Photography question about lighting

[rocel]

I wanted to try out to make a mini photography studio in my apartment. I am a newbie in photography and I want to learn more about it. Will this studio kit suffice? I saw it in JPC website.

http://www.jpckemang.com/detail.php?cid=2987646203ee60b7f746f5&sid=9693165323ee69a087951e&mid=3007888634510dcb108681&pid=977428298500fae941b549

or should I buy a speedlight instead?

[El_Goretto]

I think for the price it's pretty good. However, know that you will be stuck to using this indoor, near a power source as I don't think this comes with a battery.

Also you will need a way to trigger these lights, in other word something that makes your camera tell the flashes when to fire. This can be either with a sync cord that connects from your camera to one of the flashes (the other flash would have a light detector that would fire as soon as the other flash fires. To be confirmed as the info is not available on jpc website), or it can be wireless (radio or infrared) meaning you will need a transmitter and a receiver.

My recommendation would be that you go for speedlights. Buy 2 or 3 of them along with some cheap light stands, some articulated brackets (to attach the speedlights and umbrellas together) 2 shoot through umbrellas, some rechargeable batteries, some cheap wireless trigger system. This will give you a lot of flexibility, it will be a bit more expensive but you will be able to use it everywhere and be able to pack it nice and tight. That's what I've been using ever since I started using controlled lighting and it's never let me down. My only regret is that I bought the expensive wireless triggers instead of buying the cheap ones and investing the saved money in more speedlights and items for my kit.

Also, to learn about lighting, I highly recommend the lessons on strobist.com. Check out lighting 101 and lighting 102. That's what's taught me how to do stuff like this:

[beebop]

100watts is very low power. I have 2 of the tronic TR500 strobes and i find they have a yerrible pink tint. You can always fix it with a preset white ballance but it also means you cant mix it with other brand light sources. They do have built in optic triggers so there are no worries there. But those particular tronics youre looking at wont even stand up much against a powerful speedlight. I recommend you start off with a couple yongnuo 560 speedlights. Theyre cheap and have an optical trigger so you wont need to buy a trigger. They are pretty reliably triggerede even in harsh daylight. i would say 3 speedlights with cheap stands and umbrellas and a couple sets of eneloop rechargable batteries will definately be a good buy. Probably even cheaper than the package you have linked and you even get one extra light

[El_Goretto]

100watts is very low power. I have 2 of the tronic TR500 strobes and i find they have a yerrible pink tint. You can always fix it with a preset white ballance but it also means you cant mix it with other brand light sources. They do have built in optic triggers so there are no worries there. But those particular tronics youre looking at wont even stand up much against a powerful speedlight. I recommend you start off with a couple yongnuo 560 speedlights. Theyre cheap and have an optical trigger so you wont need to buy a trigger. They are pretty reliably triggerede even in harsh daylight. i would say 3 speedlights with cheap stands and umbrellas and a couple sets of eneloop rechargable batteries will definately be a good buy. Probably even cheaper than the package you have linked and you even get one extra light

Well, optical triggers need to be triggered by a flash and how do youbtriggercthat first flash? Either if you mount the flash on camera but that's not always practical or with a sync cord. Optical triggers alone are not enough.

[beebop]

if your camera has a built in flash its no problem. If not then yes you will need a trigger but even then i would recommend a cheap speedligh to mount on camera to optically trigger the off camera flashes. Its a very cheap and reliable system especially for indoor use.

[El_Goretto]

I don't see how this can be a good solution. The on-camera flash will inevitably affect your pictures to some extent, especially when built-in flashes do not usually have proper manual output control.

I think a sync cord or cheap wireless trigger is the way to go to trigger one of the flashes and let the other flashes follow suit with their built in optical trigger.

[Hombre de Maiz]

You guys ever feel like you're cheating?

[El_Goretto]

You guys ever feel like you're cheating?

What do you mean by cheating?

[Hombre de Maiz]

What do you mean by cheating?

Well, let's see. One challenge to getting a good photograph is the light. But in this case, you are providing and controlling your own light. How many flash units and stroves are you using again? Another challenge is getting the subject to behave. But in this case, the subject is under your control. Yet another challenge is to get the composition right before the subject moves or the light changes. But in this case, that doesn't apply cuz you control the subject and the light so you can sit there for minutes, if not hours, adjusting the comp. The light and the subject ain't going anywhere. It'd be an embarrasment if, with all that gear you didn't get fantastic shots under those conditions.

[rabbit_39]

Nah, that's not cheating. No different than painting with oil paint or water color, but we're using light. Especially for indoor studio. Lots to do to be creative.

[beebop]

its called art.
Btw @EG: the on board pop up flash on my camera atleast can fire at 1/128 power. It does nothing to a studio scenario other than producing a small catch light in the subjects eyes. If youre using a speedlight on camera to trigger optical strobes which is what i do, you can rotate the head to flash behind you at minimum power. It has no effect on studio images whatsoever. You can pick up a yongnuo 460 for under rp500,000 to trigger your optic slaves and you wont need a receiver. I find cheap triggers annoying. The last pair i had (and am still stuck with) could not sync at 1/250s even at 1/160 it was pushing the limits. An optic slave has no sync issues

[rocel]

i am learning a lot from you guys.

is nissin di622 ok? i don't want to buy expensive speedlights for now, as i do not know how to use them yet. @beebop, where can i buy those yongnuo speedlights?

[El_Goretto]

Well, let's see. One challenge to getting a good photograph is the light. But in this case, you are providing and controlling your own light. How many flash units and stroves are you using again? Another challenge is getting the subject to behave. But in this case, the subject is under your control. Yet another challenge is to get the composition right before the subject moves or the light changes. But in this case, that doesn't apply cuz you control the subject and the light so you can sit there for minutes, if not hours, adjusting the comp. The light and the subject ain't going anywhere. It'd be an embarrasment if, with all that gear you didn't get fantastic shots under those conditions.

I think that you don't really believe that using controlled lighting is cheating but want to start a conversation instead Maybe it would be better to start another thread for that but I'll reply here in the mean time.

The word "Photography" comes from the Greek words "photos" and "graphos" respectively meaning "light" and "painting", "drawing" or "writing". So "photography" literally means "paint with light", so to me the control of light to create an image is the essence of photography, not matter where the light source comes from.

Using controlled lighting offers many advantages and extends the physical boundaries of photography with natural light only. An example would be using the sun as a rim light, however without some form of controlled lighting, the dynamic range is way too high for modern cameras meaning the contrast between the shadows and the rim light is too high resulting in a failed photos. But by lighting the shadows yourself, you suddenly extend the photographic opportunities of this situation.

On the other hand, there are times where I bring my lighting kit to some outdoor location but don't end up using because the natural light is just that good.

The same could be said of built-in HDR capabilities in the 5d3. Isn't that cheating? Some people consider any manipulation on Photoshop cheating, including HDR toning. But if the HDR process is done in camera, then it's not considered cheating? The line will get more and more blurred between cameras and computers in terms of processing power and image processing capabilities. To me, photography is a medium that is evolving to provide with many artistic tools to achieve certain artistic goals. If these tools are available, why not use them?

[El_Goretto]

its called art.
Btw @EG: the on board pop up flash on my camera atleast can fire at 1/128 power. It does nothing to a studio scenario other than producing a small catch light in the subjects eyes. If youre using a speedlight on camera to trigger optical strobes which is what i do, you can rotate the head to flash behind you at minimum power. It has no effect on studio images whatsoever. You can pick up a yongnuo 460 for under rp500,000 to trigger your optic slaves and you wont need a receiver. I find cheap triggers annoying. The last pair i had (and am still stuck with) could not sync at 1/250s even at 1/160 it was pushing the limits. An optic slave has no sync issues

My personal preference is to avoid unwanted light sources and to keep it simple. I think it could be confusing for Rocel to have to think about the on-camera flash potentially affectubg her pics.

[El_Goretto]

i am learning a lot from you guys.

is nissin di622 ok? i don't want to buy expensive speedlights for now, as i do not know how to use them yet. @beebop, where can i buy those yongnuo speedlights?

I think this nissin would do. It has a sync cord if you decide to go down the wired route or use an external wireless trigger. It also has an optical sensor and some built-in wireless capabilities (though I'm not sure how that works with this speedlight). Also, it's cheap and simple.