Before we start off with the discussion on basic studio lighting photography equipments and accessories, let it be known that there are actually two categories of studio lighting-continuous light and flash.
Using flash is preferred by most professional photographers and hobbyists but there are still some good points about continuous light.
One of which is its being inexpensive especially for amateur photographers who are on a meager budget.
Another advantage of continuous lighting for digital camera photography newbies is the photographer's ability to see what exactly the light is doing and where the highlights and shadows are located.
So for beginners, it is advisable that you try out shooting with continuous light at first.
But you should not settle for that.
Continuous lighting has some major disadvantages.
The most obvious one is the fact that continuous lighting produces more heat.
You would not want the photo sessions to be uncomfortable for both you and your subject or model.
Aside from that it can be too bright that the model's irises are shut down during the shoot.
That is a complete no-no in lighting digital photography portraits.
Another thing about continuous lighting is the color that it gives to your output.
Since continuous lighting produces artificial light that is not balanced with daylight, most of the photographs turn out to be a little too yellowish.
This is because tungsten bulbs seem white in our naked eyes but in fact, they are not.
It is easy to resolve this in digital camera photographyas you can simply rectify the color during printing but it is not generally acceptable in photography.
As much as possible you do not want to render.
But if it is unavoidable, the better remedy is to simply shoot in black and white, or better yet, just switch to flash.
Amateur photographers might need more time adjusting with flash as you will be working with your eyes blindfolded this time around.
It is because with on-camera flashguns, you really don't know how the lighting affects your output unless you preview it.
Aside from that, the advantage of using a studio flash comes in with the presence of modeling lamp, and the lighting consistency it provides.
Studio flash units always come with a continuous light known as the modeling lamp.
The modeling lamp would give an accurate indication of the angle and quality that the flash would produce.
This resolves our problem when it comes to not knowing how the shadows and highlights play in our outputs when using digital photography light.
But you still should not confuse the modeling lamp with the standalone continuous light.
This one does not emit too much heat and brightness.
Still, you have to take note of one thing when using a modeling lamp.
Since it is not as bright as the continuous light, expect that the flash is much stronger so the shadows will turn darker and the highlights, lighter.
Another great advantage of studio flash over continuous light is the color consistency.
Studio flash resolves the problem of continuous light tungsten bulbs that makes the photographs yellowish.
As for flash, once you press the shutter of the camera, the light color coming out from the flashtube is automatically balanced with daylight.
So there you have it-some digital photography basics you need to know before you start fumbling with your studio lighting equipments.
The next thing for you to do is to experiment in both flash and continuous lighting to find out how exactly they differ in terms of output.