beginner lighting setup

[ROBERT CARETR]

I have a canon rebel t1i that I use to do a lot of candid shoots mostly outdoors or at church. I am now thinking about venturing into studio/portraits. I really don't want to spend too much money not knowing if I will be in this for a long time. So I have the following items in my Amazon cart to start my attempt at studio/portraits, please advise.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001FCZ5HA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A2ISCC5HPW8KU9

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HR0M4Q/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A2ISCC5HPW8KU9

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002W3IXZW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CCAISE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5

 

[confyushis]

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

the money you save on some items could be used on others ...

good luck.

 

[frank200]

the backdrop I have and is good about the umbrellas they are way to small for portrait Photography

about the flash you can get a sigma for half the price or get some flashpoint strobes at Adorama

 

[Mike Ca]

I would go ahead and get the Canon 430EX II flash, and start trying to learn how to use it on camera first. You can take some nice portraits indoors with on camera flash if you use bounce flash. This is a good tutorial on bounce flash techniques:

http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/4-bouncing-flash/

After you get comfortable with on camera flash, I would buy an umbrella and stand for your flash, and a long E-TTL cable similar to this:

http://www.amazon.com/Neewer-33ft-Camera-Canon-OC-E3/dp/B005KP7EDQ/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1325638337&sr=8-13

I'm not thrilled with that cable because it is twisted. I think long E-TTL cables should be straight. B&H, FlashZeba, and OCFGear all sell some long straight E-TTL cables, although they are slightly more expensive.

With the E-TTL cable you will be able to use E-TTL on your camera with the flash many feet away in the umbrella. This is good for a beginner. The inexpensive radio triggers all require manual operation of your flash. You will have to manually set the flash power from the buttons on the back of the flash with those radio triggers. With the E-TTL cable the camera should set the flash power automatically, and you should be able to use Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC) to adjust it (assuming the T1i has FEC).

As you get more experience, you can start to experiment with manually setting the flash power.

 

[ROBERT CARETR]

how is the sigma flash compare to the canon 430ex?

 

[Sailor Blue]

frank200 gave you good advice about the umbrellas. They are fine for head shots but too small for anything else.

I suggest you get a good quality stand, an umbrella bracket, and both a 45" and 60" white umbrella with removable black backings so you can use them in either reflection or shoot through mode. Here are examples of good quality budget equipment. The stand is really more than you need for a hot-shoe flash, but will be fine.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/253069-REG/Impact_LS_96HAB_Air_Cushioned_Heavy_Duty_Light.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/298709-REG/Impact_3117_Umbrella_Bracket.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/423625-REG/Impact_UBBW45_45_Convertible_Umbrella.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/423631-REG/Impact_UBBW60_60_Convertible_Umbrella.html

If you think you will be adding a second hot-shoe flash in the future you might want to buy this kit plus a 60" umbrella instead.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/425220-REG/Impact_DFUMK_Digital_Flash_Umbrella_Mount.html

The background looks fine for seated portraits. It is too small for standing ones. A better size for standing portraits is 10" wide by 18' to 21' long.

Mottled gray is the universal background. By lighting it with a gelled flash you can change the color to almost anything you want.

The Cowboy RF triggers have been getting some good reviews by users. Another one to consider is the Yongnuo RF-603 (sold on ebay and Amazon.com). Just remember that using these budget triggers means that you must use your hot-shoe flash in manual power control mode. You lose the advantages of E-TTL II.

http://www.hkyongnuo.com/e-detail.php?ID=195

The Canon 430EX II is an excellent flash for any Canon camera. There are less expensive ones with almost the same functionality, but it is impossible to beat the quality of the Canon. The closest to the 430EX II I know of is the Nissin Di622 Mark II. It is a little cheaper, but frankly I recommend the 430 EX II over it.

Before you go spending a lot of money on equipment I do suggest you buy a copy of Syl Arena's book and study it.

http://www.amazon.com/Speedliters-Handbook-Learning-Craft-Speedlites/dp/032171105X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325480043&sr=8-1

As someone else mentioned, you should also study Lighting 101 on David Hobby's Strobist blog.

http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/

 

[ROBERT CARETR]

I like the umbrellas you suggested and I was thinking of using a sync cable instead go the wireless trigger.

 

[Sailor Blue]

I like the umbrellas you suggested and I was thinking of using a sync cable instead go the wireless trigger.

The coiled E-TTL cord is great for a flash mounted on a camera bracket.

If you move your flash off-camera get a long cord that is not coiled. Syl Arena has both a 16'(5m) and 33'(10m) cords made for him and he sells them out of his garage. At $65 the 33'(10m) cord is isn't cheap, but it is much less expensive than E-TTL compatible RF triggers.

http://ocfgear.com/

Don't get the 16' cord. The 33' cord will give you much greater flexibility.

There is also one available for Nikon cameras now.

 

[DecibelPhoto]

Umbrellas are a good first modifier, but you really don't need gold, or even silver really. You're fine with white. Other people suggested you look at lighting 101 on Strobist, and I agree. He recommends a great (and cheap) Wescott shoot through umbrella.

Now if you want to play around with light a little, using a TTL cord or auto-exposure modes with your light is fine. If you want to learn, stay away from that altogether. You should be shooting manual. I'm sure some will disagree, but I can't really emphasize this enough. Auto exposure on lights is something I would NEVER use.

Does the 430EX (I think that was the number) have a PC input for syncing your flash? I feel like it doesn't. But if it works with the sync thingy you listed you should be fine. You would probably be better off getting a third party flash with more features for less money if you were only going to use it off camera, but a Canon unit will work best when on your camera.

Read a bunch of Strobist.com. It really is your best resource for this type of stuff. Good luck!