23. Studio Setup 2: Studio Lights & Modifiers
This lesson comes from notes taken from videos by Ed Verovsky, Daniel Norton, Gavin Hoey, Lindsey Adler, Manny Ortiz, and Tony Gale.
This lesson explains all the different kinds of equipment used in a studio, starting with different kinds of studio lights. For studio lighting, you may opt for constant light, or lights that flash (strobe lights). Daniel Norton discusses the differences here:
With constant light, you see exactly what the camera will before you shoot, so it's easier to set up. With strobe lights there's more trial and error - you take a photo and see if the lighting works, and then adjust it. Strobe lights are stronger, so you can overpower ambient light, and use faster shutter speeds. (a 200W strobe will be much stronger in practice than a 200W continuous light) Professional strobe lights will sync with your camera to flash when you press your shutter release button, and there should be options to set the brightness, from full to various fractions (1/4 brightness, 1/8 brightness, and so on). Part of setting up your lighting is considering which lights to strengthen, and which to weaken. There are also more modifiers for strobe lights: soft boxes, beauty boxes, and umbrellas that would overheat and possibly catch fire on an old constant light. One big weakness of strobe lighting is they don't work for shooting video. Sometimes for a job, you need to shoot photos and video at the same time, in which case, it's better to use constant lighting.
There are different kinds of strobe lights:
A Speedlight
This is a small, battery-powered flash that you can mount onto some cameras, or attach to a tripod or other stand. Speedlights are considered one of the most affordable lighting options, the price often indicating the max power of the flash (measured in watt seconds - the higher the more powerful). Speedlights typically have manual and automatic (TTL) settings. TTL means, "through the lens." This means the camera uses its internal light meter to control the intensity of the flash and get the right exposure. When you press your shutter release button half way, not only will it autofocus, it'll consider the amount of light necessary with the flash, taking into consideration your distance from the subject and how reflective it is.
Note: TTL speedlights are typically 5x more expensive than manual ones, and many photographers prefer a manual flash that doesn't change their aperture and shutter speed settings, and that provides more consistent, predictable results.
In Manual mode you can typically change the intensity from full to 1/2, 1/4, and so on. A great advantage of speedlights is that they're small enough, and attach to the camera so you can easily take them anywhere, on location. Some speedlights can swivel and hinge upward for softer light, and some come with a built-in diffuser and white card to bounce the light. You can pull them out the front of the flash:
Note: If you're going to buy a speedlight, make sure it's compatible with your camera!
A Monolight
A monolight is a larger studio strobe light, that requires a stand. Mono lights are typically more expensive, have a stronger battery, and last longer - better for extended use, especially on location, outside the studio. Learn more here:
A Pack & Head System
This is a system of lights consisting of a "pack" or generator that sends electricity and commands to several different lights, or "heads". These are usually more elaborate, expensive, and more powerful. They tend to have a faster "recycling time" - meaning they charge up faster for the next shot. The example above is a kit that includes an umbrella.
Continuous lights include:
LED Lights
Sophisticated new LED constant lights have become a game changer in the industry, because they are cooler and allow the same sorts of modifiers as strobes. Some LED lights can also be adjusted for various color temperatures and hues - at the push of a button, so you don't need gel sheets. You can also get more powerful continuous lights - but all this adds to cost. These new lights tend to be more expensive. Lindsey Adler explains it all here:
There are many advantages to using LED lights. They're ideal for shooting in a studio, or at night, when ambient light isn't an issue. Manny Ortiz discusses the pros and cons of them in this video:
Tungsten (Hot Lights)
Tungsten is a rare earth metal that is incredibly robust, with the highest melting and boiling points of all the elements. It's commonly used as an alloy for incandescent lightbulb filaments (the little wires inside the bulb that glow). Tungsten lights are commonly used everywhere - in homes, appliances, and for many stages and theatres. So, it's good to be have a set of tungsten lights you can use together, harmoniously, with existing "practical" lights. There are situations where, if you use a cold LED key light with tungsten practicals, people will wonder where the weird blue light is coming from. Neil van Niekerk says, to fix this, tape a warm gel sheet over your cooler light, so it matches the tungsten lights.
According to Jay P. Morgan, you can use Tungsten lights during the day to give the appearance of night time. Just set your white balance to tungsten, and the sunlight will become very cool and blue. Any tungsten lights will feel warm in comparison, and the contrast will feel like nighttime colors.
Fluorescent Light
Joe Edelman uses Fluorescent lights on ceiling tracks for his key lights, and recommends using fluorescent lights on stands for rim and hair lights. One problem with fluorescent lights is that they flicker. It's faster than the human eye can see, but when you set your shutter speed really fast, the camera will catch this flicker - and will only capture a small fraction of the light's color range. One rule of thumb when shooting in fluorescent lighting is to set your camera mode to time sensitive, and keep your shutter speed at 1/50th of a second or slower - slow enough to catch all the colors of light emitted from the lights. You can buy "flicker-free" fluorescent lights, but they cost thousands of dollars.
Light Modifiers
Umbrellas
Special umbrellas are designed for diffusing light. They are modifiers that you can attach to certain studio lights. You can add a "sock" to them to make the light even more diffuse. Photo umbrellas come in two varieties: reflective silver umbrellas, and translucent "shoot-through" umbrellas. These are generally the cheapest light modifiers that offer a round catch light in the eyes. Because they're light-weight and compact, umbrellas are great for shooting on location. Shoot-through umbrellas create a lot of "spilled light" (see next lesson and scroll down to the end).
Soft Boxes
These are modifiers that help soften and diffuse your lights. They come in a range of sizes and shapes:
Rectangular Soft Boxes
These create clearer edges with light drop-off and squarish catch light in eyes.
Diffuser Sheets
These have less obvious light drop-off and reduce shadows, so they're ideal for portrait and beauty photography.
Octagonal Soft Boxes
These are round in shape, creating a round catch light, it has a pleasing wrap-around effect on the subject. It offers a wider area of light, ideal for lighting part of the background as well. Ideal for portrait and fashion photography.
Parabolic Soft Boxes
These are like octagonal except that they are a bit narrower, less likely to light the background.
Lantern Soft Boxes
These are quite diffuse, offering 180 degrees of light. So, they're not so directional as the others. They work well for multiple subjects, and for video.
Softball Diffusers
These emit light to 360 degrees and are popular for baby and children's photography.
Beauty Dishes
These are shallower, round soft boxes that also create a round catch light, but offer a harsher direct light on your subject. They create stronger highlights and cast shadows, for more dramatic images.
Strip Boxes
These are long, thin, and rectangular. They are versatile, because their unique shape gives you soft light in one direction, and hard light in another, and you can alter the light by rotating them. Set it up vertically, and it can turn easily to give you the light you want - great for short and rim lighting. Because it's thin, it won't spill into the background, and it helps emphasize the forms with shadow. It can also give your model a nice line of catch light in the eyes.
You can add a cloth to diffuse it, or pull the cloth away, add a deflector, and use the Strip Box as if it were a beauty dish. Many Strip Boxes have a cloth grid (egg crate) pattern for the front - which is great for dimming the light (usually about a stop) and, more important, reducing spill light, so it doesn't go where you don't want it. Grid patterns can fit on many modifiers, but are most common with Strip Boxes.
This next video shows three different ways to use a strip box:
Reflectors
A reflector is a flat, light-weight, reflective surface. It bounces light to change the lighting in your scene. Reflectors come in different shapes, sizes, and colors. You can use anything reflective as a reflector - a piece of paper, a sheet, etc. You can use a table as a reflector. There are endless options.
V Flats
A V flat is a self-standing reflector that folds like a Japanese screen. You can position it to the sides of your subject. They cost around $200, but you can also make your own from foam core.
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