lighting advice - what to buy

[robertmawdsley]

I am about to buy some studio lighting but not sure which type to buy soft boxes or direct light. I am going to be photographing artists paintings for websites and also whilst there doing portraits of the artist as well. Any advice.

Thank you

[chaz]

To be honest, any budget strobes would be allright for photographing the artist, as for the art pieces natural light would be better, as flash could kill the feel of the original and has the danger of killing any shadows that are in the original piece. If flash must be used, the piece has to be either dead flat on the floor or dead vertical on the wall which would be hard if only one hook is used, the flash units would have to be of equal power and with softboxes, they would then have to be placed at an equal distance and centred at an angle of 45%, if the piece is behind glass a polariser will be required to minimise reflections. If the painting is in oil or acryllic there is a danger of hotspots on the ridges caused by the flash, as already said diffused window light paralell to the piece would be best, my opinion only :)