Studio Lighting

Studio Lighting. What's it all about? Where do I get started?

Ever wondered about studio lighting and what gear does what? From traditional portraits to dramatic works of art, lighting can play a major roll in creating atmosphere, drama and ambiance in an image that otherwise would be just plain and boring. I am sure there are some traditional boffins that will cover every square inch of their subject with their light meter until they find that perfect even balance of light before exposing a frame, but where's the wow factor? There is no right and wrong. Push the boundaries. Try what you've been advised not to. If it's not the result you are looking for, try it again.
It has never been easier and cheaper to waste exposures experimenting. Today you can see what you have done instantly with out spending piles of cash on film processing and waiting a couple of days to check your results to only find that out of 3 rolls of film, you got three great shots. Do not be afraid. Start flattening your batteries now.
Here, we will go through all sorts of lighting possibilities, including stroblitz kits, constant lighting , studio flash and even reveal the secrets of the green screen.

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FOTOBESTWAY STROBLITZ KITS Stroblitz kits are a great way to get started if your new to lighting. Although widely used by the seasoned pro, these kits do fit into a limited budget. What is a Stroblitz kit I hear you ask? It is simply an off camera flash solution. A cheap but very effective way to start out. Weather you choose a single or twin, these are ideal for manipulating light from where ever you want. Even out side or where there are no power outlets. All you need to do is bring your camera to these kits along with your imagination. Unlike most stroblitz kits around, these actually include the flash.

The flash guns are a dedicated flash for off camera use. They have 4 power settings, a zoom lens on the flash tube to adjust the spread of light from a wide angle to telephoto. They also have built in slave cells that are triggered by the small pop up flash on your camera. If you don't want to use your pop up flash then you can use a wireless radio trigger system with them.

These Fotobestway radio triggers are the ideal solution to fire your Stroblitz kit without the pop up flash on your camera having to fire unwanted light at your subject. These are 4 channel triggers so they can be isolated from other triggers using the same frequency.

FOTOBESTWAY CONSTANT LIGHTING KITS

There are many variations of constant lighting kits available and it's difficult to choose which one you need for what. This is why we have put together kits for specific purposes. Since the digital revolution, constant lighting has made somewhat of a come back. Constant lighting can be used for absolutely anything you like but it is great for studio beginners. The main reason for this is you can see your shot before you take it. Having a constant light source, you are immediately able to see all the highlights and shadows. You can then quickly adjust your lighting until you like what you see, then take the shot. There are a lot of pro photographers now reverting to constant lighting for portraiture, because they don't make the subject blink, they are also a great way to light up products for stock or catalog images.

Our Mini Star 2 head kit is ideal for product or catalog shooting. This kit consists of two heads complete with spill kills, stands and a light shed to defuse that light. Each light has a 250w quartz halogen lamp which provides a great light source. If shooting jewelery or gems, try using a silver reflector to create a sparkle.

If its portraits you want then the three head kit is for you. The three head kit comes with three heads complete with spill kills, three stands, two translucent umbrellas and a carry case. Light your background with one light and use the lights with the umbrellas to light your subject. Try bouncing the light off the umbrellas and then lighting through them and compare the difference.

The third option for constant lighting is the Cool Light Kit. This kit is again well designed for product catalog shots. It can also be used as lights for portraiture. The Cool Light head is fitted with 4 x 24w fluorescent daylight balanced lamps and produces an incredible soft light. This reduces the contrast between highlights and shadows making a much softer feel. This Cool Light kit comes with two Cool Light heads, stands and a light shed. All this fits nicely into the included carry case.

FOTOBESTWAY STUDIO FLASH

Studio flashes are really just big flash guns. The advantage of studio flashes are the fact that their power is far greater than your Speedlite and the spread of light is far greater. This means you can get a lot further away from the subject and cover a greater area. With studio flashes you can move away from your subject so you are not as intrusive and you can use a longer lens. Studio flashes also open up quite a few accessories you can then incorporate in your lighting setup. From soft boxes and reflectors to light snoots and grids, there are many ways to control or concentrate your light. Having more power also enables you to get more reflected light off your reflectors or umbrellas.

Our Fotobestway Mercury Studio Flash Kits are reliable and durable. They incorporate advanced electronic components ensuring consistency in exposure and colour temperature. Controlling this light is made easy with a digital control panel allowing power adjustments at 1/10 stop increments and adjustment of the modeling lamp. With a guide number of 74, the recycle time is also very fast at 1.5 seconds. With the built in slave cells, these can be triggered by the little flash on your camera. If you don't want to use your flash to trigger the lights then a wireless radio trigger can be used.

Our Fotobestway Mercury studio kits begin with a two head kit. This includes everything to get you going. Each head comes with it's own stand and you get one 50cm square softbox and one translucent umbrella. You can achieve some great light scenarios with this kit. Add a reflector and a background, and there you have an complete studio.

We also offer these studio lights in a three head kit for that extra flexibility. This kit includes three heads with their own stands, two softboxes and a translucent umbrella. Having the third light enables you to use it as a background light or even a hair light. This still leaves you two lights to light up the subject.

GREEN SCREEN Green Screen or Chroma Key technology as it's sometimes known as, has never been easier or cheaper but first of all, what is it? Shooting your subject on a green screen or even a blue screen makes it very easy to remove the background of your image. Why would you want to do that? Because you can then replace the background with anything you like. This is how they made Super Man fly. With the aid of computer software, it is now so easy and affordable to do. Green Screen Wizard is an excellent piece of software that filters out and makes transparent the green part of the background.

With the background of a green screen image now transparent, any image that is placed behind can be seen where the green once was. Think of the possibilities. The image on the right clearly shows this is not difficult. This image was just photographed with a basic camera using it's built in flash on automatic. Once your green screen image is opened in the software, simply select a background image and the software does the rest. The secret to great green screen work is the lighting of your subject. This can be achieved with any of the lighting kits on this page. As magical as this software is, the better your images are, the better your results will be. Green Screen Wizard does not just simply put a background on your green screen image, you also have full control over how it blends the two images together. You can adjust colour, brightness and contrast in both your background and foreground image. You can scale your foreground image so it appears in scale with the back ground image. You literally have full control over every aspect of both images to create a realistic combined image. The software also comes with loads of stock background images. We have a few kits which are design to just get you started right through to full background systems.