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Lighten Up

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Available in a variety of price ranges, lighting kits are creative tools that give you control over your photographs

Hensel eFlash Compact Monolight Kit

Lighting Kits
The portability of studio lighting is an important consideration for wedding and event photographers, and power packs bring the juice to location lighting. The included power pack of the Dynalite Road Kit provides enough capacity for distributing power between up to four lampheads. The power pack beeps when the unit fully recycles, and the kit includes two 1015 1000 w/s mini-flash heads and compact 40-inch umbrellas. The entire kit weighs 15.3 pounds. Estimated Street Price: $1,299.

Monolights are similar in function to on-camera flashes, but they're more powerful and versatile. The Hensel eFlash Compact Monolight Kit includes two eFlash monolights with a 250 w/s maximum power storage. Ideal for small portrait studios, the eFlash monolights have power settings that can be dialed to a four-stop range of intensity. Built-in optical slaves fire both monolights simultaneously with the included sync cord. There's also a 32-inch white umbrella with black backing for diffusion and a 30-degree grid for narrowing the spread of light. Estimated Street Price: $1,049.

A softbox, as the name implies, provides a soft, natural lighting effect through a white diffusion panel that's placed in front of the light. The effect is similar to natural light coming through a window. The two-light Lowel Rifa eX 55 Pro Kit, for instance, provides a continuous soft light output with the included Rifa-Light Softbox enclosure. The Rifa Pro-Light, also included, is useful as a low-level accent, backlight or fill light. The kit comes with a four-leaf barndoor set for controlling the shape and intensity of the light. Estimated Street Price: $835.

Lowel Rifa eX 55 Pro Kit

Reflective umbrellas soften and spread the light from a lamp by reflecting the light toward the subject. The Norman Allure C1000 3 Tungsten Light Kit includes three continuous-light C1000 lamp fixtures with two reflective white satin umbrellas and three 10-foot light stands. Dual wattage levels with independent on/off switches can alternate levels of power between 350, 650 and 1000 watts with the included 350-watt and 650-watt bulbs. Estimated Street Price: $769.

Multi-lamps provide numerous lighting possibilities in one package. The Constellation3 Large SilverDome Kit from Photoflex accepts its daylight-balanced CoolStar CFL lamps, tungsten-balanced Starlite lamps and Bi-Pin Adapter for ceramic-based, two-pin G9.5 halogen-based lamps. All three lamp sockets can be used separately or together for mixing and matching as needed. The kit also includes a large SilverDome softbox, a 12-foot LiteStand, a Tilt Swivel mount and a Dual Kit Transport Case with wheels. Estimated Street Price: $1,299.

Photoflex Constellation3 Large Silverdome Kit

Lighten Up And Let Go
While the variety of lighting possibilities available may seem a little overwhelming, with some experience, you'll find that lighting setups aren't as complicated as they may seem. The tried-and-true setups mentioned here produce similar results with any number of popular studio subjects, from product shots to still lifes to portraiture, so before purchasing, give some thought to the setups you need most frequently. If you're only interested in shooting small subjects, then a mini-studio setup probably is good enough. If you have any plans on expanding your portfolio to include portraits or larger subjects, the general rule is that the bigger, the better. Light output always can be stopped down by using lower-wattage bulbs, distance or diffusion.

The great thing about starter kits? While they may be basic, they're easily customizable by adding other pieces as needed. Learning how to mix and match lights and light sources will give you the greatest results and will be a big step toward creating your own personal style. Through experimentation, your images will start to have a professional look that on-camera flashes just can't provide.

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