i usually take outdoor photos. right now im turning towards more indoor studio type ones... but lighting is proving to be a pain in the ass. i cant afford strobes right now, let alone luxuries like fancy gel setups. anything i can use that will give me decent lighting and wont cost a fortune - at least until i can save up some more $ and shop around for some used studio lighting equipment? ATM ive been using incandescent lights but they 'blow out' the highlights on skin. been thinking of using indirect halogen construction lights - theyre pretty high wattage so if i aim them at a wall it reflects/diffuses the light back at the subject pretty evenly. i could use some suggestions on lighting. a photographer friend suggested that i go out and buy some fluorescent light fixtures, then correct the tone in photoshop. would definitely be in my budget, since i could grab then at a hardware store for a few bucks. but i have some pretty big reservations about using fluorescent, i hear its horrid. what do you folks use for budget indoor lighting? cheers, -gabriel

Something I did when I started out at home... I saved to buy a good secondhand/used flash head (A Courtenay 1600). This I used as a main light and I filtered the light of with thin material (muslin) stretched and stapled across a wooden frame I made up from light timber. I also bought a medium size foldaway reflector and grabbed as many white sheets as I could. For a hair light, I would use a mid range flashgun with a zoom head, connected to a slave cell and mounted on a cheap tripod. I made a snoot from fastening thin card around the head of the flash with rubber bands. (OK if the model was sitting or laying, but had to improvise for standing shots). I would also use a couple of "cheap" small flashguns, wih slaves, and fire them into the reflectors/sheets to creat some reflective light. All this is ok, but would only allow fairly close up portariats, as the "lights" would have to be fairly close to the subject to get the details. Thats how I started. Makeshift, I know, but the results were surprising (and I sold some too) I made enough to upgrade to a three light set. Alas, they have now gone, but I am lucky in that I have access to a studio. Hope this helps!! :) Dave

You could try going out and getting a couple of good, old flashes (like Vivitar 283 or 285s, Cullmann CX45, etc.). You want flashes that allow you to set them manually and preferrably have intensity controls. If they have slave modules, great ... if not, get a couple of cheap (cost, not build quality) slave hot-shoe adapters. Next, get a couple of light stands (you're going to need these anyway when you get your strobes, and they're not that expensive). You should be able to get some decent 6-8ft extendable ones fairly cheaply used. Finally, you can grab a couple of umbrella/hotshoe adapters and a couple of umbrellas. You can get white or silver umbrellas in a decent size for under $30 each now. You might also look into a softbox. Or, you can buy a couple on-flash accessories like the Lumiquest Softbox or Big Bounce (I use the softbox on my flash - which I mount on a stroboframe rotating flash bracket) which may be a little cheaper than the umbrellas if you're really tight for cash (I've been there...hell, still there). :) Whole thing will probably be under $200 ... maybe even under $150 if you're lucky. And the best part, you can use the stands, adapters, and umbrellas with strobes as you get them. You can also make a PVC lightstand for under $10, but its not as versatile as a real one. -=>Donald

I've been looking into the exact same thing. I have found that a Vivitar 283 flash head mounted on a cheap tripod (it has a tripod head in the base) or an inexpensive lightstand and an umbrella should be pretty reasonably priced. Then I'd suggest you get a Wein flash slave that plugs directly into the Vivitar flash head. It's triggered when your on camera flash fires. The Vivitar 283 can be had on Ebay for ~$25.00. Lightstands can be found at http://bhphotovideo.com for ~$35.00, as well as the Wein slave for ~$20.00 and an umbrella for ~$20.00 So for around $100 you get a off camera flash that's diffused and works well. Of course, like Dave said, you might need some other lights, but it allows you to expand your lights one at a time for around $100. That is what I'm planning on doing, as soon as I have the $100....hahaha... One thing that you might also be able to do, if you don't want your on camera flash to "fire". You can put a piece of non-exposed but developed E-6 (slide) film over the flash. It will kill the visible output of the flash, but will allow the infrared range to pass through. The flash slaves are sensitive to infrared, so it fires the slave flashes without your on camera flash. Ahh, the power of Google.

i was thinking more along the lines of some sortof static lighting solution, as opposed to flashes... but ill check them out. as for $100-200.. heh, currently even thats above my budget :(

What kind of budget you looking at to do this. Give us a better idea. And if you say $8 I'm going to suggest a birthday candle in a twinkie with a handmirror behind it. :) -=>Donald

haha.. no not quite actually, i was thinking of spending under $50-100 for now. id prefer a static light setup to flashes for now though, that way i can 'see' the results im getting beforehand and its also less complicated and i wont have any synching issues. im pretty handy with tools so i can build things like stands, screens, etc no problem. ive been scouring google for some sortof 'budget' lighting solutions that i can use in the interim... but most sites consider a 'budget' solution to be around $1000 US.. lol. mainly interested in portrait and nude photography. building a backdrop, so thats not a problem.. just trying to figure out some sortof inexpensive lighting. ive seen some photographers use makeshift lighting setups with those halogen construction floodlights on stands (like these), but again i would not know how to go about diffusing them or directing them to get good results. was going to just pick up a couple and experiment with indirect lighting with them, since theyre very cheap - you can get a pair (or a single one) on a tripod for like $20. sigh i realise this entire thread must sound pretty moronic... but i REALLY am on a tight budget right now. im also eastern european by birth, and therefore im always looking for ways to do things in a makeshift, economical manner rather than rushing out and spending $2000 like most north americans tend to, and are able to do :) (thats not an insult, just pointing out a different mindset).

is this the type of slave you were referring to? i have two cameras im using at the moment - my old & trusty Nikon FG, and a Nikon CP5000 digital.

This isn't moronic at all. I've been right where you are now (that's why I know you can make a lightstand out of PVC for under $10). If you shoot in b&w, then using a construction floodlight on a stand is no problem at all. The problem with color film is that it is balanced for daylight shooting. You can get film balanced for different lights. If you get tungsten bulbs (~3200K) then you can use tungsten balanced film such as Fuji's 64T or Kodak's Ektachrome 64T & 160T slide films, Kodak's Portra 100T or Fuji NPL 160T print films. Halogen is very close to Tungsten I think so should work. You can also use regular daylight balanced film and use a filter on your lens. I think the 80 series filters are the ones ... brain is saying 80B or 80A. If your lens doesn't have too big of a filter size (mine is 72mm ... sigh) then you can probably get one for under $20. With that, you could get a couple floodlights/stands and the filter for around $50-60. I'd also recommend a rheostat type device. If you are skilled (and please be before screwing around with household AC), you can modify a common dimmer switch to do this. What that allows is the ability to dim the lights individually so you aren't on full brightness all the time. Low budget way is to move the lights closer or farther away. Watch draping anything over the lights. They're not called "hot lights" for nothing. You can also bounce the light off of some type of reflector (cardboard or whatever painted white or silver or gold works well) to diffuse the light a bit and take away some of the harshness. -=>Donald

yep - i usually shoot in B&W, or if i dont i almost always end up desaturating or playing with the colors in the final image anyways (look at my latest gallery pics and youll see what type of pic im interested in). if possible id like to stick with mostly digital, and keep developing costs down :) the nikon CP5000 is pretty cool in that it has all the features of a manual camera (ie: control of shutter speed, film ISO, f-stop, etc) and produces sharper images (5mp). it works with nikon speedlights but unfortunately i cant afford one ATM nor do i really trust in camera-mounted flashes anyway. the rheostat idea is incredibly ingenous. i could create something like that very easily - can use an extension cord and put the rheostat inline so that i can control the entire set of lights plugged into it. i NEVER would have thought of that and thats the type of tips i was looking for when i started this thread :) ive also seen some excellent silhouette shots where a guy used an ordinary household flashlight to light the model from the front, and the results turned out EXCELLENT. so tonight im going to bust out my maglight and try some shots :) any tips for building a backdrop? was figuring just a simple stand to drape a long piece of cloth from.. if a piece of canvas that size costs too much at the fabric store ill just use a king-size sheet or two sewn discreetly end-to-end for the time being.

Check these out. They should give you some ideas: http://www.betterphoto.com/exploring/MakingBackDrops.asp There is a book that shows how to build all kinds of photographic equipment out of PVC. I think I have a copy of it at work, but I won't be back there until Sunday. Been trying to find it online, but it doesn't look like it's still available. -=>Donald

wow, very cool - thanks for the tip. ill go out and buy some muslin, dye and tape tomorrow. im thinking a soft slatish pale grey/blue with a slightly mottled effect. wondering how to make the stand. perhaps a simple tripod-based pole with a crossbeam? thanks to everyone for replying to this and the tips. cheers, -gabriel

ive been using incandescent lights but they 'blow out' the highlights on skin I only skimmed through the thread, so I may have missed some important facts. It's not really the type of light, but the size and positioning that causes too high contrast. Bouncing off of an umbrella or large card reflector should help. For B&W, the idea of using a bank of flourescents is interesting. Several tubes should give soft but directional shadows, without much heat. May wany to buy special "daylight" bulbs, or maybe mix a couple with different color temperatures. Even if using B&W, sometimes flourescents can make skin tones look strange. Be VERY careful of breakage; sharp glass and mercury vapor. Don't forget that artists have for years used window light from the side. Maybe with shear curtains for softening.

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Gabriel - don't know if you saw it, but I posted a thread that has a link to that book I was talking about. The one about making photographic equipment with PVC pipe. Here's a link to it. -=>Donald

many thanks - downloading it now. ive actually been doing OK with experimenting with all kinds of ghetto lighting. gonna post a thread in a sec with some og the pics i took, since i cant post any in my gallery (3/day limit) cheerio, -gabriel