[techforge]

I'm mostly an outdoor photographer but next month I have to do a professional indoor shoot for the students at my wife's dance studio. The only equipment I own is an sb600 and an old sb25. I've looked around and seen some "beginner" lighting kits but I really don't know where to start. The studio has standard fluroescent lighting and I was thinking of getting a couple floods to light from the sides and rigging my strobe to bounce off the ceiling for frontal lighting. I don't have a backdrop either but I guess a white sheet will suffice. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[MikeBoldt]

You're going to want strobes not constant lighting.

I'd read a ton on Strobist.com and learn as much as you can before your shoot.

What body are you using? How much do you want to spend? Do you want battery power or can you use outlets? Light modifiers? Amount of lights you are looking to have?

[techforge]

I shoot with a D300. I glanced at strobist.com and it looks like great reading - thanks. In terms of a budget I really don't know what a reasonable amount is because I don't know what I really need to do this. I'd like to get what's needed to get decent results without investing in this like it's going to become a regular affair. I have some wall outlets so I don't think I need batteries. Trying to gauge all of this as I go.

[spectrumphoto]

Forget the sheet... buy a roll of seamless paper. They come in varying widths from 4 ft to 12 feet (15 for white) and in about 50 color variations. Sheets can come out opaque/flat and will show creases and are prone to shadowing.

Best thing you can do is just rent a light kit for the day. You only need a small one with 3-4 heads depending on what you are doing. When shooting there turn those fluroescents off as they will give you a bad color cast on your subjects.

[techforge]

Where's a good place to rent a kit? I don't think lens pro has any.

[spectrumphoto]

Depends on where you live or are going to shoot (in case of Travel). Most Pro shops will have a rental dept. You can also check production houses as a last resort.

In LA I use Pix or Samy's or Calumet if I must. In SLC I use Pictureline and in NYC I use Adorama or BHphoto.

[Mahhvinn]

you can always check borrowlenses.com

[titan307]

Check out Alien Bees. You can use one AB400's and a reflector if you have a fairly small studio say 20x20. When doing indoor portraits you dont really need all that much power as you will be setting the lights fairly close to the subject. Usually about 4'. You can get by with only one and a reflector and an assistant to help hold. If you are using white background use two lights and reflector. one light for subject, reflector to bounce light back on to subject and use the other light directly behind subject to light the background. If you dont have an octo box, dome,or a brolley make a wooden frame to fit over the front of your main light and cover it with several layers of white sheet, dont let the sheet touch the lighting or you could have a fire,dont ask how i found that out, then adding or removing layers to achieve the lighting you are looking for.

You can also take one of the lights and hang it up high aiming down the background to highlight it this way. it gives a narrow almost circular hightlight around the subject.

If you might be using lights outdoors you would need to move up to the
AB800 or AB1600

One AB400 $250 or you can buy a set.
One reflector $50