gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

Hello, been awhile for me, trying to recover from medical problems and now improving. I have tried to read some post on the subject and feel more confused then before. I am sorry if I am messing up by posting multi questions in one post.
This is therapy for me and I am trying to make the most of what money I can save and still learn and thank you all for the great site and assistance that has been so much help.

1. Looking at continuous lighting kits, the cheap ones that has like a couple soft box's and umbrellas and stand with 3 muslin 10ft backdrops blk/wht/grn. I have read they can be a good start for those with budget and I am not opening a studio but for friends and family. I have seen on amazon and some other places for around 100$ range.

2. I have a canon eos 70D kit, been looking for good method to take self photo's without trying to outrun the timer :/ I was using my phone but it is not doing so well now and while out there are times I still need the flash for fill light and some of the remotes I have seen mount where my flash mounts.

3. It is still far in the future but I am curious as the a good economic investment when trying to build remote flash gear. should I look more greater expansions? like it can control more remotes, just look for a few or many? again I am dreaming for the future lol and I want to have the correct dreams :)

Sorry I am not more detailed, I have had trouble sleeping and finally had a chance to ask. I will try to watch closely on any replies and again thank you

CO

I have used continuous lighting kits. I don't like it because it does nothing to help freeze motion. With a flash or studio strobe, the very brief duration of the flash helps to freeze motion. The ones I have used were not that powerful. I photographed in a dim room and I still had to boost my camera's ISO very high in order to keep the shutter speed up. Also, the continuous light can be stressful to your model. It can cause them to squint their eyes. I would try to get a studio strobe. Adorama Camera has their Flashpoint series strobes. They're very economical. I have Paul C. Buff DigiBee DB-800 strobes they're very compact and economical.

You should be able to get an infrared remote for your 70D.

I wouldn't have more then two light sources and even then, one should be a main light and use the other as fill light or a hair light. If you use more than one light, try not to get dual shadows. It will just look odd. Also, try not to get two catchlights in the models eyes. It's best to have a single catchlight in the eyes and in the 2 o'clock or 10 o'clock position. If you're going for the old film noir look, you can have the catchlights low in the eyes.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

2&3:
You certainly can find a cheap enough off brand wireless trigger(s) for both your camera or a flash/strobe. I personally use RF transmitter-receiver ones. But many cameras have IR triggers internally.

1:
I set up a Make shift living room home table top studio. And using the same equipment if I had the space I could shoot larger subjects (people?). I did this cheaply with a folding office/conference 4x6' table I already had. I have two adjustable drawing lamps with cheese cloth diffusers. I use 5000K CF Blubs. For some uses I also bought a curved translucent white Polyethylene shooting table. I also just bought two new strobes I can use with this set up once I figure out how to mount the flash units. I've also have thought about getting LEDs and small softboxes. But for now my crude set up works for me. See examples below.

Front Light on Black Cloth

(Download)

Front and Bottom Light

(Download)

Clapperboard

Just a quick response on the remote control. I wouldn't get an infrared remote. That has to be in front of and in view of the cameras receiver on the front of the camera. There are several economical radio transmitter/receiver remotes that can also operate on and off camera flash simultaneously. Yongnuo and others make manual and auto versions for the flash control. The auto versions are more expensive but still not severely so. The radio remotes do not have to be in front of the camera and do not require line of sight to the camera. They may be as cheap or cheaper to purchase than the camera manufacturers infrared controller and are much more versatile in use. The 'auto' versions have advantages over the manual ones. Worth checking out (I can supply more on this if I have not already bored you!). They are a bit more expensive but may be worth the extra depending how involved/elaborate you envisage getting into lighting. The Speedlite type flash units have more limited light output than a lot of 'mains' powered studio type FLASH units but are far more portable. The Speedlite type units can also support High Speed Sync. Only some of the latest and quite expensive studio units have that facility. Again makers such as Yongnuo can supply very good units at surprisingly economical prices.
The cheap continuous light sets may have a degree of use to add some limited amount of light for video work. For photography I would recommend getting flash lighting units.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I agree, I prefer RF to IR. IR has such limited usability.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Glad to hear you are on the mend.

1. To start, think about acquiring an inexpensive monolight and checking out the many excellent videos on 1 light setups on Youtube.

2. There are wireless remotes (like the Vello Freewave Plus) that should work well for you - B&H often often puts them on sale.

3. Godox offers a pretty broad range of on and off camera flashes, and they can work together as your system grows.

gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

I looked up the strobes and for me I couldnt afford the db-800's but they are nice, the flashpoint is nice I just dont know how long it will take me to save that much but I know have a goal of what to look for.

I have looked at remotes but have read good and bad in most of them and the bad is what concerns me. I have seen cheap ones that are like 10$ but most of them are not instant, you can only config them to trigger the timer for taking the picture. The more expensive ones concerns me for overkill as I doubt I would be needing a intravolemeter (however you spell) or most need to mount to the hotshoe making it hard if I am out and need to use a flash.

as for the lights, i had not really thought much about catch light positions I have usually thought more of just removing shadows and when using a background making sure lighting was good there as I have fun changing backgrounds in post, plus I have been learning more with setting up like a photo booth as the kids at church love that :)

thank you for the quick reply, I now have more to consider before making a purchase someday :)

henryp Loc: New York, NY

Shutter release options for the EOS 70D: https://bhpho.to/31fwPxj

CO

You mentioned removing shadows from a background. In studio shots we have often used a second strobe aimed at the backdrop to eliminate shadows. We used a strip softbox and had it at an angle so that the light is feathered across the backdrop. I have a Paul C. Buff 10"x36" strip softbox that I use with my DB-800 strobes. I like to use a beauty dish on the main light a lot. The beauty dish still creates soft light but accentuates features more than a sofbox or umbrella.

khorinek

I recommend continuous lighting. I've used and have strobes but prefer the continuous lighting. The starter kits are not that expensive. I use LED lighting in the studio and it works great.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-in-1-Kit-LED-Video-Lights-Studio-Photography-Lighting-Battery-Light-Stands/283514259762?hash=item4202c44932:g:VHMAAOSwn2xc~Iw4

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I recently purchased this kit. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1323079-REG/savage_led60k_r_savage_500w_led_studio.html/c/product/1323079-REG/Savage_500W_LED_Studio_Light_Kit

I found it to be quite adequate for the intended purpose. I'm not fond of strobes for portrait work, as the areas of light and shadow can be difficult to precisely place. Couple this kit with a strobe for lighting backgrounds and it's quite nice. Decent price, as well.

As for remote strobe work, I use up to 4 Nikon strobes controlled by a Godox transmitter and receivers. They've performed flawlessly.
--Bob

gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

Wow, but again those lights for me are so expensive. I will mark this so if I ever get to a greater level where i am running a studio I will have this info available. I will place it in my book of goals I am trying to achieve and one day I will have this. Thank you this is an exciting goal :)

gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

This is intresting as the cost is low as I saw but I thought there was a common frequency problem when using led's? Most light seems to be rated at kelvin and would relate with heat that is generated where led's wouldnt have the heat.
Is using leds another learning method to adjust to different light spectrum to get the same results? I ask as I have worked with led's for other projects that was not photography..

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

When the set I purchased arrived, I set it up and took a couple of desktop shots. Worked just fine. The lights themselves are remotely controlled and can be varied in brightness. If you'd like, I can set up the lights and take a photo or two and post them in this thread later this evening, Phoenix time.
--Bob

gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

Did you have to do anything special with using led's? do you use a light meter or something like that or just make the determination on how it looks at the time you take the photo?
I am sure your experience can make it easy but me would be a mass of trial and error (lol).
From what I understand the power or watts used for the leds can generate a color spectrum where the higher can go more into the blues and lower can be more for the yellows and reds. Having an adjustment to change the power would make me guess that it could give your more options to add color would be my guess. I would just be curious on how hard it is to find the sweet spot for the best lighting? Or by shooting in raw you could fix most in post?
wow it almost looks like I know something, hehe, doing a lot of reading lately :)