Posts Tagged ‘lighting’
Portrait Lighting Muslin
September 11th, 2011
Searching for Portrait Lighting Muslin? You"re in luck. This page was made especially to help you find it! It features many different sources to get or learn about them, so be sure to scroll down the page all the way.
First, let"s start by searching Ebay for Portrait Lighting Muslin:
 JS Photo Studio Portrait Lighting Kit Backdrop Muslin Support Stand JUC168  US $205.70
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 JS Photo Studio Portrait Lighting Kit Backdrop Muslin Support Stand JUC164 US $400.40
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Question: Economy Home Studio Set Up (Digital Photography)- Advice Please!?
I would like to set up an inexpensive home studio to expand my hobby and am looking to buy the following:
1. Background stand
2. Paper or muslin background
3. Sudio Lights
4. Anything else?? (yes, I have a camera!)I mainly want to take portrait style digital photographs of children.
Where do I start? I have a limited budget but don't want the finished result to look "home-made".
Any general advice on backgrounds and lighting much appreciate with any recommendations of where I might aquire this equipement (eg secondhand- other than ebay) very useful as well.
Thanks for you advice!
Answer: have a look at the loot website you can get some photographic eqpt realy cheaply i love photography and i would like the same stuff
Another excellent place to find Portrait Lighting Muslin is on Amazon... They have way more than just books!
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Question: What is the minimum power of strobe necessary for portrait photography?
I am interested in starting to do portrait photography and am curious about the minimum power for strobes. I would plan to initially use two lights with a black muslin background. Since I am not a professional, price is important and that obviously goes up as the power increases.
Answer: Unfortunately there is so much more to consider than simply out put power...there is recycle time, adjustable settings ect ect. However the out put power will really depend on how far your lights are from your subject, and whether you'll be using any light modifiers, such as a soft box, umbrella's, or grid to diffuse the light a bit. Unless you'll be shooting direct hard lit portraits all day, with the lights right on top of your subjects, 600ws minimum. Read up on lighting and you'll find that light falls off in an exponential manner, in other words two feet from the light you'll get full power, 8ft from the light you'll be down to less than half of full output. Plus you will want to dial one down to create a ratio, further reducing the output of one of your lights...you'll have to move it closer to the subject to compensate. Also in portraiture, you don't want to have gear or the camera in the subjects face, you leave a comfort zone and you get better results. Are you planning on lighting your background ? I would strongly suggest it...and you'll need at least one more light, so make that three. Sounds like you need to do a bit more planning before hanging your shingle as a portrait studio, and buy some decent lights...I've seen several questions about the JUNK on E-Bay selling for $250. Try to remember you get exactly what you pay for whit photographic equipment. It's not fun trying to explain an equipment failure to a paying customer , so go with the quality lights. Yeah they're expensive, but it's part of the biz.
Good Luck in your venture...
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Posted in Lighting and Studio Equipment | 
Tags: backdrops, background, backgrounds, lighting, photography | 
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Flash Speedlite
September 10th, 2011
Searching for Flash Speedlite? You"re in luck. This page was made especially to help you find it! It features many different sources to get or learn about them, so be sure to scroll down the page all the way.
First, let"s start by searching Ebay for Flash Speedlite:
 Canon Speedlite 540EZ Shoe Mount Flash US $71.00
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 Canon Speedlite 430EZ Shoe Mount Flash US $51.00
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 Canon Speedlite Flash Gun Case US $5.07
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 Excellent Canon Speedlite 540EZ Wireless Flash Only US $39.99
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 original RICOH SPEEDLITE 260P automatic TTL FLASH US $14.99
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 Canon Speedlite 430EX Shoe Mount Flash US $181.00
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 Canon Speedlite 430EX II Shoe Mount Flash US $227.50
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 Canon Speedlite 188A Flash US $24.99
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Question: Best alternative to Speedlite flash, Canon 50D?
I would really like a speedlite flash to go with my 50D however, at the moment they are a bit too costly.
So, does anyone use or can recommend an alternative that isn't so pricey but still has decent performance?
Thanks
Answer: You have two choices - go with an all singing all dancing (expensive) TTL Canon flash. This will give you Auto flash metering so you don't have to set anything -you just point & shoot & the camera determines the correct flash exposure.
Alternatively, you go for a cheaper, third party manual flash (which Paul R thinks you'll give up after a bout a week - well, maybe he did). A third party flash will not have TTL capability, which means that you learn to light manually. You may not be prepared to put in the little time & effort that requires, but in the long run, you'll find it has benefits.
TTL flash is not all its cracked up to be. Sure, it's ok for 'run & gun' flash work, but most serious off camera photographers wil tend to shoot manual flash. TTL can be a bit unreliable (like most Auto systems, it doesn't always get it right) and a bit unreproducible (because you don't know what power it fired at it's difficult to get the same result twice.
A Yongnuo 560 flash (which is about the same spec, apart from TTL, as a Canon 580EX) will cost about £60. A set of radio triggers to fire it off camera (on camera flash is bad because its hard & on axis) would cost about £27 - so for less than 1/3 cost of a Canon speedlight, you got the beginnings of an off camera setup.
There is also a 'middle' choice - manufacturers like Nissin & Yongnuo also make Canon eTTL compatible flashes, but these are more expensive than the manual flashes.
Edit: Paul R - I have no problem using rear curtain sync off camera with third party flashes, but then I'm not a Canon user ;^). I don't agree that manual flash is a 'world of pain' but sure, it takes a little while to master, as with most things photographic - if you want to use anything other than Auto settings, you need to take the time & effort to master the basics. However, there's so many good tutorial sites out there for off camera flash;
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/02/welcome-to-strobist.html
being one of them, there's no excuse for not learning! The manual flashes I mentioned will have no problem with trigger voltage - they're modern units designed for digital cameras, trigger voltage of 6V or less.
PS. This may be way too late, but regarding software you were looking for for direction/time of sunrise/sunset, have you tried The Photographer's Ephemeris?;http://photoephemeris.com/
ideal for planning landscape photography.
Edit 2: The build quality of the YN560 is good - built like a tank! Bigger & heavier than the YN460-II. This is a Strobist swim shoot I did using 2x YN560's;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2krz58XfUw
Another excellent place to find Flash Speedlite is on Amazon... They have way more than just books!
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Question: Is "CANON 430EX II SPEEDLITE FLASH" a good flash?
I have to choose between 430EXII and 580EXII. Of course 580EXII will be better, but the price is just too much for me. So I am asking, is 430EXII is a good flash?
Answer: The 430EX II is the level when Canon's flashes start to get good. It has full tilt and swivel ability, which is a good thing. If you don't have the money for the 580, the 430 is definitely acceptable.
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