Halogen worklights for portraits?

[Murtasma]

I say no if your serious about wanting to work with light.

Problem with hot lights of any variety

1. Very Hot (uncomfortable to work with)
2. When you are just starting out learning lighting you will need to have the lights on a lot which will further increase problem 1.
3. They don't produce nearly enough light to maintain good shutter speeds with out high ISO or aperture adjustment (you will probably need to sacrifice on both ends)
4. Light modifiers (you can't use many because of the heat)

If you know this is something you will have around for a long time and your serious about learning I would go and purchase a strobe unit with a modeling lamp and save yourself a ton of headache.

You can get an Alien Bee strobe unit that will have gobs of power, great choice of light modifiers and a modeling lamp for $250.00.

Learn to light with just one light first. There is seriously a ton of stuff you can do with just a single light. Once you are ready and realize the situations that would require 2 lights go out and purchase another strobe.

[FocalFrenzy]

I ran into a similar problem with the worklights. They worked great outside, but inside, made the room to hot, too quickly. What I finally resorted to, was a worklight that uses 1 incandescent lightbulb. I modified that by replacing the light socket with a 3-way socket from Home Depot. I then replaced the lightbulb with a 3-way flourescent bulb that can be changed from 50 to 100 to 150watts. There is virtually no heat output at all, and I can put diffuser material in front of the aluminum cone that holds the light. The clamp on the worklight works well, too. I now use 2 of these when shooting indoors. My total cost for buying and building these lights was under $30.00 US.

[Murtasma]

What type of shutter speeds were you getting with the light bulb change FocalFrenzy?

[scootermcq]

I am a complete and utter rookie at this, but I was not getting anywhere near the light needed with CFB or Haologen. As already mentioned the work lights just about cook you.

I picked up 2 umbrellas & stands off ebay for $50 shipped
2 Generic speedlights for $70 shipped and 2 wireless triggers for $25 shipped.

I am around $150, but this seems to be not bad to start off. When I get better and can afford other items, the stands and umbrellas will always be usable and I can change lights and triggers as I feel the need and can afford them. The lighting is much better, and even with cheap speedlights I am only running them about 1/2 power right now.

Downside is everything has to be set up manually as there isn't any TTL and the metering does not realize there is a flash, so it triess to set shutter at about 3 seconds in a dim room. I am shooting about F5 and 1/125 at half power on the speedlights.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

I am a complete and utter rookie at this, but I was not getting anywhere near the light needed with CFB or Haologen. As already mentioned the work lights just about cook you.

I picked up 2 umbrellas & stands off ebay for $50 shipped
2 Generic speedlights for $70 shipped and 2 wireless triggers for $25 shipped.

I am around $150, but this seems to be not bad to start off. When I get better and can afford other items, the stands and umbrellas will always be usable and I can change lights and triggers as I feel the need and can afford them. The lighting is much better, and even with cheap speedlights I am only running them about 1/2 power right now.

Downside is everything has to be set up manually as there isn't any TTL and the metering does not realize there is a flash, so it triess to set shutter at about 3 seconds in a dim room. I am shooting about F5 and 1/125 at half power on the speedlights.

Set the camera on manual. Set the shutter speed at 1/100 and the aperture at f/5.6 and take a shot. If it is too bright stop down to f/8.0 or lower the power of the flash units and shoot again. If it is still too bright stop down to f/11. If it was too dark open the aperture to f/4.0 OR boost the power of the lights. Keep on experimenting until you have what you like.

Benji

[sydneysteelers]

Originally Posted by FocalFrenzy

I ran into a similar problem with the worklights. They worked great outside, but inside, made the room to hot, too quickly. What I finally resorted to, was a worklight that uses 1 incandescent lightbulb. I modified that by replacing the light socket with a 3-way socket from Home Depot. I then replaced the lightbulb with a 3-way flourescent bulb that can be changed from 50 to 100 to 150watts. There is virtually no heat output at all, and I can put diffuser material in front of the aluminum cone that holds the light. The clamp on the worklight works well, too. I now use 2 of these when shooting indoors. My total cost for buying and building these lights was under $30.00 US.

Also when working with hot lights like these um turn a few fans on blowing in the direction of the lights which keeps the heat going away from the model. Does it work, well it does in a garage when working on cars. We feel a lot cooler on a hot summer night when working with lots of light.

[ccting]

Use halogen to heat therapy your back pain from a distance. I use a halogen to cook eggs... nice...If you keep it on and off, it will burst..;D

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by Drea K

I've read on several sites that decent portraits in a home studio can be done with halogen worklights. Seems to good to be true, since you can pick those up at any Home Depot for dirt cheap. So, who needs Alien Bees, etc....? That said, is there anyone who has attempted this and if so can you post your photos? I'm a very new photographer and a "starving" nursing student. So, no fancy lighting for me right now. LOL. If worklights actually do the job, then I'm heading to Home Depot ASAP!!

you can do it, the negatives are the heat issue, power bill, and high ISO is needed...

I got my monolight strob for $50 from adorama, and if you already have a lightstand to use it shouldn't be a problem, if you need a lightstand they shouldn't cost much... I recommend looking for cheap monolights.

http://www.adorama.com/FPBF160.html

To start out I would stick with the one light you can do a lot of stuff with a single light strob in a studio, once you get spending cash then invest into more monolight studio strobs.

[cameraJoy]

It is possible. Now I wouldn't recomend them if you have an actual studio. If you are just getting started and cannot afford a light kit at the moment, they are fine. And if you have photoshop your results will be 10x better because you can adjust the white balance and exposure afterwards (if you don't get it right the first time). Yes, they get really hot. Big deal, unless you are clumsy and have kids running around like their heads r cut off!

Attached is a portrait done with ONLY halogen worklights, in case you are wondering just what type of results you can have. Only 2 worklights (4 lights) were used (about 60-80 bucks). Of course you have to diffuse it as well.

littleSis1.jpg

[Ginger Pixie]

Just my thoughts:

If you are going to spend $100, then get a flashgun. If you can get cheap second hand ones so much the better. At least learn with kit that you could add to and upgrade in a meaningful way.

Combine 1 flashgun with natural light and a reflector and practise. When you get your head around that set up, I think you are ready to introduce more lights.