simple lighting for portraits

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Can somebody give me some recommendations for some simple lighting for taking B and W portraits? I am considering photofloods or quartz lighting.I will be shooting in my basement, I do have a large east faceing window that provides some light.

-- greg berry (gberry7270@aol.com), January 17, 2001

Answers

One of the best books I've read on lighting is "Light on People" by Paul Petzold. Out of print, of course, but you can do a public library search, or search on abebooks.com where there are some dealers with the book in stock. Petzold starts with a main source of light for the primary illumination, and adds a reflector or smaller source of light to fill shadows to one extent or another. This particularly pertains to window light, which should be a larger, diffused source. The type of light source, sharp or diffuse, depends on what you've got and what you want. If the window you mention is basement window, the amount of primary light might be a bit limited. Petzold recommends first floor windows for light coming from a higher angle, and upper story windows for more horizontal light. This of course depends on the light and surrounding tress and structures. I digress --- read the book.

-- Jeff Polaski (polaski@acm.org), January 17, 2001.

I wouldn't recommend tungsten, or any sort of incandescent lighting for portraits. The wattage needed for any reasonable exposure will make your sitter uncomfortably hot, and the glare will tend to make them screw their eyes up. Get a reasonably powerful flash, either portable or studio type, and point it into a brolly reflector for a minimal setup that gives very flattering results.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), January 17, 2001.

I agree with the answer to avoid floodlights - too hot and too bright. I've had great success with homemade umbrella reflectors and my trusty Vivitar 283 pointing into the mainlight. A smaller flash does the fill light job. The mainlight is good for 7 ft at f5.6 with ASA 100 film. I started with ordinary white umbrellas, pulled the handles off the shafts and did some creative plumbing with 1/2" copper pipe and fittings to construct the flash holder and stand attachment. My umbrellas weren't as white as they should be so I spray painted them! The beauty of using flash is that you don't have to change anything to try your hand at color portraits.

-- Harv Jenkins (hjenkins@prcn.org), January 22, 2001.

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