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Stephen Devine

Stephen Devine

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Stephen
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Ok so I've spent a few weeks trying to get my head around a home studio set up and I'm just going around in circles at this point.

What I would like is a home studio lighting set up, portability would be nice but not essential. I want to use the set up for portraits both with my A7R iii, and my Hassy 553elx.

Ideally, if I could order everything from as small a number of places as possible that would be great. The style I'm looking to achieve can be done with one light and reflectors but if I can get two all the better.

So the requirements:

Black & White Backdrop
Reflectors & Softboxes
Studio Heads & Stands
A light meter would be nice but in no way essential.

Budget is between €700 and €1,100. If people can even come to a consensus on the heads I'm sure I can source the rest and not go too far wrong.
 
You could buy all you need from somewhere like Wex, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
A twin head set from Lencarta would be a great start, they may even do a background setup too, then look for a 2nd hand flash meter if you feel you need one (essential for film, not so much for digital).

However - you haven’t said what you want to shoot - and if you’re contemplating standard white background portraiture - be warned that you need quite a bit of space and more than 2 lights (3 for H&S 4 or 5 are often recommended for full length)
 
I use my digital camera as a meter alongside film cameras for flash work and have (so far) had no problems. I generally shoot both digital and film at the same time, so the digital camera settings go into the film camera. If you're shooting negative you've got plenty of latitude anyway. I've found slide film to be less tolerant but still acceptable (to me).

As Phil said, you don't mention your planned setup and that will presumably be dictating what sort of modifiers you're after (and also stands). I have a 160cm profold softbox that only feels secure on a C stand. On my "kit" stands the whole thing bows like a... bow... and looks like a stiff breeze would have it over in a second. Smaller modifiers are fine though.

+1 for Lencarta.
 
So I mainly just want to shoot headshots but if I can shoot full lengths and have the room as the better. These won’t be for professional consumption at least I don’t plan for them to be and they are more for my own creative outlet. I’ll post a few photos below of the kind of shots I’m looking to get but I’m as much looking to experiment as I’m to get specific shots.

The room I’d be setting up with the lights at home would give me between 8-11metres to work with.

1552347127617.jpeg
1552347202336.jpeg1552347262326.jpeg
 
Don’t know if you’re going to photography show in Birmingham NEC but they had some great savings on gear
 
just so you get a feel for what you're asking @Stephen Devine
1st shot - the guy is stood about 6 ft from the BG which means it's almost certainly lit with 2 lights, (if he was closer thered almost certainly be signs of the BG light burning the edge of him) almost certainly 2 lights on the BG and he's lit with a single light and a reflector.
2nd shot lit from camera right with a feathered softbox and a rimlight behind the subject camera left
3rds the easiest, single light with the subject closer to the BG it's not lit seperately (it's not white - horses for courses)

IMHO learning with grey / black backgrounds is an easier and better option than trying for white - but most newbies refuse to accept how challenging it is and ignore this advice
 
Phil V said:
just so you get a feel for what you're asking @Stephen Devine
1st shot - the guy is stood about 6 ft from the BG which means it's almost certainly lit with 2 lights, (if he was closer thered almost certainly be signs of the BG light burning the edge of him) almost certainly 2 lights on the BG and he's lit with a single light and a reflector.
2nd shot lit from camera right with a feathered softbox and a rimlight behind the subject camera left
3rds the easiest, single light with the subject closer to the BG it's not lit seperately (it's not white - horses for courses)

IMHO learning with grey / black backgrounds is an easier and better option than trying for white - but most newbies refuse to accept how challenging it is and ignore this advice
Click to expand...
I really do appreciate you taking the time to give such detailed advice.
 
Stephen Devine said:
I really do appreciate you taking the time to give such detailed advice.
Click to expand...
It’s ok, I was still in bed :sleep:
For info, learning to ‘read’ the lighting is the most valuable lesson you’ll learn.
All that said, the most important aspect of photography is the ‘connection’ you create between the sitter and audience. And I’m not sure it’s something that can be taught
 
Stephen Devine said:
I really do appreciate you taking the time to give such detailed advice.
Click to expand...

You will find you only ever get good advice from Phil V never met him but he is always helpful and comes across as a nice guy and knowledgeable photographer
 
Phiggys said:
You will find you only ever get good advice from Phil V never met him but he is always helpful and comes across as a nice guy and knowledgeable photographer
Click to expand...
soeren said:
:plus1:
Click to expand...
I've met him, yes he's a very nice guy and also good at chucking water around

Phil V said:
You could buy all you need from somewhere like Wex, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
A twin head set from Lencarta would be a great start, they may even do a background setup too, then look for a 2nd hand flash meter if you feel you need one (essential for film, not so much for digital).

However - you haven’t said what you want to shoot - and if you’re contemplating standard white background portraiture - be warned that you need quite a bit of space and more than 2 lights (3 for H&S 4 or 5 are often recommended for full length)
Click to expand...
Yes, a twin head kit from Lencarta would be a very good start, the SmartFlash kit will do fine - 400 W-s per head, which will meet the higher power demands of your film camera. You'll always be able to add more compatible flashes later, which you may wish to do if you shoot white background stuff.
 
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Phil V said:
just so you get a feel for what you're asking @Stephen Devine
1st shot - the guy is stood about 6 ft from the BG which means it's almost certainly lit with 2 lights, (if he was closer thered almost certainly be signs of the BG light burning the edge of him) almost certainly 2 lights on the BG and he's lit with a single light and a reflector.
2nd shot lit from camera right with a feathered softbox and a rimlight behind the subject camera left
3rds the easiest, single light with the subject closer to the BG it's not lit seperately (it's not white - horses for courses)

IMHO learning with grey / black backgrounds is an easier and better option than trying for white - but most newbies refuse to accept how challenging it is and ignore this advice
Click to expand...
What Phil said.
Except the first could easily be a cutout, and the third could be cutout pretty easily as well in order to get the white BG. Also, the first and third are "hard light" images which means they don't require much in the way of modifiers. And while the second does make use of a pretty large softbox, I don't really think it was necessary for the mood/feel of the image. I think you could pretty closely duplicate all three with just 2 lights and a BD/sock (or smaller octabox).
 
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