Make shift studio

[gpaai]

Hi Everyone,

I cleared out a room in my place to do some portrait shots. Looking at the price of reflectors and lighting in general was enough to make my head spin. And quite frankly a little above my budget at the moment.

So here is my question.

Who has any make shift ideas that have worked for them in the past?

I have had one individual say that using large pieces of cardboard wrapped with foil works great for light reflection.

How about lighting? are there any cheap ways to get by with lights? Maybe contractor's lamps?

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Gary

[castledude]

Yea you can do it, you should use bulbs matched for 3200K if possible they are inexpeinsive but don't last long (4-8hrs)

I'm not sure what your budget is but a cheap set on ebay is less than $90

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... egory=3860

(I don't endorse this guy it's just an example for pricing.)

IMHO The ability to easily move the lights up and down is worth skipping a few cheeseburgers for.

[ray645]

I got tired of lugging the big Norman strobe set from work so I searched around for a CHEAP set for my home studio (25'xx35'), I ended up with a 2 strobe set from Britek and after almost a year of fairly heavy use I feel that it was the best $250 I ever spent

The good

Plenty of power for 1 or 2 people portrait work or still life
Modeling lights! (A must have!)
Wont melt people in front of them (Continuos lighting get very hot)
Power can be set to 1/2 or full
fit many types of umbrellas and softboxes (the cheap no name brands)
plug into a standard wall outlet (power packs cost $$$$$)
will recycle under 2 seconds
have slave sensors (that work) on them so you will not have to run wires all over
replacement bulbs/tubs are fairly cheap (Flash and modeling)
color balanced so "regular" daylight films can be used (Big plus!)
wont damage newer electonic cameras since they have a very low voltage through the PC term. If you do decide on strobes/flash please look into this, One of the older $5000 set ups at my work could FRY new DSLR's and SLR's (It cocked a Canon 10D)

The bad

They are made of SUPER light weight plastic (I would not want to travel with them)
you must plug them into a wall outlet so on location shots are out anyway
Low power, so group shots or very large items would be hard to light without switching to 400 or 800 speed film
light weight stands, they could get knocked over (I taped them down at the legs when photographing kids)
the light from silver 32" umbrellas is a little harsh for portraits so you may end up wanting a softbox or a larger white umbrella (cheap softbox=$80-100)
you will need a flash meter $75-and up (Some are WAY UP)

I would not buy there "higher end" strobes, since the price gets close to what a more solidly built set would go for used (Norman, Aleinbees....)

the link below is where I bought them (he is now also on Ebay), the price seems fair but I only bought from him 2 times so I would not vouch for him even though all went well, maybe you can find Britek at your local store

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=15221

Good luck, and if you have any specific questions feel free to Email me

Ray

[creativeimagery]

Gary,

If you're using a digital camera you can get away with plain old incandesent bulbs and adjust the white balance. If you're using film you probably need to get a least one decent stobe, with modeling light, a decent light stand, and umbrella reflector, white, not silvered. Instead of foil or mylar, use plain white poster board for reflective panels. You may need to get the poster board pretty close to get good results, but the silvery reflectors can cast highlights in odd places on the subject. The silver reflectors really require more careful use than plain white. What I found to be a significant problem when shooting in people's houses was controlling reflection from walls and ceilings. That can make it really hard to get the lighting effect you want on the subject. I found that black felt, available pretty cheaply from JoAnne fabric or other fabric stores, does a good job of controlling reflection. You'll need some way to hold it where you want it, so you may need to rig a stand, or buy a backdrop stand or put up curtain rods on the walls so you can pull the fabric into place as needed.

I speak as someone who tried for a while to use stuff I cobbled together from this and that, and it never worked as reliably or well as I wanted. When I finally bought real equipment I was able to spend more time taking pictures and less time f****** with equipment. Also, unless the only people you'll be taking pictures of are good friends, you're subjects will be turned off if your studio looks like a garage sale.

Good luck!