PKMax
09-30-2008, 04:53 AM
thought I'd start a discussion on Lighting in here.. in particular.. cheap lighting for photography.
I've tried several ways of getting lighting, without going to the point of "Studio" lighting, mainly due to not being able to justify the costs of studio lighting at the moment.
so, my alternatives have been an combination of Bedsheets, big pieces of white card, muslin cloth and a window with lots of sun streaming into it.. this is how i've replicated a "White Studio" and have done several photos using this technique, but it does rely on really nice sunny day, and also for the light to be shining in that window, which for my bedroom is luckily on the right side for some great afternoon through to evening light.
I'm planning on getting a large light tent too, i've seen 2 that I want on ebay, one if a 4 Foot square unfoldable one for around £40, which you can use indoors with lamps or outdoors, and seems to fold up small enough to easily carry around with you, especially in the boot of a car anyways. this gives enough space to take some "white background" shots of photos, and can fit some pretty large things in, including kids.. but might be a bit cramped.. I have seen larger Light tents, which can be erected outside that are tall enough to stand in, i've been thinking about getting one of these too, they are around £70 ish.. you can use both of these outdoors for the best light, sunny days obviously a good thing for these, with the sun behind the object your shooting to make the whole tent glow bright white etc..
so, that's sunlight my other lighting i'm currently using is 2 desklamps, one of which is a halogen 50w bulb and the other is a 40w strip lamp which can give some nice even lighting.. i've been using these for macro and close up photography, useful mainly for objects that don't move, although I've put some white card behind and around the objects to reflect the light around in some cases to get more even lighting, and to get a nice white background where I didn't want black.
I have in the past used some of those 500w site lamps used for construction, which work quite well, but they do make the photos quite orange, and although you can white balance them afterwards the orange cast does seem to wash out a lot of the colours, would be more usefull for black and white photography I'd suspect. they are also frigging hot, and seem to burn out quite quickly.
I've been looking at some "Cheap" studio lighting which is around £100 a pop including stand and diffuser, these are permanent lighting rather than flash style, and they run off what appears to be energy saving bulbs lol, a lot of people have said they are good, you need a couple of them, and can attach brollies etc to them, planning on having a look into those.
Anyone else tried any particular lighting on the cheap?? any ideas for me to play with heh.
I've tried several ways of getting lighting, without going to the point of "Studio" lighting, mainly due to not being able to justify the costs of studio lighting at the moment.
so, my alternatives have been an combination of Bedsheets, big pieces of white card, muslin cloth and a window with lots of sun streaming into it.. this is how i've replicated a "White Studio" and have done several photos using this technique, but it does rely on really nice sunny day, and also for the light to be shining in that window, which for my bedroom is luckily on the right side for some great afternoon through to evening light.
I'm planning on getting a large light tent too, i've seen 2 that I want on ebay, one if a 4 Foot square unfoldable one for around £40, which you can use indoors with lamps or outdoors, and seems to fold up small enough to easily carry around with you, especially in the boot of a car anyways. this gives enough space to take some "white background" shots of photos, and can fit some pretty large things in, including kids.. but might be a bit cramped.. I have seen larger Light tents, which can be erected outside that are tall enough to stand in, i've been thinking about getting one of these too, they are around £70 ish.. you can use both of these outdoors for the best light, sunny days obviously a good thing for these, with the sun behind the object your shooting to make the whole tent glow bright white etc..
so, that's sunlight my other lighting i'm currently using is 2 desklamps, one of which is a halogen 50w bulb and the other is a 40w strip lamp which can give some nice even lighting.. i've been using these for macro and close up photography, useful mainly for objects that don't move, although I've put some white card behind and around the objects to reflect the light around in some cases to get more even lighting, and to get a nice white background where I didn't want black.
I have in the past used some of those 500w site lamps used for construction, which work quite well, but they do make the photos quite orange, and although you can white balance them afterwards the orange cast does seem to wash out a lot of the colours, would be more usefull for black and white photography I'd suspect. they are also frigging hot, and seem to burn out quite quickly.
I've been looking at some "Cheap" studio lighting which is around £100 a pop including stand and diffuser, these are permanent lighting rather than flash style, and they run off what appears to be energy saving bulbs lol, a lot of people have said they are good, you need a couple of them, and can attach brollies etc to them, planning on having a look into those.
Anyone else tried any particular lighting on the cheap?? any ideas for me to play with heh.