Neewer Sand Bags

Weighing In On Equipment Safety: Neewer Sand Bags

So, by now I have encouraged you to shop for a $100 strobe light, a $35 remote for the strobe, $30 for two light stands, a $6 bracket and $10 for a photo umbrella.  We are still under $200, so what else do you need?   Well, you need to protect your small investment.  Get some sort of weight to keep the light stand from falling over, especially outdoors and when you have an umbrella sticking out and acting like a sail.

Neewer again comes in at a bargain price with 4 bags for under $15.

You can fill these with sand, gravel, nuts and bolt or ball bearings.  Just understand that the sharper the fill, the more chance of eventually wearing a hole in the fabric of the bag.  Also weighing them down too much can put a strain on the stitching that is holding the cloth handles.

You now have everything for a great one light set-up.  Classic lighting, however, is three point light with that main light at the 45 degree angle and something on the opposite side of lower intensity to fill any shadows and a third light behind to separate the subject from the background.  Letting some daylight in the room that you are shooting can certainly work for these other two sources.  Just notice where the natural light is coming from and use it to your advantage.  In a future review I will talk about using a reflector for a secondary source.