Baby Photography lighting

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k4mmd

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Hi Guys

I was looking into a continuous light for some baby photography and was wondering if anyone could suggest something which is easy to set up and fairly mobile.

I have been told the Bowens Steamlite 530 is a good starter but was wondering if anyone has used or know of any other options as I have not used really used continuous light before. I am after a soft light and some say a softbox would be better therefore slightly confused.

I was also looking into the Interfit Super Cool-lite 5 Twin Head Kit as advised by WEX.

Thanks in advance.
 
Continuous lighting is a very bad choice for any kind of people photography and personally I wouldn't consider it, especially for babies - it will dazzle them, at the same time producing far too little light.

Some retailers will always advise wrongly, especially if their advice is related to profit margins...

The answer is a simple twin head flash kit with 1 softbox and 1 umbrella
 
Hi Gary

Thank you for your advise, its much appreciated. Are there any kits you could suggest?
 
k4mmd said:
Hi Gary

Thank you for your advise, its much appreciated. Are there any kits you could suggest?
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Note my association with Lencarta, and bear in mind that other makes are also available - but take a look at this one
 
k4mmd said:
Hi Guys

I was looking into a continuous light for some baby photography and was wondering if anyone could suggest something which is easy to set up and fairly mobile.

I have been told the Bowens Steamlite 530 is a good starter but was wondering if anyone has used or know of any other options as I have not used really used continuous light before. I am after a soft light and some say a softbox would be better therefore slightly confused.

I was also looking into the Interfit Super Cool-lite 5 Twin Head Kit as advised by WEX.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

As Garry says, continuous light wouldn't be my choice. The light output is feeble even though, paradoxically, if you're sitting in front of them in they appear blindingly bright. Also, most continuous lights are a PITA to put up and down - fiddling about with all those fragile bulbs for a start that usually have to be removed each time, and then building a budget softbox can be like wrestling an octopus.

Lencarta Smartflash-2 is a good choice, though I would use either umbrellas or push-up softboxes (eg Lencarta ProFold) for speed and ease, avoiding the octopus problem.
 
What they said. Fortunately you don't need a lot of power (in flash terms) which keeps the price down somewhat.
I'll not make a recommendation other than to avoid the crappy ebay kit that has inbuilt reflectors. apart from the reflectors, the lack of a proper mount for your softboxes means you're into dangerous territory hanging them over babies.
 
Any battery powered studio flashes you recommend. I cant seem to find any.
 
k4mmd said:
Any battery powered studio flashes you recommend. I cant seem to find any.
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There are loads of them, but it probably boils down to Elinchrom Quadra or Lencarta Safari at sensible money, or maybe Lencarta Atom. Battery flash is more expensive than mains powered, plus they can be slow to recycle and have poor modelling lamps. Only go for battery powered if you can't access the mains, from an extension cable if needs be.
 
HoppyUK said:
There are loads of them, but it probably boils down to Elinchrom Quadra or Lencarta Safari at sensible money, or maybe Lencarta Atom. Battery flash is more expensive than mains powered, plus they can be slow to recycle and have poor modelling lamps. Only go for battery powered if you can't access the mains, from an extension cable if needs be.
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Have you actually tried the modelling lamp on the Safari 2? perfectly fit for purpose, don't want to burn out babies eyes
2nd point the size of the target is a baby so not large and therefore light can be close which also means lower power and hence faster recycling, personally I have never found the need for multi frames per second when photographing babies
Health & Safety in an unknown environment makes battery powered a good choice

My suggestion was based on a mobile service, if in my own environment then mains all the way

Mike
 
I use Bowens, you can get good deals on ebay from Bowens factory recon units. The 500 is a nice piece of kit, lots of aftermarket attachments and you can get a battery pack for all the bowens range i believe. As Mike says 'mains' all the way. Image below, 2x 500 with softbox plus a 200 to blow out the background.

Mark

View attachment 20645 View attachment 20645
 
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