Continuous Light or Strobe for product photography?

[cfhjag]

Hi all,

I'm new to studio photography and got a few questions in regards to setting something small up. Basically, for what I'm shooting I want a very even light with nice soft shadows. Similar to attached photos.

I'm leaning more towards a continious light set up (simply because you can see how the shadows will fall etc) even though it will get very hot, but since I'm not shooting people or food the heat doesn't really affect me.

One of my questions would be, umbrella or softbox? What's the main difference in aspect of the shadows and soft light? Would a set up as in image no 3 be bright enough?

What kind of lights should I look into? Had a look at getting two old heat lamps basically and just hook them up with two 5500k bulbs, would that work?

Could anyone recommend some good bulbs? I found a led one (attached) but not sure if it would give a better result than a standard 5500k bulb?


Really appreciate your help!

Cheers,
H




Different lamps and bulbs:










Some reference images:

[Photo-John]

I do all the product photography for this site and I use Photoflex Starlight continuous lighting with big softboxes. I've been using the same basic setup for about ten years and still don't see any reason to change it. Yes, the lights do get hot. But I just turn them off between exposures. It's not big of a deal. And in the winter, it's actually a bonus

Note: since this is a serious photography site, please don't post any photos other than ones you take yourself. Feel free to link to samples, but don't post them unless you are the photographer. It makes sharing ideas like you've done here a little awkward. But since we are all serious photographers here, I think it's important for us to take the high road as far as photo ownership goes. Thanks

[cfhjag]

Hi Photo-John,

Thanks heaps for your help! Sorry about the images, totally understand and respect your approach.
Thought it would be ok since it was only for reference, apologies!

Did you shoot this with that setup?
http://reviews.photographyreview.com...-mystery-lens/

So your setup, would that be similar to:
http://www.3dbroadcastsales.com/imag.../881/881-1.jpg

Using bulbs like:
http://images.neutralexistence.com/G...spiral_cfl.jpg

Seems pretty solid... I probably simply need to give it a try and see what works for me.
I want as much light as possible on as big area as possible with a nice white balance-friendly bulb.

Sorry if the terms I'm using are totally wrong, as mentioned, quite new to this...

H

[cfhjag]

Might just get two of those and put two 5500k 105 w in them + two big umbrellas and see what happens. Should do the job right?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Twin-Lamp-Bul...#ht_7946wt_907

H