Learning a few lighting tips from the guru - Terry White's Tech Blog

Learning a few lighting tips from the guru

May 11, 2007

2:00 am

It’s not often that I get the chance to spend some quality 1-on-1 time with my buddy Scott Kelby. So I jumped at the chance to do a photo shoot with him this week in Tampa. I learned a lot and will be placing my order for a Westcott Spiderlite kit as soon as I get home. These lights do a phenomonal job of providing continuous light and basically giving you a what-you-see-is-what-you get situation. It also doesn’t hurt to shoot a beautiful subject either.

This shot of Ashley Gellar taken with my Nikon D80 and lit with the Westcott Spiderlite T5 and a reflector.

Did I mention how much I love digital photography?

DigiMike

VERY NICE shot of Ashley Gellar! And nicely lit. Did you help it much in Lightroom? You new guys are SO spoiled! We old shooters can tell you about the hassles of film, chemistry with its fumes and stains on hands and fingernails, real unsharp masking with more film on top of film, and on and on.

But, ahem, I LOVE digital too, and have been filmless for many years now. We can do much more and in far less time with better results. At Photoshop World in Boston, many presenters said that if Ansel Adams were alive today, he would certainly work in the digital world.

Aside: Is she a sister of Sarah Michelle Gellar? Certainly looks like she is.
terrywhite

Thanks Mike! Not much done to the photo at all besides a simple white balance and exposure adjustment. Ashley is very photogenic so she was a breeze to light and shoot. I would have had very little interest in photography in the film days. Way too much work However, thanks for blazing the trail for us newbies. Not sure if she is Sarah’s sister? I’ll ask.
http://www.glyndewis.com Glyn Dewis

Hi Terry,

Just been browsing through your blog and saw this photo … very nice indeed. The quality of light that the spiderlite knocks out is stunning. Must admit I’m sorely tempted to ‘invest’ (I use the word ‘invest’ cos it doesn’t sound as expensive as ‘buy’) cos of the obvious speed and ease of use that they offer. Just one question … as there are a number of bulbs available for them, which would you recommend for doing portraits as per the one you’ve done here with Scott?

Hey, thanks for your time with this and keep up the excellent work,

Glyn
NAPP Member
Buckinghamshire, UK
terrywhite

Hi Glyn,
The bulbs we used are here:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/416638-REG/Westcott_4221_5_Pack_27W_Fluorescent.html

Thanks!
T
http://www.designslink.com/ Pat

If you are interested in reasonably priced Studio Flash units look into Alienbees.

http://www.alienbees.com
http://www.kikaphotos.net Cristina

I’m debating which lights to get. I like the idea of continues light, but do these give you enough light as strobes. Would it be something to use for location group photos or is it mainly for studio portraits?
terrywhite

Cristina, these lights are great, but they are NOT as bright as strobes. So you either have to shoot something that is still or shoot at a higher ISO/tripod.

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