newbeee where to start?!?!

[bymeemma]

hello!!.... my name is emma i am new in photography i have a nikon d7000 with a 18-105 f/3.5-5.6 i am going to get new lens (i already researched for some) but i have no clue where to start with flashes, soft boxes, umbrellas, etc.... i want to do outdoors and studio i just want to know where should i learn about light? i've read a lot and i am still reading but i haven't find nothing where i can learn about light =/


thanks in advance! =)!!!

[inkista]

Two basic website/blogs:

Neil Van Niekerk's Tangents. Start with Flash Photography Techniques (or you can get the dead tree version).

And David Hobby's The Strobist. Lighting 101 and 102 are good places to start there. You'll also want to watch the Strobist preliminaries video to get a handle on gear.

HOWEVER.

I would really really urge you to do one thing before dropping cash on any lighting hardware, because it can get very very expensive very quickly (as with all photo gear).

Be comfortable shooting with the camera in full Manual. I don't mean that you have to be shooting in M all the time, but you really want to have iso, aperture, and shutter speed and swapping stops among those three settings down cold before you start in on lighting. Because lighting is just going to complicate things even more by throwing flash power, flash-to-subject-distance, and flash/ambient balance into the mix. If ambient photography is like juggling three balls, flash photography is like juggling five while riding a unicycle.

Also, since you want to do studio shooting, I would also say don't get sucked into the "speedlights only!" mentality that the Strobist stuff might inadvertently make you think is the only way. Monolights are another option to consider, given that a low-end monolight can cost far less than a top-of-the-line speedlight. And figure out if you ever plan on doing on-camera run'n'gun vs. off-camera set-ups with stands all the time. The decision on whether or not you need iTTL/CLS can have a significant impact on the cost of your gear.

Above all, research. Google your heart out. And don't necessarily blindly follow what someone says on a messageboard is the way to go. As with lenses and cameras, what works for one person may not work for you.

[AdrenoJunkie]

Originally Posted by inkista

:

And don't necessarily blindly follow what someone says on a messageboard

Unless of course that person is Inkista because she is the guru of all things lighting and technical. Seriously though, she is spot on with this advice.

[bymeemma]

hey thanks to both of you.... inkista if you are really the guru in this please!!! KEEP IN TOUCH! lol... i really want to learn but as i learn i realize i am still missing a LOT!... i am studying by my own, i've been reading books and watching tutorials ... and practicing of course, but i dont know if maybe its better to enroll in a photography course... what do you think?.... :

i'll check out the links you posted!... thankssss a LOT!!!

[OsmosisStudios]

whoaaa there saphire. Take a deeeep breath. Heart rate dropped below 100? Good.

You've just got a camera. That's great. But you reeeally should learn how to use it, inside and out, with the single lens, before you start adding all sorts of things to it. Give it some time. Learn, expand. See what the kit lens and built-in flash do and dont do that you want to fix, then figure out how to fix it.

[bhursey]

Originally Posted by AdrenoJunkie

Unless of course that person is Inkista because she is the guru of all things lighting and technical. Seriously though, she is spot on with this advice.

Yep research research research... Like it was said I would not go into off camera lighting until you have the fundamentals nailed down... ISO Aperture Shutter speed.,

Also nail down reciprocals and be able to change any element of your setup and keep the same exact exposure.

Like exposure on F5.6, 200 iso, 1/200 is the same as f8, 400iso, 1/200, you are going to need to know what is a full stop and what is a 1.3 stop and so on.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by AdrenoJunkie

Unless of course that person is Inkista because she is the guru of all things lighting and technical.

Hee hee hee. Yeah, now if only I actually knew any of this stuff from doing it, rather than just reading about it... Srsly, I know a lot theoretically, and I can spew specs like most people breathe, but I'm not the one you ask about how to light something so it looks cool. I'm just reaching the "Sears portrait" stage, now.

Originally Posted by bymeemma

... i really want to learn but as i learn i realize i am still missing a LOT!... i am studying by my own, i've been reading books and watching tutorials ... and practicing of course, but i dont know if maybe its better to enroll in a photography course... what do you think?.... :

Everything I learned by reading books, watching tutorials, exercising my awesome google foo and practicing. If you learn better by taking a course, then take a course. I picked up a TON by attending an afternoon workshop and not only having him helping me figure out where to put a light, but also by simply watching Kyle Cassidy at work for an hour. I would recommend, however, that before you take a workshop, you research whether or not you like the work of the photographer who's teaching it, and whether or not they're an effective teacher.

Originally Posted by bhursey

Yep research research research...

Google is your friend. Equipment changes so quickly in the Strobist realm right now, that you always want to check the dates on any web info you find, too. The landscape is pretty different today than it was even just three years ago. And what was said about reciprocals? Oh, so very very true. You gonna need that if you do off-camera flash. iTTL/eTTL can let you get away without doing the numbers in your head, but you're still going to have to wrap your brain around it just to suss out what's going on.

[bymeemma]

Originally Posted by inkista

Hee hee hee. Yeah, now if only I actually knew any of this stuff from doing it, rather than just reading about it... Srsly, I know a lot theoretically, and I can spew specs like most people breathe, but I'm not the one you ask about how to light something so it looks cool. I'm just reaching the "Sears portrait" stage, now.


Everything I learned by reading books, watching tutorials, exercising my awesome google foo and practicing. If you learn better by taking a course, then take a course. I picked up a TON by attending an afternoon workshop and not only having him helping me figure out where to put a light, but also by simply watching Kyle Cassidy at work for an hour. I would recommend, however, that before you take a workshop, you research whether or not you like the work of the photographer who's teaching it, and whether or not they're an effective teacher.


Google is your friend. Equipment changes so quickly in the Strobist realm right now, that you always want to check the dates on any web info you find, too. The landscape is pretty different today than it was even just three years ago. And what was said about reciprocals? Oh, so very very true. You gonna need that if you do off-camera flash. iTTL/eTTL can let you get away without doing the numbers in your head, but you're still going to have to wrap your brain around it just to suss out what's going on.

hehehe i do research about the photographer before every workshop, and i know i can learn by my own but, i don't know if i am going in the right direction i bought a book about my camera and i am going ok so far... but when someone talks about bracketing i go like o_O ?? or HDR i have no clue how to make those photos, i know how they look but that's it!... TTL flash ? i know about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, mmm exposure compensation i dont know yet the reciprocal values of exposures, i try to shoot S, or A priority .... and some times i go risky with manual... but when hear about those things i don't know nothing about, i feel like maybe taking a course will be the best option or at least i would know what's next!....
lol...

i am super exited and sometimes i just wish i could found the right book with everything! lol....

[inkista]

Have you tried Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure? That book's a good way to figure out the "exposure triangle."

[AdrenoJunkie]

Originally Posted by inkista

Have you tried Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure? That book's a good way to figure out the "exposure triangle."

That book should be required reading for all new photographers. Don't sweat it if you don't get some of the things you're reading or trying. Just digest it the the best you can and move on. The time will come when you'll understand it. The more you practice, read and partcipate in places like this the more things will start to click...so to speak.