Lighting for Still-Life Photography

Hi all! I am new to this forum but from what I have read so far, this is THE PLACE to come for info.

Anyway, I am interested in doing studio still-life photography - fine art as well as commercial. Might do a little portraiture as well but that's not my main focus. I have a Canon 300D, a Sigma EF-500 DG Super w/ Lumiquest soft box attachment on camera and a Vivitar (on manual) fired via slave mounted on a tripod with a white umbrella. In addition I have a couple halogen work lights that will dim from 500 to 300 to 150 watts. My studio space is small and my budget isn't much bigger.

As you can imagine, I haven't been terribly pleased with the results of my current set-up and I would like to upgrade and/or learn how to better utilize what I already have.

I've been looking at monolights (Alien Bees are at the top of my list) but I have no clue where to begin there. What wattage? Which brand? How many heads?

I've also read a bit about light meters and how they can be helpful. Do photogs still use them? How will a light meter help me? Which one?

My apologies if I'm asking too many questions in one thread. I would sincerely appreciate any help you kind folks could offer. Thanks!

First of all, welcome digidurst. Don't sweat asking a lot of questions in a post. You may not get all your answers right away, but folks will generally contribute what they can, so hopefully you can piece together some solutions.

I think you'll find more than a few members here in a situation similar to yours, so be sure to browse the forum archives to see what others have choosen for their lighting.

I just wanted to touch on your question about light meters. If you're going to use multiple electronic flashes in a set up at all, even with digital, a decent handheld ambient/flash meter is pretty essential.

TTL will not work accurately with added manual flashes, and guide numbers and chart settings can be unreliable, and of course, the human eye cannot judge flash lighting at all, so a meter is the best way to gauge the combined output of your flashes.

While still a sizeable investment, the Sekonic L-358 is one of the best values in a flash meter. Others here have raved about the L-588, but it's quite a bit pricier. Check the reviews on this site for other brands and prices...

BTW, all of these flash meters are also ambient light meters, so their use is not confined to the studio.

Thanks for your post, Steve. I feel officially welcomed!

I was playing around with some shots of a chocolate bar on white background. I used my Sigma flash on-camera and my Vivitar flash fired via slave and bounced into an umbrella. I had zero success at getting the color of the chocolate right while retaining a bright, white background. Would a light meter have helped in this particular situation?

Sorry if my question seems off-the-wall... I'm just trying to wrap my brain (which seems to suffering from shutter lag) around this whole light meter thing.

From what I have learned so far, I am leaning towards the purchase of a light meter and 1 light (probably an Alien Bee) to learn with as I can always add more lights later as needs dictate.

Please see previous thread. Thanks in advance for your help!!

i use a jtl 320 kit,contains 2 lights 160 ws each,umbrellas,stands,and cord.i bought a couple of big backgrounds,and then i was off.the kit was 269.00 on ebay.it works great.a lightmeter is a must also.i find alot of my good shots ,are shots that i didnt plan.i just bounced light around and got good results.get a meter with a f in the name.this means flash,you can take a reading with the actual strobes firing or flach ,or softbox.this is very inexpensive and works great.
freelance1031@aol.com
eventpictures.com
shane robichaux

Hi
For studio work you might find a mono light setup easy to use. The White Lightning or Alien Bee's are both made by the same company and are good choices for a decent price. There are a lot of more expensive brands out there but these are built solidly enough to give you years of service. I have the White Lightning 800 series level and the Alien Bee's have a similar 800 level light. They put out 330 true ws of light and 800 effective ws of light. I found that is enough for portrait and product shots with room to spare in power. If you think you might be doing larger subjects you could go with the next size up the 1600's. You can get away with two lights at first and see how you would like to expand from there. I have 4 lights and that is enough for anything I have ever done ie: main, fill, hair and background/rim.
If you do decide to go with flash a meter is essential. I use the Sekonic 308B. It's reads ambient, flash and flash with sync cord. It goes for about $170. The more expensive meters are great too and have more advanced features which you have to decide if you really need them. They can be spot metering, multiple readings and some record settings and help figure out ratios's. For me the 308 does everything I need and it didn't cost a fortune. Studio setup is a big subject and hard to answer in a few lines but I hope this helps. This is just my opinion and setup and your needs may vary.

Hi all and thanks for the additional advice. I did go ahead and order the Sekonic L358 along with one Alien Bee. I figure I will experiment with the Bee in conjuction with my other flash guns (to be used as kickers, hairlights, etc.). Then if I need more lights, I will order more Bees later.