The two softboxes for $100 with a CFL bulb inside them won't even touch the sides of the power you need. If you're an experienced event photographer, why can't you just put one or two of your speedlights on stands with a brolly and use that? 90% of the look, 40% of the effort.
this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2023
2 points (100.0% liked)
Photography
24 readers
1 users here now
A place to politely discuss the tools, technique and culture of photography.
This is not a good place to simply share cool photos/videos or promote your own work and projects, but rather a place to discuss photography as an art and post things that would be of interest to other photographers.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
found some cheap softboxes - 2 for 100$
A softbox is just a light modifier and it has a relatively simple job; softboxes can be made DIY style with household materials and still work fine.
What matters more is the light source you're using inside the softbox. If that's also included in that price, it's probably something like CFL bulbs which are going to be very weak for portrait work.
https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/wiki/buying#wiki_continuous_or_flash.3F
They have a temperature of 6500 kelvin - is this a good solution?
That just tells you about the light color, which you could also freely adjust using your camera's white balance setting, if you're shooting digital instead of film.
Should I invest in more expensive lightboxes where I have more control over the temperature?
You want better light sources with higher output and more control over output.
Color temperature control in the light isn't important unless you need to mix or balance that in a specific way relative to other light sources in the scene The camera's white balance can't help you there because that's a global setting that applies equally to everything in the scene.