Studying some lighting books is a good idea, but decent equipment is a must for anything other than ebay product shots. You can purchase a couple of monolights and umbrellas for relatively little. You can't go wrong with that kind of setup as a starting point. You don't want to fool around with flashes that were meant to be used on camera as studio strobes. I tried that for a while. If you're going to do more than a shot or two, it's frustrating. Alien bees are good. Studio Pro Excaliburs are another option in the monolight category. I bought my first set for around $700 on ebay: two monolights with stands and umbrellas and a hair or background light with snorkel. You can do a lot with that. Here's an example of an SP Excalibur kit similar to mine: http://www.adorama.com/SPE3200K.html On Sep 23, 2006, at 11:37 PM, Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote:
> I'd recommend buying and reading a book on studio lighting before you > walk into the store. Know what kinds of things might be germaine to > the work you want to accomplish, so that you go to the store with a > pointed interest in specific kinds of things... > > I have several books on lighting, from macro to studio portraiture. > I'm building up my lighting equipment slowly, as need develops. Right > now, most of what I need has to do with small to medium size, simple > tabletop work. The Light Cube that someone pointed me to and the > Sunpak 383 on an extension cord produced the pictures of the Pentax > DS + DA21 I posted recently... very simple, very easy, nothing fancy. > > Godfrey > > > On Sep 23, 2006, at 8:27 AM, David J Brooks wrote: > >> I am hoping sometime in the new year, to pick up some sort of starter >> studio kit, like an umbrella or two etc. >> >> I'd like to walk into the store and not look like a complete dolt, >> just a moderate one<g> so i;'m looking for some advise. >> >> Whats the best thing to pick up. Should i get a couple of alein bees, >> or umbrellas and add some flashes, like Scott is thinking. >> >> Would it be best to buy something like a transmitter for the >> camera or >> is wired just as good. >> >> Space would be small at best. One thing i'm thinking of is >> shooting in >> a small pet store kind of thing. >> >> Any input or links would be helpfull. Looking for both my systems if >> that matters. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
