I've been doing nightclub fashion runway style shots lately with my 20D and 430EX I...and just got a CB mini bracket...but now doing some portraits with they models just with the 430. I also have a Smith Victor KT500U, 2-LIGHT 500 TOTAL WATT KIT WITH UMBRELLAS... they use Tugsten bulbs....
Any recommendation on better bulbs to use? Flourescent or Halogen or ?
I'm here in SoCal for some local stores or I can buy online.
Those are continuous lights, right? You'd be much better off with some cheap Alienbees or even just a couple manual hotshoe flashes. They'll put out much more light than you'll ever get from 500 watts of continuous light.
The main thing to think about is how much time do you want to spend in Processing your photos. If you look around it is hard to find a 4800+deg. kelvin Halogen that is cheap and that last more then 4 hours at 250 watts. It is not hard to find 4800k Fluorescent bulb that will last you 5 years or more of uses. Yes Bacilonur is right if you have the money to do so.
If you are really getting in to It and are getting Paid for Then spend the money, But if Not go with fluorescent they are cheap.Then work your way in to some Monolights.
Good luck
The two biggest problems with using CFLs for photo lighting is 1. they aren't bright enough (so you end up shooting at ISO 1600 and f/2.8 at 1/60) and they aren't dimmable. So you can't put a fill light up close, so it's soft and wraps around the subject, without it being too bright.
CFLs are also notorious for not being consistent color / temp. Just because 2 CFLs have the same CRI or color temp, doesn't mean they will actually match when you start shooting.
Like bacilonur, I suggest you get one entry-level studio strobe, like an AB and learn from there. You won't learn much about studio lighting with lights you can't control.
