Your Three Basic Studio Lighting Choices

Written by Amber Richards (Wichita Falls Texas)

Now that you have already chosen a room to be your home studio and are starting to research the first few items of photography lighting equipment to purchase, you might want to consider the three basic studio lighting choices. Because there are so many out there we will be discussing what you should consider investing in.

When it comes to your photography lighting, you will have three basic choices. These will be the hot lights, cool lights, and of course, the flash or strobes. Every one of these has their own characteristics, so before you figure a lighting source as being good no matter what; you need to keep some important points in mind like control, power output, and area of coverage, as well as quality of light. All of these will be discussed further on.

Cool Lights

Cool lights, are not necessarily "cool" but it refers to the temperature emitted from the light, which is almost none compared to hot lights, which warm up within minutes of use. Cool lights use fluorescent light, which is why the light doesn't heat up. While being the less versatile of the choices, they tend to be a safe choice. These lights are fluorescent and have some adjustability by turning off and on the bulbs as you need them; however they cannot be adjusted like hot lights. Being about the same color as daylight, they can be used easily if natural daylight is present.

Using this form of lighting in conjunction with bright natural daylight creates an intensified effect, creating beautiful photographs with natural tones and colors nicely accented. Unfortunately, the problem with this form of lighting is the lack of power it offers. If you are taking a full room shot, you may need to have several of these lights in place, and this can get incredibly crowded very quickly. This will help with cameras that have high ISO settings and a slow shutter speed. If you find that the camera continues to struggle, you can always use the flash in combination with this form of lighting.

Hot Lights

You will sometimes see these listed as tungsten lights. Their nickname of hot lights comes from the fact that they burn extremely hot. These are usually 500 & 800 watt quartz Halogen bulbs that will deliver a solid, continuous light source. This is the reason that this lighting source is so very popular among photographers. It generally requires far less to achieve a very polished look, providing that you are working with scenes that require a consistent light source, like still life and video. Should you desire to be successful with this form of lighting, you need to have a very high ISO and then have your shutter at a very slow setting, hence the restrictions on subject type.

Another advantage of the continuous light is that you can meter it as is, and you can use your camera to meter to get the correct exposure.

*Note: Both cool and hot lights have an odd color that you have to consider since it directly affects your output and the color of your exposure will be too blue, too orange or yellow. Ensure that you set your white balance to the correct setting, or plan to adjust that during the post production of your work flow of your images.

Flash

This can be a photographer’s best friend or constant nemesis depending on how you choose to utilize it. Like any other piece of equipment you choose to use, it is a tool and nothing more. This can be a decent choice because they are easier to use, can allow pictures to be set up faster and remove all the limitations one may encounter with hot or cold lights enabling you to take the sorts of photos you would prefer, rather than being tied down to one style.

The first type of flash that you should look at is the hotshoe, sometimes called a speedlight. This is the piece that attaches to the flashguns on the top of your camera. While this can take a quick, easy picture, you will find that 90% of the time, the image isn’t going to be what you are looking for; it’s just not meant to work like that.

Hotshoe Flash (or Speed light) Mounted on Camera

In fact, the best way to use the hotshoe flash is to remove it from the camera entirely and set them up as you need to on fitted stands. This will give you far more portability and many more options. Then you can add umbrella stands in order to create more diffuse effects. For many, this makes a good choice since they are inexpensive, portable, and can be operated on batteries when you are on the go. Make the battery power go further by adding rechargeable batteries and a charger that you can take with you on location.

Some studio photographers find that they have nothing but problems with the hotshoe flash. For example, you have a limited range of power; it will only deliver a maximum of 60 Joules. At the same time, you can’t limit the amount of flash power (higher quality hot shoe flashes can be adjusted) and since the flash needs to be individually triggered, you might not get quite the picture you are looking for. In addition, some use a product called a slave flash, which when set up to other flash units, triggers a signal which causes the other flash units to fire. There can be quite a lot of success with this type of system, but it does require a very precise setup.

Because of how problematic they can be, many professionals will use this form of flash for journalism photographs on the go, as it’s the best possible use for this common lighting option.