Indoor shoot advice

[paperbox]

Hi all,

Hope to get some advice on shooting portraits my room (HDB).

Equipment
Body: 30D
Flash: 430EX
Lens: Tamron 17-50 f/2.8
Light: 2x tabletop lamps, 1x standing lamp. Pictured below. Both with diffusers.

Have only got some experience with table top photography with my light tent. Plan to have a go shooting people (half body and full body).

With space and a small budget a constrain, I'm wondering...

Is my equipment sufficient to shoot the portraits? What else would I need?
Any suggestions to setup a backdrop? Titled Mahjong paper?
Should I use my flash together with the 3 lamps that I already have?

Kindly advice!

 

[catchlights]

if you want to use your flash together with the lamps. you need to make all the light source have the same white balance. either you filter your flash or filter the 3 lamps.

 

[paperbox]

if you want to use your flash together with the lamps. you need to make all the light source have the same white balance. either you filter your flash or filter the 3 lamps.

Thanks for your reply catchlight!

Just read this useful thread on Strobe vs Continous lighting:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=375992&highlight=continous+light

I'm wondering if it is wise to mix continous and strobe?

Probably gonna get a 3-in-1 reflector to add some versatility to what I already have.

Btw how do you suggest filtering the white balance to match each other?

fyi my lamps temperature is 5400K.

 

[calebk]

Thanks for your reply catchlight!

Just read this useful thread on Strobe vs Continous lighting:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=375992&highlight=continous+light

I'm wondering if it is wise to mix continous and strobe?

Probably gonna get a 3-in-1 reflector to add some versatility to what I already have.

Btw how do you suggest filtering the white balance to match each other?

fyi my lamps temperature is 5400K.

They look like fluorescents. Are they?

If they are, you will also have to worry about CRI. See here.

 

[catchlights]

set your camera WB at 5500k,
put a piece of gray in front of camera
shot the gray card with flash
shot the gray card with your lamps

load both photos into photoshop and make a comparison of the color.

your goal is to filter one of them to be like the other source.

 

[paperbox]

i think i'll pretty much just end up using the lamps + a reflector to get my desired effect.

i'll probably start there and advance further slowly.

 

[paperbox]

set your camera WB at 5500k,
put a piece of gray in front of camera
shot the gray card with flash
shot the gray card with your lamps

load both photos into photoshop and make a comparison of the color.

your goal is to filter one of them to be like the other source.

Btw catchlight.

Shouldnt I set my camera temperature to 5400K since the rating on my bulb is 5400K?

Btw, how do you find out what colour temperature is ones flash using?

 

[catchlights]

this test is just using a preset WB setting to see how much difference on the color does these two light sources apart from, you can use 5400k if you want to.

you flash manual should have state the color balance of the flash.

btw, you miss a "s"

 

[paperbox]

set your camera WB at 5500k,
put a piece of gray in front of camera
shot the gray card with flash
shot the gray card with your lamps

load both photos into photoshop and make a comparison of the color.

your goal is to filter one of them to be like the other source.

Thanks catchlight.

Btw for this process you mentioned, is there a name for this? I'd like to google this and read more about it for a further underdstanding.

As for colour temperature for my flash, im using a 430EX.

 

[phyrewall]

Light: 2x tabletop lamps, 1x standing lamp. Pictured below. Both with diffusers.

Have only got some experience with table top photography with my light tent. Plan to have a go shooting people (half body and full body).

I don't think your light source is big enough nor is it bright enough to do a full body shot. You might end up with the other half of the body (depending on where you aim the light) darker than you expect than you expect it to be.

You'll probably have a better chance of shooting full body portraits using your flash bounced to the ceiling (most HDB units have low ceilings, right?)

 

[paperbox]

I don't think your light source is big enough nor is it bright enough to do a full body shot. You might end up with the other half of the body (depending on where you aim the light) darker than you expect than you expect it to be.

You'll probably have a better chance of shooting full body portraits using your flash bounced to the ceiling (most HDB units have low ceilings, right?)

Thanks for the comment.

I'll have a good shooting full power at my walls to see the effect!

Sounds like a good idea since I do have a really low ceiling!

 

[phyrewall]

Thanks for the comment.

I'll have a good shooting full power at my walls to see the effect!

Sounds like a good idea since I do have a really low ceiling!

Good luck and share some pics of the outcome afterwards. I'm sure there we have readers and members here that are interested to see how it goes.