Many photographers are quite satisfied with pictures they take under natural lighting or with their camera’s built-in flash. Others, however, want to go further with their indoor photos and know that different lighting equipment and some new techniques need to be learned. If this describes you, the following information will help you decide the best approach for your type of photography.

One option is to use studio lights that produce continuous light. These lights have a photoflood, quartz halogen or fluorescent lamp. An advantage of this type of lighting is the ease of previewing the effect you’ll get in the picture. Shadows, reflections and other characteristics are apparent before you shoot, so you can make the adjustments then. The color of light produced by these sources is different than daylight or electronic flash, but the white balance control on a digital camera lets you easily match the color for perfect balance. Unlike flash, there is no sync cord or accessories needed, and metering the exposure is no different than when shooting outdoors.

<Interfit Tungsten Light Opus Fluorescent Light>

Using continuous light sources such as the Interfit Tungsten Light or the Opus Fluorescent Light offers some advantages, such as easy previewing of the lighting effect and effortless metering of the light with the camera’s exposure system.

If you’re photographing small, stationary objects such as for auction photos, a couple of small lights with household bulbs will generate enough light. You should mount your camera on a tripod since the shutter speed will be slow, but since your subject isn’t moving, the slow speed isn’t a problem. When shooting larger objects, more powerful lights are needed since a larger area will be illuminated.

The amount of light produced is indicated by the lamp wattage. Small lamps for auction product photos may be around 50 or 75 watts. Bigger units are designed for 250 to 500 watts or even higher. Fluorescent lights produce about three times the amount of light per watt as compared to incandescent and quartz lamps, so a 26w fluorescent lamp will be equal to a 75w incandescent bulb.

For the maximum amount of light, best action-stopping and the least amount of heat, consider studio flash. This type of flash usually has a small quartz or photoflood lamp to act as a modeling light, so you can preview the lighting pattern. But the exposure is captured by flash that fires when the shutter is released, so any subject movement is frozen. There are two styles of studio flash; monolights and power pack flash systems. Monolights are self-contained, with all of the circuitry to generate light built into the head. Novatron flashes have a central power pack that feeds power through cables to 1 to 4 remotely positioned flash heads.  

<JTL Versalite 200 Monolight Studio Flash Novatron D1000 ProKit>

A JTL Versalight and other monolights have all of the circuitry built into the flash head. Other flash systems such as the Novatron use a central power pack that connects to lightweight flash heads.

Studio flash needs to synchronize with the camera. This can be done by one of several ways. Most studio flashes have built-in slave sensors, so the studio flash can be fired by the light from the camera’s own flash. Sometimes this additional light source may not be desired, if it adds uncontrollable highlights or shadows or alters the lighting effect you’re trying to achieve. The Interfit Studio Flash Transmitter (170095) mounts on the camera’s hot shoe and sends out a burst of infrared light, which will trigger slave sensors without adding any visible light to the picture.

A camera’s built-in flash can be used to trigger studio flashes if they are equipped with slave sensors.

The Interfit Flash Transmitter rests on the camera’s hot shoe like a flash, but sends out only infrared light. It fires slave-equipped flashes without adding visible light that can affect the exposure and lighting pattern from the studio flashes.

A wireless option for firing a studio flash is to use Porter’s Wireless Radio Flash Trigger Set (130580). This set consists of a transmitter that slides into the hot shoe of the camera and sends a radio frequency signal to the receiver attached to the main light. This eliminates the need for any cords between the camera and lights and is quite reliable, since the radio frequency transmitter doesn’t have to be within line-of-sight of the receiver, unlike visible light and infrared slaves.

Porter's 4-Channel Flash Trigger Set A radio flash trigger set allows the camera to fire the studio flash without cords and from up to 80 feet away.

Another way to sync with the studio flash is to use a flash cord. Most cameras no longer have a PC flash cord terminal, but several adapters on the market add this type of cord connection through the hot shoe. When a group of monolights is used, a sync cord can be used to connect one light to the camera, then the other flashes will fire via their built-in slave sensors.

PC to Hot Shoe Adapter

Most cameras today no longer have terminals for PC flash cords, but adapters exist that connect a PC cord through the camera’s hot shoe. The Wein Safe-Sync Hot Shoe Adapter on the right also protects the camera from excessively high voltage triggering circuits that a few old flashes may produce.

 As photo equipment becomes more sophisticated, the ability to create beautiful works of art becomes easier for everyone. Lighting is one of the chief tools available that makes the journey exciting and rewarding.

We Have A Winner!

Visit our web site and check out the monthly themes for the rest of this year and send us your best shots!