The only problems I would see with what you linked is how short they are, and the possibility of un-even light.

The height issue can be fixed via a stool, so what remains to be seen is if the lights produce an even light over the entire subject.  And Tungsten lights often have an odd color cast that you would have to fix in Post processing.

They could work 

I'm afraid I have no current photos where I have used controlled lighting. I have been on set of 2 shoots helping out with the lighting, however, so I have seen some interesting ways of getting the right sorts of shadows.

Up until now I have been using day time ambient lighting, which although has produced some really nice photos on occasion, is unreliable and I can't always get the exact look I am going for. Are you still interested in seeing those photos or does it not really apply so much knowing that I've not used proper lighting in my work so far?



Also, at places such as B&Q, they have work lights going up to 500W, which is a lot brighter than the previous lights I showed you, and cheaper. But I do worry about the condition of my model's eyes as they might have to be switched on all/most of the time in order for it to work. I presume there is no get around to allow me to get those lights to flash as if they were a camera's lights, is there?

AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Too many questions, brain hurts!!!!

Deep breaths......ok.

I've been around this loop myself, and it is perfectly possible to use constant lights for photography. Initially I used some large video lights my brother used for video production. These were big, and hot, and gave a Tungsten (orange) colour cast. They worked quite well, but were essentially on or off, and blazed away in the faces of the subjects for the whole time they were in front of the camera.

The lights you have suggested will work in the same way, and may be cooler, but I think that you will find that you will need to use a larger aperture, a higher ISO, and a longer shutter speed in order to get enough light into the camera than you would with a strobe. I don't know of any way to trigger constant lights to make them work like strobes.

Strobes give much stronger and more controlled light, enabling you to use lower ISO (better quality), faster shutter speeds (less blur) and smaller apertures (greater depth of field).

For £230you can get a two head basic studio kit with IR trigger. This will practically do all you need. You get two light stands, two 150w heads, a brolly and softbox, and a hotshoe mounted trigger which wirelessly triggers the flashes. I bought a similar 300w kit which has been brilliant.

It is possible to buy hotshoe adaptors which have cables with either PC or hotshoe ends to trigger flashes, so you could buy one and mutilate it if you needed to, but I would imagine that any application you have in mind has already been catered for if you buy the right lead. The Canon brand off camera hotshoe cable is £50 mind.

The other way to do it is to use hotshoe flashes, and mount them off the camera. This requires either a cable as mentioned above, or some form of radio trigger. This is the strobist.com territory, and their website is worth a read. Hotshoe flashes however are not cheap, and you can pay more for one flashgun than for a full studio kit as mentioned above. The Big Daddy Canon 580EXII is upwards of £350 without stands, brollies, triggers cables etc etc etc etc

If you go for all canon heads and triggers then they can be made to work in linked groups, benefitting from ETTL (exposure through the lens) metering, so the camera light meter will automatically configure the flash output of all flashes for a nice exposure. Cheaper flashes and triggers need to have the flash power set manually. Not difficult, but can lead to some trial and error if you don't invest in a separate light meter.

Is your head hurting yet?

FWIW I would recommend investing in a single hotshoe flash first. I bought a Canon 430EXII about 3 years ago, and it was a great investment. Hugely flexible and effective, it has produced great results. The ability to bounce light of walls and ceilings brings a while new element to your photography. An off camera hotshoe flash cable will enable you to move the flash around for even more effects.

A studio kit will give you more options in the studio for the same price, but it's stuck there, in the studio. Fin if this is where you intend to take most of your shots, but for months at a time my studio kit can go unused, whereas my 430EXII is always with me.

Steve

Fair enough. I'm pretty sure that most halogens have warning labels to say how close they should be positioned to the nearest surface, which may help, and if you can bounce these lights then it will negate the impact of the heat/brightness being directly aimed at the subject.

However as you bounce the light you dramatically reduce the amount of light that reaches the subject, have a look at the inverse square law . So a low powered constant light bounced so as not to cook your subject will become even more low powered......

If you're either set or stuck on using constant lights then the best bet may be to up the ISO and concentrate on using the lights to eliminate shadows. Depending on whether they are tungsten or CFL lights you will need to set your white balance accordingly to counteract the colour cast.

Steve

Buy an external flash and make it a slave unit with a tent.  Another technique I use for makeshift studio is to set the camera on a tripod with the flash and bounce it off foil, a blank piece of paper or place a low-thread count cloth over the strobe and shoot through it.

While having studio lighting is nice its big, bulky and usually requires more space in order to diffuse the light.  A flash may be more expensive but its a NICE tool to have in the camera bag