Shyrell Melara <shyrellmelara@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > I need some help on the best lighting at the best price. > I'm still using film, doing in studio portraits. I have one light, but > it gives off more yellow than I like. Also have on camera flash, but > it's a little harsh. If your "more yellow" than you like light is a continuous light, rather than a flash, then yeah, that's normal. The key term here is "color balance", which is measured in degrees Kelvin (the theory, for anyone who cares, is that the number indicates the temperature of a perfect black-body radiator that would emit the color light that the light is). Studio photo-floods are 3200 degrees Kelvin (usually just "3200K"). Flashes are generally around 5500K, which is also nominally what daylight is (daylight varies a lot; depending on clouds, sun angle, and such). Household incandescents vary a lot, but they're all less than 3200K. Somewhere around 2800K is a rule of thumb. In film, you can still get some films balanced for 3200K, but most films are "daylight balanced", intended for 5500K lighting. You can also get filters for the camera; the "80A" filter lets you use daylight film under 3200K light with proper colors (but it costs you two stops of exposure). In digital, you can use a custom white balance to get it pretty much exactly right. Using *mixed* lighting is still another kettle of fish, and nearly always leaves visible traces. Sometimes they're *good*, of course; art is about choices, not about getting stuff technically "right". > Also: Would a faster film be more helpful? I generally use 200 or 400. You probably don't want to go to faster than 400 for studio portrait work, even with today's films (20 years ago it'd be inconceivable to use 400 in 35mm for studio portraits, but films have improved). But back to your original question. In your situation I'd be looking at "monolights", studio flash units that incorporate the flash head and the power supply in one unit (and hence avoid the expensive, heavy, and trouble-prone cables from a central power-pack to the flash heads that old-style studio flashes required). I'd be looking at the Alien Bees heads <http://www.alienbees.com>, specifically (I've got White Lightning heads, but Alien Bees hadn't been split off yet when I got mine). How many and how powerful you need depends on how you want to light. A basic starting point is two heads and a soft-box and two stands and a big reflector. Do you need to directly light your background? There are lots of other brands. Alien Bees is a low-end professional model that gets good reports. You can pay a LOT more, and get more power, and the ability to withstand shooting for more hours very quickly without overheating; but if you're not working with models in a commercial studio environment, you'll probably actually be *happier* with Alien Bees, as well as saving money. And they're a reasonable affordable way to get your feet wet in studio flash. If you're shooting film, you'll need a flash meter, too, unless you're leaving the setup in place and it's so static that once you get it set right you'll never have to change the exposure. For digital, just shoot test shots. -- David Dyer-Bennet, <mailto:dd-b@xxxxxxxx>, <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/> RKBA: <http://noguns-nomoney.com/> <http://www.dd-b.net/carry/> Pics: <http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/> <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/> Dragaera/Steven Brust: <http://dragaera.info/> Much of which is still down
