Lighting kit

[tekkies]

I'm thinking of getting this as a entry level. Any feedback on this will be appreciated.

http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-25/Studio-Light-Kit--dsh-/Detail

[jerryph]

Before investing in this, I would suggest you look into battery powered strobes. They are portable and can give you incredible results when used right. I mostly use a couple of flashes on light stands and for softening, a single umbrella on the key light.

Once you get more serious and need more power, that is where things get expensive. These kinds of lights are needed when larger areas need to be lit or when you overpower the sun. For example, I use a single Photogenic 2500 DR 1,000 W/s studio strobe, but can go portable even with this because I use a Vagabond II battery pack.

There is a saying in photography... cameras get replaced every generation or two, but there are two areas where you buy ONCE and buy the very best you can afford... lenses and lighting. Good lenses and good lighting are good 20 years later. A bad lens and poor lighting are poor quality from day 1 and stay that same poor quality forever.

I say look into battery powered flashes, and for knowledge on how to use them, visit the STROBIST (http://www.strobist.com) site and look for Lighting 101 and 102.

[jerryph]

In this series (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerryph/sets/72157622233757601/) of shots, I used mostly one old SB80-DX flash on a light stand through an umbrella and sometimes a bare SB-600 flash for a touch of rim light.

Here I have Uma Thurman posing for me:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2672/3916118947_ce951dfbc1.jpg

lol... kidding aside, that was NOT Uma Thurman, but a wonderful young lady that bears a striking resemblance to her,

Here is also something else interesting... I was shooting beside huge windows on a bright cloudless day from 10:00am to 6:30pm, and by choosing what I felt were interesting areas of the building, I still had enough power from that one single tiny flash (ok sometimes two of them), to overpower the bright conditions (most shots are in the F/4 to F/5.6 range, but I often went as high as F/9 to F/11 and never went over ISO 200!). Yes I had to get close, and yes I often shot at full power, but it *is* doable, and with some very interesting results!