Interfit EX150 Home Studio Kit

So here we are with the 3rd Interfit featured product with the award winning EX150 kit.

EX150 first hit the streets in October of 2004, since then more than 25000 kits have been sold to date, this sure has been a big hit in the entry level of studio lighting and immediately Winning the Gold Award in Digital Photography Magazine. Again in March 2007 the EX150 kit gains another Digital Photo Gold award betting much stiffer competitors then 2 years ago. Many of the competitors products were almost twice the price of the EX150 kit.

The EX150 kit contains a 60cm (24") softbox , a translucent umbrella (as used in many other Interfit kits) along with 2 x air damped stands (as in other Interfit kits) 2 x EX150 heads, 2 Sync & power leads.

Making a Start

EX150

Out of the box:

So you finally have your kit what do we do now,

Open the box remove and check the contents.

1. 2 x EX150 heads.

2. 2 x COR750 Air-damped stands (Located at the bottom of the box under the 2nd white panel).

3. 1 x INT260 Translucent Umbrella.

4. 1 x INT211 60 cm (24") Softbox (Black outer cover, 4 black rods, 1 x inner diffuser , 1 x outer diffuser & white speedring.)

5. 2 x Sync cables.

6. 2 x Power leads.

7. Instruction manual / Guide to home studio.(Download here)

8. Spill kill reflector.

What do all these buttons do!

Step by step lighting with the EX150 kit

So now we are going to set up the EX150 kit to produce a product shot, but the principles used can be applied to portraits. So let's get started and turn off the room lights so we can see what we are doing with our studio lighting.

Our chosen subject is the NEW INTERFIT VENUS head.

OK to start with we going are to use just one light (which we will call the Main Light) from the EX150 kit with the softbox connected.

This way we will learn how each light contributes to our final image and demonstrates how to set up before we even bring a model or a product into the image.

Our first shot on the right has the Main light placed on the right of the Venus head placed at 30 degrees to the rear of the subject and the red line indicates the height and direction of the light.

Shot on a "White Studio table" (INT300) the background has become "grey". We will show you how to change this back towards white later.

All pictures will be shot at the same exposure so you can see how we build up our final image:

Camera : Nikon D2x + 17-55 mm lens

Exposure: 1/125th @ f16

Manual mode with White Balance set to 5600k

OK so what has changed between the first and second shot.

Here we have added a silver sided 22" , 5 in 1 Reflector ( INT222) on a light stand with the aid of an (INT274 reflector arm) placed to left of the Venus head, this has reflected light back from our Main light and softened the shadow area's on the Venus head. ( or our subject).

See the difference: Looking at the two images (one and two) you should see a subtle change on the back of the head, knobs and controls and the colour is also a little softer due to the reflected light. The red line shows the angle of the reflector placement.

Lets move in closer on the back of the head.

The red circles indicate where the shadows are softer than our first picture, we can now see detail around the power adjustment knob and a small highlight, inside the power inlet socket and we have softer shadows on the right hand edge of the body. Plus some illumination on the left hand side of the Venus head is creating shape and definition that was previously a dark area. This action of adding a reflector has cut down the contrast and hardness of the light even when using a softbox we can still produce a hard light source dependent on the angle of light.

Adding the second light: Ok so now we have added our second light (called the fill light) and have "turned off" the main light (with softbox attached) to show the contribution that it is making to our final image. As you can see this fill light is creating a semi silhouetted image, creating depth, shape and tone to the image it is also lightening the background back towards white.

The red line shows where the light has been positioned and is 100 cm (3ft) further back than our Main light. We will show the set up image later. lets not get to confused yet!!!. Here you should also note that the background on our studio table is now lighter on the left hand side, when we add both lights this will become balanced toward a whiter background. Can you see now how the shape of the Venus light now has curve's to its shape.

Recap: what have we learned so far.

1. Turn off the room lighting so we can see what we are doing with the studio lighting.

2. Set up each light in turn to see the contribution each light is making to our final image.

3. Both lights do not have to be at the same height or level with each other.

4. A reflector is a useful addition for reflecting softer light on to our subject.

Both lights

Below is our final image taken with the EX150 kit

With both Main and fill light set to fire.

Here is a quick guide to exposure, where by all images have been shot under the same lighting conditions (i.e. the light or shutter speed have not been changed) but the aperture has been adjusted. No adjustments have been made apart from resizing for the web.

Click the image to see a larger version.