smick.co.uk » portrait photography

Studio Flash Lighting

Smick — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:33:28 +0000

If your thinking of investing in some studio flash then we have some specials on offer to tempt you.

Starting with our 180Ws flash lighting kit this is a two head kit and includes 2 flash heads, 2 light stands, a 60 x 40 softbox, a white translucent umbrella and an 80cm gold/silver reflector we are going to include the Studio Bag Medium which normally sells separately for £33.99 so a great saving. This is an ideal starter kit and you can achieve lots with this setup, we also have 2 videos using this kit the first one is an overview of the kit 180W 2 head studio flash kit with Gavin Hoey doing the honours and we have a Studio Flash Lighting Tutorial also hosted by Gavin.

Next up is our 300Ws flash kit the 300W 2 Head Studio Flash kit again we have an overview video of this Studio Flash SD series Overview this kit comes with 2 300Ws flash heads, 2 light stands, 60 x 80cm softbox, umbrella of your choice, wireless trigger and a lightstand bag. Again we are also going to include the Studio Bag Medium with this. This kit will give you the power and flexibility to tackle most things and you won’t be lacking power.

If you want slightly more power then we have the 400W 2 head Flash Kit these 400Ws flash heads have digital readouts to give more accurate power settings, this kit comes with 2 400Ws flash heads, 2 lightstands. 60 x 80cm softbox, umbrella of choice and wireless trigger. There is an overview video E400 and E800 studio flash overview and a 120cm Softbox Portrait Lighting Tutorial video using this the 400Ws flash head.

With this kit we will be including the Excel Studio Lighting Bag – Case.

When ordering do not include a bag the bag we are including will come automatically as part of the kit.

Studio Flash Softbox Lighting Tutorial

Smick — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:02:52 +0000

In this video Gavin Hoey shows how to use the Ezy Up studio flash softbox with grid, he shows what effect the egg crate grid has and how you can use it to control the light in your shots.

The Ezy Up softboxes come in 2 sizes 80 x 120cm and the 120cm Octagonal softbox, both have internal diffusers, outer diffuser and egg crate grid. The grid is simple to apply and uses the Velcro type attachment they also come in Bowens and Elinchrom fit.

Ezy Up 80 x 120cm softbox
Ezy Up 120cm Octagonal softbox

Studio Flash 180ws

Smick — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:03:26 +0000

The summer is now over and with autumnal weather setting in our thoughts turn to what we can photograph indoors and possibly setting up our own studio, with a small studio set up you can take all those family portraits or even start a small business taking portraits and baby pictures. With this in mind we have come up with a great offer on our 2 head M180 studio flash lighting kit a very versatile starter kit, the M180 heads are digital and we have 2 videos, one is an overview and explains exactly how they work the other one is a portrait tutorial to give you some ideas.

180W 2 head studio flash kit video

Studio Flash Lighting Tutorial video

Our special offer is that not only will you get the kit of 2 x M180 heads 2 x stands a 60 x 40cm softbox and an 80cm gold/silver reflector, were going to include a snoot (ST150), a wireless trigger (CYA4), 40 x 40cm softbox (SB4040) and a 91cm gold umbrella (GU110) these extras add up to a total of £88.66. This offer is only available for a limited time check the here to see if still available 180Ws Flash Lighting Kit.

We also have a great adapter available for this unit that allows you to use Bowens fit or S – type fit accessories and light modifiers Bowens fit adapter for flash heads

Not forgetting we also have 300ws – 800ws studio flash kits in our studio flash lighting categories

Studio Flash Softbox Offer

Smick — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:19:04 +0000

Up until the end of August we have some great offers on our studio Flash softboxes up to 15% off selected boxes. All our softboxes have an inner and outer diffuser.

60 x 80cm softbox available in Bowens and Elinchrom has 15% off

80 x 120cm softbox available in Bowens or Elinchrom fit has 10% off.

80 x 80cm folding softbox available in Bowens or Elinchrom fit has 10% off.

80 x 120cm Ezy up softbox including a removable grid available in Bowens or Elinchrom fit has 10% off.

Octagonal 150cm softbox available in Bowens or Elinchrom fit has 10% off.

Octagonal 120cm Octagonal Ezy up softbox including removable grid available in Bowens or Elinchrom fit has 10% off.

Check out our special offers category.

We have a great video showing how to get some great results from an octagonal softbox the 120cm Softbox Portrait Lighting Tutorial

Strobist Softbox Mark II

Smick — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:48:46 +0000

We now have an update of our strobist softbox.

It now has a much sturdier metal bracket which has replaced the ball head and will take the heaviest of speedlights without a problem. It has an adjustable flash shoe which enables it to fit larger flash shoes like some Nikon speedlights and adjusts with a thumbscrew to avoid damage to the shoe, the bottom part of this is plastic to avoid any shorting on the speedlight. Like the mark I it fits to a standard lighting spigot but it now also comes with an adapter so that it will attach to a tripod with either 1/4 or 3/8th thread.

Stobist Softbox

Strobist Accessories

Portrait Tutorial using Continuous Lighting

Smick — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 17:23:06 +0000

In this tutorial Gavin Hoey explores the use of shallow depth of field to shoot atmospheric portraits in the studio using continuous lighting. He’s using one of our Lightbank Softbox lighting units with daylight bulbs and explains just how you can achieve the same with examples along the way.

Along with the Lightbank Softbox is the sister unit Lightbank 350 that has the same power but with barn doors and a front diffuser. We have a whole range of continuous lighting not only for digital photography but also for video lighting.

In this video Gavin is also using the multi purpose boom arm.

Studio Flash Portrait Lighting

Smick — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 18:01:12 +0000

Take one of our 400ws studio flash heads and a 120cm octagonal softbox, we also sell 150cm octagonal softboxes and see how you can achieve a soft wrap around light by following this delightful video anyone can achieve. In the video tutorial the versatility you can get with just a simple set up, add another flash head and using the large softbox as a backdrop achieve a pure white background, this is similar to how Lastolite use their background light boxes. Gavin Hoey presents this in a simple to understand manner without much jargon.

120cm Softbox Portrait Lighting Tutorial

In the E series studio flash heads and studio flash kits we have two power model 400Ws and 800Ws strobes both these have the same function and there is also an overview video.

E series overview video

We also have our popular SD series studio flash heads and studio flash kits there are two model 300Ws and 600Ws again the functions are identical on both these models and there is an overview video.

SD series overview video

Lightbank Softbox Special

Smick — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 18:58:01 +0000

The Lightbank Softbox is a very powerful lighting system ideal for video lighting and still digital photography. It uses 7 x 50w energy efficient daylight bulbs that emit 4 x the amount of light that a normal bulb gives off, they are relatively cool unlike tungsten halogen lighting that get very hot. Another advantage over the tungsten halogen lighting is the colour temperature our daylight bulbs are 5400k and can be used in conjunction with natural light we have a video showing exactly that. Lightbank Softbox Lighting

With switches on the back the light output can adjusted allowing any combination of from 1 bulb to 7 bulbs, the large softbox can be used with or without its diffuser, with the diffuser gives a very flattering soft light.

This is why we say this is and alternative to redhead lighting and the 2 head kit is now on special until 30th December we have made it the same price as the lightbank 350 which is a great saving.

Lightbank Softbox

Slave Flash Lighting

Smick — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:18:09 +0000

The mains powered slave flash unit can be overlooked but they are an excellent addition to your studio lighting kit, it has a test button and a sync outlet and comes complete with a sync cable. The word slave means they they are triggered by any other flash unit so can be used with other studio flash or camera flash units.

They are very cost effective and can be used with umbrellas and softboxes. Lets take our 45Ws slave flash unit with the ceramic bulbholder, the slave unit screws in to the bulb holder and then the bulbholder fits onto a lightstand, the bulb holder accepts umbrellas or an umbrella softbox. We have slave flash kits which can be used for portraits a really good way to into studio photography, although they don’t have the versatility of a full blown studio flash lighting kit you can still get some fantastic results and ideal if you don’t have too much space.

It can also be used as an extra light to add light to an area by a bit of DIY using some card make a snoot for it or used in our 26cm light head to give a wider beam of light, also ideal for the strobist to add extra flash heads at a fraction of the cost of a speedlight.

45Ws Slave Flash

Ceramic Bulbholder

Bulb Holder and 45Ws Slave flash

Slave flash Kits

Super Softbox Continuous Lighting Kit

Smick — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:40:59 +0000

For a limited period we are giving away an 80cm gold – silver reflector on purchases of our Super Softbox 3 head Lighting for Digital and Video SS70503 lighting kit. This continuous lighting kit has 2 70 x 50 cm softboxes that contain 4 x 50w daylight bulbs 5400k and one 45 x 45 cm softbox that has 3 x 50w daylight bulbs 5400k.

An ideal photography lighting setup great for video lighting and great for digital photography, the advantages of using compact fluorescent daylight bulbs is they give off little heat compared with their light output. It is easy to setup and we have a video by Gavin Hoey with an overview of the supersoftbox, not only that we have two more video one a three point lighting tutorial and one using it for portrait photography.

Super Softbox 3 head Lighting for Digital and Video

Overview of the supersoftbox

Three point lighting tutorial

Portrait photography tutorial

Available until 21st September