features simplified operation and enhanced functionality. In addition to providing shadow/highlight-based exposure calculations for reflected light measurement, this new meter offers a custom setting mode which allows users to specify a desired exposure correction value and shutter speed increments across a broad range of aperture and shutter speeds. And, for the first time, the Auto Meter VF provides an Analyze function, which conveniently displays the flash/ambient lighting ratio. The Color Meter IIIf measures not only flash and ambient light, but also a mixture of the two. In addition to displaying the most suitable LB or CC filter number, this meter is equipped with color balance monitoring and measurement-correction functions, which allow you to control color reproduction with the utmost precision. The Flash Meter V is the worlds first intelligent exposure meter. With an innovative intelligent AUTO mode, it distinguishes flash light from ambient light, and cord/non-cord operation automatically, while providing unparalleled precision and ease of use for the most demanding photographer or cinematographer. This meter raises the standard for high performance while creating a new standard for user-friendliness. The Minolta Flash Meter VI sets a new industry standard by incorporating a compact, high-performance 1degree spot meter function for the utmost in versatility. Separate measuring buttons allow taking both normal incident light readings and reflected-spot readings for comparison in the meter's unique LATITUDE display mode."

As I have stated, I am very, very far from being "quotable" in the use of studio lights..but for a simple try go for a meter that does this: Measures reflected light:Point the meter at the subject, this is where the "spot" metering comes into play, using various size metering "spots" to measure the light. Different size spot reading adapters are often options. Incident light: This is the light hitting the subject, measured with the little pingpong ball looking dome. Hold it at the subject and measure light striking the subject, such as a flash or hot light. Flash Meter: Generally Incident light but the meter allows you to get that quick reading while firing the lights from the meter with a sync cord or wireless. You can set the film(or digital)ISO speed into the meter and take a reading. The meter will show what it considers a correct exposure for that ISO and either speed or aperture you select. That is the simple of it. Reading lights on both sides gives you an idea of the amount of light on each side. There are charts to see on the net showing how that works out to "light ratios", for flat, more distinct and dramatic lighting with strong shadow on one side, for instance. An incident reading toward the camera will give an average reading to take the shot, using manual on the camera. The most basic functions are what I have used. The a few test shots tell me how to adjust one way or the other. How far away the lights are make a big difference in exposure, as the meter will show you. I think if the meter has too many bells and whistles, well for me, I will likely not even use those whistles and only use the bells once in a while! : ) This is less than one sheet of paper printed out..and is about the extent of my knowledge. I do know the meter is not hard to use going for simple settings. Once you get a feel for the settings needed, you might be shooting alot at the same settings anyway.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/tut.ez?Form.ViewPages=272

I mentioned lighting "ratios", meaning the amount of light hitting one side and the other of a two light or light and reflector lighting set-up. There is a tutorial on 'rosity with some shots showing something on "portrait styles" and what can be done with different light sets. The link is attached.