When someone starts to dabble in photography, one of the recurring themes that always arises is how adequately illuminate a small (or not so small) home studio.

The most immediate is trying to use two hoses with more powerful bulbs believing that they will find a blinding light, but soon we realize that what we blind to the camera are dark. However, the fear of flash , usually through ignorance, will lead to more creative solutions, and almost always worse.

The next attempt is usually call a couple of industrial sources of 150 W, but this is going to pose some problems:

• The light is totally orange, although digital is easy to solve with the white balance.
• The light is very hard, so that the shadows are too.
• Dan is very hot, so that we can not put anything in front to soften, or shoot anything, the risk of burning.
• And worse, the power is still low, so we will be forced to use slow speeds (that will give us problems if necessary) and apertures (which we will no depth of field).

150 W If not enough what if we tried 500? Practically only managed to increase the heat problem, so much of it dangerous. The heat generated will force us to separate more lights, which light base gained power loss with distance. I had the opportunity to see a teammate before placing a still life of these lights on, and with the shirt starting to smoke, so that a solution is strongly discouraged. The bulbs used in photography are usually at least 800 W each, and yet the light is scarce and the temperature reached by the study it can get unbearable.

If we use continuous light, because it is easier to handle than flash, the solution must come from the hand of energy saving lamps. This allows us to generate more light without raising the temperature in a dangerous and uncomfortable. Study existing systems of cold light, and industrial centers that replace halogens. For example, American Photo Imp sells cold light screens from 89 euros for the smallest model to 36 W for small still lifes, to 357 € 330 W screen, valid for photographing people.

If we opt for a homemade solution, as proposed in a tutorial at Canon , we must bear in mind that these lights can cause some problems with color. Halogen bulbs have their emission spectrum shifted to the orange, but is complete and is easily corrected with the white balance. Instead of fluorescent tubes and light bulbs do not tend to green by a shift of the spectrum, but because they emit certain wavelengths (or do so with very low intensity) as magenta. This makes it impossible to see those colors because the light there can not be reflected.

In the picture on the left is the emission spectrum of a concrete and fluorescent light emitted as only a few colors. We can see several other spectra of light sources on the page IN Galidakis .

Currently there are some lamps that have been achieved very complete emission spectrum, making them most suitable for photographic use. There are manufacturers that include graphs of emission between the characteristics of their light bulbs, and are available on the network. Check them out. And when in doubt, look for lamps with color temperature around 5,000 K.

Best uses flash

But the best solution, of course, is the flash.

• The color is right.
• No heat problems.
• You can use filters and nozzles without fear. You can even dye the color light you want with gelatin filters.
• And above all, a small battery-powered flash light output offers much more than two 1,000 W halogen lights

The main drawback is that we do not see the effect of light until we have the photo, so are more difficult to use. They are also more expensive than a pair of industrial sources.

But do not be scared. The studio strobes have a small incandescent light known as modeling, which will help us to see how it will be the lighting and shadows. In small compact flash this bulb does not exist, but some, like the Metz 58 AF-1 have a feature that simulates a base to give very little bursts of flashes powerful, but very straight.

In any case, digital photography is not too big problem, because we see the results immediately and is easier than ever to make a correction and re-shoot.

As for the correct exposure, if the flash is positioned outside the chamber is be able to calculate that there will be light, but only cost us a few shots to find the correct values.

To learn how the flash I recommend consulting the flash Course Hugo Rodriguez , and learn to use it and make the most of, be sure to visit Strobist , or adaptation Strobist in Spanish . You will be surprised how easy it can be to use the flash when you know how.

A small study for moving objects

If our intention is to build a small study in which pictures of objects (clocks, figurines, jewelry ...) we find that in fact the easiest lighting is that of a flash.

We use a softbox, that is a small white-walled enclosure, within which we place the reason. Sufficient to trigger a flash at the ceiling of the softbox to light to penetrate throughout the interior, creating soft lighting, even with no shadows.

Any external flash will help us to this. If TTL You can use it automatically from the shoe of the camera, but even an old flash that works only in manual mode, it is not difficult to find the combination of aperture diaphragm and get the correct exposure. With this show how easy it is easier to achieve aperture of f / 8 of/11 that will give us good depth of field.

And if you think a softbox expensive, you can always resort to "something" as the toy tent sold in Ikea for six euros and that it is sufficient to cover its blue floor with something white to provide excellent results.

Expand the study

When you want to photograph is larger than the softbox will have to start thinking about expanding the team. The same smooth, uniform illumination "list" can be achieved with two flashes equipped with two windows (even with an umbrella) and placed at 45 degrees on the subject.

Light pattern is easier than we can assemble and requires no modeling lights or lights measure. Both must illuminate the same, and we can adjust the exposure by trial and error as before.

Furthermore, when we need a more creative light, we can always put another way, but explain the different patterns of light and how to measure, exceeds the scope of this post.

Working with people

But surely the most difficult is trying to photograph people. For an inanimate object, even illuminated with two hoses, we can put the camera on a tripod and make the exposure as long as necessary to close the diaphragm. But a person moves, so we have to use high speeds. Unless you want only the eyes are in focus and the rest of the face, we also need diaphragms closed and, in addition, people tend to bother with two powerful, hot spots pointed at his face. In this case, more than ever, the flash is essential.

However, the two windows at 45 degrees does not usually give good results and further work is the lighting scheme. For this I recommend revisiting Strobist blogs, and Fotopunto where you can see from the simplest light with a single flash, to more elaborate productions.