what temp for indoor umbrella lighting

[Lestat]

so i am ready to pick up a set of umbrella lights, full time lighting not strobe. probably 99% indoor use.
so i am wondering what temperature of bulps to get. 5200, 5600, 6400 ?

and would solid white with black behind be better for the umbrella? or just get the white translucent ones?

or would diffuser box lights be even better since they are directional lighting instead of scatter lighting like an umbrella. (sorry if thats not the right term, i just call them scatter lighting as it scatters the light everywhere as it bounces off the umbrella)
i think the umbrella would offer a better overall lighting blanket over the subject but just want your thoughts

i would hate to buy ebay stuff but i dont need anything special just something to produce a better, more even, well lit environment.

[Nate P.]

In all honesty, I would pick up a good set of strobes (http://alienbees.com/) instead of continuous lighting... continuous lighting heats up the area very fast. If you really plan on using them a lot, its a good investment. Anything from Ebay will probably fail when you need it most... you just end up spending more in the long run.

What umbrellas/softboxes you use really depends on the look you want... most people start with a couple shoot-thu umbrellas (the translucent ones) and maybe step up to a brolly box or larger softbox later on.

Also be sure you have a way to trigger the strobes.

[inCore]

I would also go in the direction of strobes but I'll answer the questions as well as I can anyways. Strobes are more versatile and, I find, practical. The benefit of continuous lighting is of course that you see what you're going to shoot before you shoot it already. I don't think this is a problem because firing off your flash to see how it's going to look like isn't really an issue when you can just delete bad pictures.


so i am ready to pick up a set of umbrella lights, full time lighting not strobe. probably 99% indoor use.
so i am wondering what temperature of bulps to get. 5200, 5600, 6400 ?

'Normal' daylight is 5500-6000 Kelvin. Hence I'd go with the 5600. In the modern age it doesn't really matter though, as you can always correct the white balance later on. You can also used filters on top of the lights.


and would solid white with black behind be better for the umbrella? or just get the white translucent ones?

You can also get covers for your umbrellas that you can take off when you want to shoot through the umbrella.


or would diffuser box lights be even better since they are directional lighting instead of scatter lighting like an umbrella. (sorry if thats not the right term, i just call them scatter lighting as it scatters the light everywhere as it bounces off the umbrella)
i think the umbrella would offer a better overall lighting blanket over the subject but just want your thoughts

By 'diffuser box', do you mean a softbox? They are generally for more advanced users, as Marin pointed out. They're usually more expensive too, as it's a general rule that your softbox should be as big as the subject that you're shooting.

You can achieve very similar effects using an umbrella as with a softbox and vice versa once you learn how to use them effectively. :) Depending on the size of the umbrella and of the softbox you achive different types of lighting.


i would hate to buy ebay stuff but i dont need anything special just something to produce a better, more even, well lit environment.

What would you be primarily shooting? If it's people, I'd definitely go for an umbrella.

[Lestat]

people would be my main object.
again i am searching ebay as there are a million and one variations it doesnt mean i am going to buy them.
what about these?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350269515765&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
there are strobe, constant and have power settings for subtle to bright.

i was shying away from strobes simply because of the cost, the camera only has a single strobe plug thus i would need some sort of a junction box to connect the camera to and then to atleast 2 strobes.
its simply a cost issue.

i am not looking for anything special right now and its more of a learning tool than anything.

[inCore]

Flash units are quite durable so you should seriously consider getting second hand strobes also.

I above mentioned that the benefit of continuous lighting is that you can see how the image will look like before you shoot. This is only partially an advantage, as all strobes except the cheapest ones have a modelling light that lets you see how the light well end up.

I just wouldn't buy lamps off ebay, you never know what kind of quality you get. I'd say that you should rather get an Alienbees AB400 kit for around USD 300 that contains an AB400, a stand and a 48 inch umbrella. You can then use some kind of reflector for the other fill light, even a large white sheet of paper will do. You could also make your own softbox, there are plenty of people that have done this.

You can trigger a strobe in several ways, one way being by using the in-camera flash.