Wicks DIY Lighting Setup?

[Ubergeek]

Would a couple these be any good for some indoor portrait photos on a budget? I am only starting out and have a Canon 1000D, i am not trying to make any money or become professional but would like to be able to take some fairly decent portrait photos of family and friends.

Wickes *–*Lighting*–*Exterior Lighting*–*Worklights*–*28W Energy Saver Worklight

Regards.

[acedrew]

Check out my blog post on Cheap and Easy DIY lighting using brooder lamps:

Perfected Perspectives | Photography by Andrew Rodgers

Andrew Rodgers
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[Benji]

No. Have you ever turned your headlights on during the daytime to help you see the road? Of course not because the daylight is brighter than the headlights. Same thing with these lights. Now if they were 5000 watt and you have 10 of them maybe you could use them.

Benji

[archersdad]

ubergeek,

You will likely need 4 or more of those bulbs to get a decent amount of light, but more light is almost always better!

I don't know why benji thinks you need 50,000W to light an interior. It simply isn't true. The basketball court i routinely shoot has about 20,000W of light covering two basketball courts and I can still get good ambient-only shots.

Having said all that, I would recommend going with an off-camera, hot-shoe flash type setup. It is more portable, you don't have to worry about finding an outlet, and you have more control over the light. Check out strobist.com for some great small-strobe lighting tutorials.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by archersdad

ubergeek,

I don't know why benji thinks you need 50,000W to light an interior. It simply isn't true.

He is not lighting an interior, he lighting portraits. Interiors don't move, children do and usually move when the shutter is open thereby blurring the image. There are two ways to freeze movement in a photograph. One is by using a fast shutter speed, the other is with flash. Fast shutter speeds with the type of lighting the OP is wanting to use will be impossible unless he shoots wide open with an f/1.0 lens and uses as ISO of 3200. A couple of cheap a/c flash units (about $60.00 each) will allow him to freeze any motion and use an ISO of around 400.

Benji

[archersdad]

I photograph my son inside all the time without flash. I use a 450D, 50mm @1.8, ISO of 400-800, and a shutter speed of around 1/125. Using other lenses I try to go wide open (usually 3.5 or so) with an ISO of 800 at 1/60th. A sunny window will allow even faster shutter speeds.

For example, this was shot at 1/160th ISO 400 f/1.8. There was light coming from a 5 bulb chandelier to camera left (about 10 feet away) and a north-facing window to camera right (about six feet away). He was walking at the time I took the picture.

[Benji]

This image was lit by daylight coming through a window, not two 28 watt flourescent bulbs, sorry.

Benji

[archersdad]

Fair enough. This one is lit by 3 x 15W incandescents in the ceiling, a 100W equivalent CF (maybe 28W actual, cool white color(4200K color)) in a lamp to camera left (about 6 feet away with the shade removed), and a little hairlight spill from the aquarium behind him. No fill flash was used. The only window in the room is to camera right, the curtains were closed, and as you can see, there are no shadows caused by any light leakign through. It's not the best example but it's the best I have on my laptop at the moment. If I get a chance I'll look through the rest of mine when I get home for some better examples. The color is a little off and should have been corrected in Lightroom but this was just from a series I shot for my relatives and will probably never be printed.

It was shot with a 450D, 50mm lens, ISO100, f2.8, at 1/125th.

[Benji]

This one was lit by three used flash units I have purchased over the last several years. The hair light was an ebay score of $35.00, the main and kicker lights were used Photogenic 200 W/S units bought at a local camera store for $40.00 and $95.00 respectively. The fill light I bought about 25 years ago new.

Benji

[archersdad]

That is a nice shot. The point I'm trying to make is to refute your earlier statement:

Fast shutter speeds with the type of lighting the OP is wanting to use will be impossible unless he shoots wide open with an f/1.0 lens and uses as ISO of 3200.

Most of my interior photos are shot using 2-4 hotshoe flashes triggered wirelessly. Any flash (as long as it isn't on-camera and pointed directly at the subject) is usually better than just shooting ambient. My point is that there is more than one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes. If you can find a great deal on some used strobes then by all means go for it.