I'm having trouble finding affordable/portable studio lighting - General

I'm a photographer and I've been using a Nikon D90 with an SB-600 flash, but I feel like I'm at the point where I need more equipment. I do a lot of shooting outside in places I have to drive clients out to, so having portable equipment is an absolute must. I've found so many situations that called for extra lighting and I just didn't have it, so I did some research and couldn't find any portable studio lighting at all to begin with, but then eventually found a few lights...for $500 and up. And the power supply that went with it was $1000. I decided to improvise a little and I'm considering trying this out: Buy a $100-200 portable power unit with AC outlets that can push out at least 500 watts Buy two 250 watt work lights from home depot for roughly $13 each And lastly get two white umbrellas (already been picked out) for roughly $40 each. I know it sounds ghetto, but I think it's my only option. Does anyone know of something that could be just what I'm looking for?

How about flood lights or whatever. My dad uses them for finishing carpentry.

[url]http://www.jensenbest.com/[/url] I'm not entirely sure how good these guys are in terms of their quality, but I had asked around a few photography/videography boards when I was going to buy some and evidently they had a pretty good rep, despite being so obscure.

[QUOTE=Kab2tract;24428508]How about flood lights or whatever. My dad uses them for finishing carpentry.[/QUOTE] Tried it a few times. Bad for two reasons: 1) Heats up like a motherfucker. 2) WAY too yellow. I'd suggest like a reflective silver can clamp light. Like this: [img]http://s7.thisnext.com/media/230x230/Coleman-Cable-Reflector-Clamp_CD68A02D.jpg[/img] Put in a nice Daylight color twisty bulb and you're good to go. It doesn't heat up at all btw.

[QUOTE=Heres Jonny!;24428840]Tried it a few times. Bad for two reasons: 1) Heats up like a motherfucker. 2) WAY too yellow. I'd suggest like a reflective silver can clamp light. Like this: [img]http://s7.thisnext.com/media/230x230/Coleman-Cable-Reflector-Clamp_CD68A02D.jpg[/img] Put in a nice Daylight color twisty bulb and you're good to go. It doesn't heat up at all btw.[/QUOTE] Yeah they do get pretty hot. It'll melt plastic if you put it too close, after a while of course.

Buy a reflective sheet, I got one for around 50$ and it's one of the most useful photography tools. This is a reflector: [img]http://www.fripers.pl/aukcje/blendy/92-122_main.jpg[/img] You could also get yourself a wireless (or wired, that's just a matter of costs and camera compatibility) trigger setup for your D-600. In my opinion that's the cheapest you can get to play creatively with light. Hope I helped.

What do you shoot with? Depending on your camera, you can just buy a radio that sits on the hotshoe that can activate flashes and you can just buy external flashes. I shoot most of my studio stuff with a D90 -- it has a command mode that can link up with other Nikon brand flashes (like the SB600). Works wonders because I can use my onboard flash to fill, put an external flash to the side that shoots just about as powerful as a strobe + gets a nice capture of lighting on it, and all I need is a silver or white reflector. Good to go. You might be doing yourself a big favor if you purchase according to minimizing what you need to carry. Strobes, constants, etc. are bulky and you don't want to tote those around. [editline]03:46AM[/editline] A photo shoot for me is a D90 with a 50mm. Hold/fire the camera with my right hand while holding the external flash off to the side with me left hand and have a grip person who sits behind with the reflector. If I can't do that then available light is more than likely the key, or bouncing the light around with the external. You might also want to look in to a Gary Fong. Works absolute wonders on my SB-600 and is pretty cheap. Should fit about every flash out there. [url]http://www.garyfongestore.com/[/url]

[QUOTE=69105;24429011]What do you shoot with? Depending on your camera, you can just buy a radio that sits on the hotshoe that can activate flashes and you can just buy external flashes. I shoot most of my studio stuff with a D90 -- it has a command mode that can link up with other Nikon brand flashes (like the SB600). Works wonders because I can use my onboard flash to fill, put an external flash to the side that shoots just about as powerful as a strobe + gets a nice capture of lighting on it, and all I need is a silver or white reflector. Good to go. You might be doing yourself a big favor if you purchase according to minimizing what you need to carry. Strobes, constants, etc. are bulky and you don't want to tote those around. [editline]03:46AM[/editline] A photo shoot for me is a D90 with a 50mm. Hold/fire the camera with my right hand while holding the external flash off to the side with me left hand and have a grip person who sits behind with the reflector. If I can't do that then available light is more than likely the key, or bouncing the light around with the external. You might also want to look in to a Gary Fong. Works absolute wonders on my SB-600 and is pretty cheap. Should fit about every flash out there. [url]http://www.garyfongestore.com/[/url][/QUOTE] That guy has a couple products I really like. I might actually have to buy 1 or 2 of them.