Continuous Burning Lights

[Tim Gray]

That's why (lots? most?) studio strobe lights come with modeling lignts - lower wattage, always on, so you can "model" the effect of the stobe.  Hot lights take a lot more power and generate a lot more heat than a strobe for  less output.   Having said that, I use 2 inexpensive edison hot lights with the light-tent I have for small product type shots.

[Hank]

We have both in our studio, but only use the floods when absolutely necessitated by the subject.  They're HOT to work around as well as really, really BRIGHT.  Youu are virtually blind every time you look off set.  Modelling lights on strobes are helpful, but for many years we relied more on polaroid proofs to check lighting.  On digital jobs we shoot proofs directly to camera while setting up, then study them on a large monitor before accepting or adjusting an arrangement.  Frankly, for much of our portrait work we already have a pretty good idea what works, based upon experience, so we can arrange lights with a minimum of fuss and proofing.

[Hunter]

If you really want continuous lights, try Briese HMI lights- they're amazing, both in the quality of light control and the price: a 1200 watt light will set you back about $7,000.

[Ben Rubinstein]

using 1200 watt lights could get you done for assault....

[queenpictoria]

Flash is great for many things.
I want to look at what I am shooting.
I need something more continuous so I can light it and see what it looks like.

What do you do?  Do you use both?

Thanks.

[boku]

I use Alien Bees studio strobes with 150 watt modeling lamps (the largest retrofit wattage you can use). Alien Bees are sort of "prosumer" grade - a lot of features for relatively low price, but still not junky. I would not hesitate using such a setup for moderate studio business, but it it not heavy enough for high production day-in-day-out portraiture nor powerful enough for large commercial work.

The modeling light power tracks the strobe power, so very accurate visualization of the lighting is produced.

I have some 500-watt quarts floods that never get used. The strobes are way easier to use and you can throttle the power back without shifting the color temperature (as opposed to hot lights).

Also - I use fabric softboxes. There's something about putting a 500W hot light in close contact with a fabric tent that scares me.

Strobes - my answer to your question.

[Jonathan Wienke]

I use Alien Bee strobes with modeling lights. This strikes a nice balance between heat and overall power, and still gives a useful preview. In most cases continuous lights are hotter, more uncomfortable to work around (especially if shooting people that don't like feeling like an ant under a magnifying glass on a sunny day), harder to control for both power and color, and more likely to be a fire hazard. The only time I used continuous lights was where I wanted a certain amount of motion blur and didn't want the strobes to completely freeze the subjects. (It was a shoot for the packaging of a computer dancing game, and I wanted a bit of motion blur to convey movement in the images.) But I did get complaints about the heat and brightness and trying to fry the subjects. So other than that, I've always used strobes.

[Jonathan Wienke]

And you can get about 20 AB1600 strobes for that price with about 100x the light output...

[tshort]

I just assisted on a portrait shoot where they were using a very simple, inexpensive setup:  a $5 light fixture and a daylight balanced tungsten bulb (~300w?).  The light fixture was one of those metal shade jobs.  They just clipped some diffuser paper across the front to soften the light and put it on a flimsy stand.  This was used as a fill light, really, to balance out indirect light from a window.   That with a collapsible reflector got it done well - the portraits (environmental shots) look great.