Lighting setup for corporate headshots? Need advice please

Zascar

I got roped into taking some headshots in work and now they are asking me to do more and more, thankfully they are going to give me some money, and I would like to use it to buy some equipment as I've always wanted a small studio setup for doing portraits et,. but I'm fairly clueless as to what.

At a guess I'm thinking two softboxes and a fill light, but there are so many options between continuous lighting, speedlights and others.

Can anyone give me any advise as to what I should look to buy?

gloobag

One light and a reflector is more than enough for headshots. This might help you out: Headshot Lighting

Any medium to large softbox will do. Feathering it is the key. Speedlites will work fine if you're going for a soft, shallow depth of field look, as you won't need much power for that.

Stick a white reflector on the opposite side of the light for a less dramatic look.

I shoot a lot of my headshots with that setup. Some examples here: http://brian-mcnamara.com/headshots/

Zascar

Thanks for that, really useful I'll give it a look.

Although I only need to do headsots now, I'd like a decent setup for doing other studio work and generally experiemnting and learning new stuff. So I'd like to get a decent kit that would do me for lots of situatons.

Can anyone advise on some of these I found on ebay and amazon? Any stand out or what should I avoid?


http://www.amazon.co.uk/TOP-MAX-Studio-Lighting-Strobe-3x180W/dp/B014F6AJXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448217504&sr=8-1&keywords=studio+strobe+kit

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-Strobe-Studio-Flash-Light/dp/B003HK2LRK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1448217504&sr=8-3&keywords=studio+strobe+kit

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Professional-Photography-Lighting-flashlight-Wireless/dp/B00N4JTGMW/ref=sr_1_24?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1448219005&sr=1-24&keywords=Strobe+kit

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TOP-MAX-Studio-Lighting-Strobe-3x180W/dp/B014F6AJXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448217504&sr=8-1&keywords=studio+strobe+kit


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Excelvan-Digital-Photography-Lighting-FA-300AM/dp/B00V5WYF6W/ref=sr_1_4?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1448218963&sr=1-4&keywords=Strobe+kit

gloobag

Zascar wrote: »

Thanks for that, really useful I'll give it a look.

Although I only need to do headsots now, I'd like a decent setup for doing other studio work and generally experiemnting and learning new stuff. So I'd like to get a decent kit that would do me for lots of situatons.

Can anyone advise on some of these I found on ebay and amazon? Any stand out or what should I avoid?


http://www.amazon.co.uk/TOP-MAX-Studio-Lighting-Strobe-3x180W/dp/B014F6AJXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448217504&sr=8-1&keywords=studio+strobe+kit

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-Strobe-Studio-Flash-Light/dp/B003HK2LRK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1448217504&sr=8-3&keywords=studio+strobe+kit

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Professional-Photography-Lighting-flashlight-Wireless/dp/B00N4JTGMW/ref=sr_1_24?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1448219005&sr=1-24&keywords=Strobe+kit

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TOP-MAX-Studio-Lighting-Strobe-3x180W/dp/B014F6AJXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448217504&sr=8-1&keywords=studio+strobe+kit


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Excelvan-Digital-Photography-Lighting-FA-300AM/dp/B00V5WYF6W/ref=sr_1_4?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1448218963&sr=1-4&keywords=Strobe+kit

Lighting equipment is pretty much like everything else got to do with photography. You get what you pay for. The problem with these cheaper kits is that they are usually low powered (300w or less) and have terribly long recycle times. Two seconds between flashes may seem snappy on paper, but it's an eternity when you have someone in front of your camera and you want to keep the flow going.

I always recommend to just get one decent light and a decent modifier to start off. Something of about 500w and up and a large octa. You can do so much with just those two things, that you may never want to shoot with multiple lights. I've been doing studio work for a few years now and I can count on one hand the amount of times I've needed or wanted to use three lights, and would only occasionally use two.

Zascar

Yeah fair enough. So if I had a max budget of €300 - What would you recommend?

Zascar

Ok I've been told I'm allowed buy something decent and work will pay. Not sure of budget, whatever i need to get something good, I'm guessing €600-€800 - I hear Elinchrom and Bowens are good makes.

Anyone got any advice?

flyingsnail

I have used both Elinchrom and bowens in the past and found them both to be about equal. If you are going to buy at that price range think of it like buying into a system rather than just looking at the individual lights, look at the range of light modifiers and accessories available that you might want in the future.

Elinchrom do have some decently priced entry kits that come with everything to get you started. The difference between the RX 4 and RX2 kits is the power output, the 4 being 400W and 2 being 200W

http://www.connscameras.ie/p/elinchrom-d-lite-rx-2_2-to-go-set/7630006309758
http://www.connscameras.ie/p/elinchrom-d-lite-rx-4_4-to-go-set/7630006309765

Zascar

Thanks for the tips - all excellent points. I really like those Elinchrom D Lite - they come very highly recommended. What is the main difference bettween the 2/2 and 4/4 in terms of real usage? Is it 100% definitely worth spending more to get the 4x4? What about the One series which is lightly cheaper?

flyingsnail

I think the choice will come down to how you intend to use the lights. If you are doing a small home studio where you can control the ambient light or only using them in tight quarters / small rooms the 200w should be fine but if you are in situations where you will need to compete with or overpower ambient light I think the extra power would be worth it. It is a lot easier to deal with too much power compared to not enough power.

Now having said that the ones that I used (unfortunately I don’t own them) were the BXR 250 (Elinchrom 250W) but 75% of the time I was not competing with ambient light, even then most of the time I would have been at 50% or more of the power settings.

I have also used Bowens Gemini classics 500w and the only time I really came close to the full power setting was when I was using them outdoors. Side note while the bowens felt better built and more solid I found the power dials on the side to be a little imprecise when trying to dial in an exact exposure compared the Elinchrom.

I know I haven’t really answered your question but hopefully the extra info will help you decision.

Zascar

Thanks for all the help. I've decided on the Elinchrom 4/4.

I now need to think about other things I need, the main one being a backdrop. All the ones in conns etc are €250+ - whereas on Amazon, they are all under €50. Am I missing something?

flyingsnail

So I haven’t looked at all of them but I clicked on the first one on your Amazon link. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0062IPXXI?keywords=studio%20background%20black%20white&qid=1449139270&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
The max height is 2m, this will leave you little to no headroom when working with a tall person, 2m is about 6’5” and 6’ / 6’2” is not an uncommon height. Depending on what you want to hang on it also look at the weight capacity, a standard 9 foot paper roll is about 6-7kg.

flyingsnail

Also if you are spending all this money on lights and supports it might be worth spending a little extra and getting some of these, you can lay them over the feet of light / support stands for extra stability.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B010FHA1NS?keywords=sandbags&qid=1449140799&ref_=sr_1_7&sr=8-7

Zascar

So I went ahead and bought the Elinchrom lights - the 400w version. The guy in the shop said it will give me greater flexibility than the 200's especially if in a bigger room or with a group etc. However, a friend had warned me that the 400's can be too bright for small rooms. Turns out he was right. I only set it up at home to take a few test shots, but at its lowest setting on iso 100, 160th - it's super bright. I can darken it a bit by stopping the aperture way down, but I don't want to have to do that - it's still way brighter than expected. I have not even tried any low key stuff so far but I'm guessing it's just not going to work.

I'm really annoyed now. I am new to this so maybe i'm just not using them right. Should I change them for the 200w versions, or is there another way?

mikka631

My advice for what it's worth

Stick with the D4 lites, you will be sorry if you change them for lower power units.
Buy/Beg/Borrow a Light Meter and learn how to use it.
Follow Gloobags tutorials and advice (Feathering it is the key).
Youtube

Zascar

Thanks, that's what I need to hear. Ok I'll take a look and study up!

I see some light meters cost €250, and others are €10. I can even get a free app on my phone that does it. In reality what do I need to spend to get something useful?

gloobag

Zascar wrote: »

Thanks, that's what I need to hear. Ok I'll take a look and study up!

I see some light meters cost €250, and others are €10. I can even get a free app on my phone that does it. In reality what do I need to spend to get something useful?

Have a look for this meter: Sekonic L-308S Flashmate
It's usually pretty cheap if you can find it on one of the online HK stores. It's the same one I have myself. The expensive ones have way too many niche features. You just need the basics. Forget the phone apps, they're useless. Once you use your lights and meter together for a while you'll probably get to a point where you won't need it anymore, but it's still handy to have. I can eyeball my exposures pretty much 90% of the time these days, but every now and then if I'm working with multiple lights, it's nice to meter them all individually to get an idea of the ratios I'm working with.

How low does the power setting on your Elinchrom's go, and did you have a modifier on the light during your tests? Also, how close to the subject did you place the light?

I use Elinchrom myself, but I have some ELC 1000's and Quadras, which can output as low 0.3/0.4 (using Elinchrom's native scale). This lets me shoot at really wide apertures (even F1.2, depending on the amount of ambient light), which is partly why I went with these in particular. I'm not that familiar with the lights you have, so this could be considered a premium feature I guess.

flyingsnail

According to the manual the lowest power setting is 25Ws (the 200w units is 12Ws). I don't know how much you would gain at the lower power setting compared to what you loose at the upper end.

If you really need to drop the light power you can either put a ND filter on the lens or an ND gel on the lights.