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Photography Studio Lighting: Flash vs Hot lights vs Cool Lights?

I recently purchased a 3 soft box portable lighting kit using fluorescent tube "cool lights." I have been this far unimpressed with the light output, and I was wondering if simply adding a hot-shoe flash to my camera would help out, or if I should invest in a hot spotlight or a ring flash. Shooting with a NikonD40x and I'm not sure about the flash sync capabilities if I go for the flash ring.

You are expressing a common problem.

Totally agree with the comment above; mixed lighting will certainly lead to trouble. What you need to do is determine what would be the best lighting situation for the type of photography you are doing and stick with it. Here are my suggestions:

1. Studio flash (with or without soffbox) will be good for portraits and general subject matter.

2. Hot lights (halogen or studio incandescent) are good for still life and interior architecture as you can get an excellent "preview" of what the lighting will look like as well as get accurate light meter readings. You can, with some experience, paint with light as well. You also have a far greater variability for longer exposure times, so you can have greater controls using the "law of reciprocity."

3. Cool lights (either LCD or fluorescent) are very good for small product photography and food pictures where you don't want to add heat to the setup and also want to "previsualize" you results. As with hot lights, you can have longer exposure times than with electronic flash.

Caution on all bulb lighting. Exposure color alters with time and LCD lighting dims after many hours of use. If you don't have a color meter, buy one to make sure you are balancing light color correctly. Be especially careful of "ambient" light, especially with long exposure times as mix light sources will result in horrible results.

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