Home Lighting as Studio Lighting for Practice?

[BJClarke001]

Hi All,

I have spent a lot of time looking for use of available light fixtures in the home for portrait photography to see if this topic has been covered here and also on the net. But I have been basically spinning my wheels and so, I come to this forum to blast me back into my reality. So after any of you read this and fall on the floor from laughter please set me straight or at least, point me in the right direction. And I know I could just try it out without posting my question here but maybe there is one key element that could change what I am looking for other then buying the right equipment.

I have been into photography for quite some time but I want to venture into studio portrait pictures of my kids and before going way overboard with purchasing all the associated equipment (lights, umbrellas, stands), I was wondering if I could use fixtures found around the house (such as clamp lights) that would give ok results (even just for education reasons) and also give me the technique of how to move light around to get a well lit picture. I have a G1 and a Rebel and was wondering if I set the white balance to Tungsten, if this would actually give decent results. In addition (sorry, I can be wordy), is there bulbs that are prefered and readily available at a General Store (Walmart, Kmart) that could be used in the described above clamp lights? I do not have any external flashes either. So am I going at this in a sideways approach? Or should I better start saving before I get any practice (other then use of natural lighting from a window)?

[BobbyC]

It will work, but I think you would be more pleased using natural light and a reflector. Window light is always good or outdoor under cover that will allow a directional light will work too. Indoor lighting will work, I would use a grey card and a custom white balance, although the tungsten setting will probably get you in the ballpark as long as all the bulbs you use are the same.

I've seen very nice portraits made with bulbs and reflectors bought from Home Depot, the biggest problem with them is the heat. The nicest part is what you see is what you get. The garage with the door open can also give you some nice light at the right time of day.

Good Luck!

[robertwgross]

If you have a brightly lit window, then natural sunlight might work for you. The other choice is to use 500-watt quartz worklights. For another purpose, I purchased some from an auto parts store for $10 each, and each one even had a steel tripod stand. They are *hot*! Rather than setting the white balance to Tungsten, I set it for Custom and used the proper procedure for that.

If you have a place to practice light placement, then this works. However, I would never think to drag all of this out to some remote site. Speedlites are easy for transporting.

---Bob Gross---

[BJClarke001]

Thank you for your support thus far. I think the clicking sound of my mouse on the submit button for this post had just finished and I already had two replies. Nice.

BobbyC: Thank you for your response and I really liked the open Garage Door idea. This is the kind of "the little ideas" I am looking for to do this and I have a good situation at my own home to try this (when it gets warmer).

You mention using the Grey Card for customizing the White Balance. Why is that used opposed to using a white card (sheet of paper)? And you mention the Home Depot purchased reflector. What was it you used or suggest?

Bob Gross: And thank you for your input too. Another clever idea on use of the quartz lights with the stands is good to know and I may try it because the lights would not go to waste after I actually move to the "Real Lighting Approach" (much later on though). So after that, I may end up using these lights to mow my lawn at night :P .

Thanks again.

[chris.bailey]

You can get some very interesting effects by using light sources other than studio rigs or natural lighting. There is a gallery on pbase where the photographer has used candles and it is a wonderful illustration of how breaking the rules can yield great pictures, though unconventional.

Having tried what you are trying in the past you will find that a lot of shots will be disappointing when processed, with colour casts that are hard to neutralise. B&W conversion though can make some gems out of these. You will also find that the lighting range exceeds the 5 stop capability of the camera so getting the exposure right is very hard indeed with too much overly dark areas or blown out highlights. Be prepared therefore for some frustration.

Using modelling lamps in your setup is a fairly cheap way of at least getting some consistency out of the colours. Using halogen or quartz lights is another though rather intense solution and you may need to buy some muslin sheets or white board to act as diffusers or reflectors. Bubble wrap with household foil behind it produces a loverly reflected light, so much so that I am thinking of patenting it and you can make a full length reflector for a few quid (bucks) :D

Good luck and post up some results!

[BJClarke001]

Thanks Chris Bailey for your additional information. I like the bubble wrap and foil approach for a diffuser/reflector. I just need to watch the direct exposure (reflecting on the bubble wrap) from a quartz light (melt or fire) if I do use this form of lighting. And I will post the findings of what ever I end up doing. Just from the few responses I have already received, at least I am asking somthing that is not un-heard of and did not get laughed off the site.

After hearing about the Quartz lighting from the posts on this site. I did a search and found out that there are a lot of sites that sell equipment for this exact application. And in additioan I found this site ------> http://www.lonestardigital.com/affordable_lighting.htm
that is basically supporting what you guys have told me for possible uses.

As far as posting results, I will do that but give me time to get a few more responses/ideas first. And then I will need to go out and get the material, assemble and start my trial and error approach. I am looking forward to doing this and I think my kids will think they are cool because I will be taking their pictures a lot and is the big reason I am doing it because they grow so fast.

[chris.bailey]

[quote="BJClarke001"]
After hearing about the Quartz lighting from the posts on this site. I did a search and found out that there are a lot of sites that sell equipment for this exact application. And in additioan I found this site ------> http://www.lonestardigital.com/affordable_lighting.htm
that is basically supporting what you guys have told me for possible uses.
quote]

Wow, the lights will go dim in the neighbourhood with that lot on at the same time, thats if your models dont catch fire in the meantime :lol:

Heat and harshness will be your big problems. Those halogen lights are still small light sources so to soften the effects you will need some big reflectors. i.e. this

http://www.pbase.com/image/24713303.jpg

was shot with a Bowen 750 main light turned to about half power through a 56" shoot through brolly set at about 2 feet from the models face, just out of the camera frame but only just. That makes a nice big soft light source, soft shadows and plenty of wrap round. Do that with a Kilowatt of Halogen light and she would have fried :oops:

You do need then to think of having nice large reflectors, direct light will just be too harsh with defined shadow lines that conflict with those from other lights. I would look at turning the work light pairs through 90 degrees and aiming those at big white boards (art board for instance) set vertically.

I hope you have a nice big room to do this in!

[JKSinMB]

I have been working with inexpensive home lighting for a couple of weeks and I’m having a blast. This is something I never would have done when I was shooting film. My two tips:

1) Shoot RAW so that you can adjust white balance after the fact.
2) Dimmers give you an extra level of control. You can buy dimmers at Home Depot. The dimmers are designed to be used with table lamps. The dimmer plugs into the wall and the light plugs into the dimmer.

[shafiq]

There is a gallery on pbase where the photographer has used candles and it is a wonderful illustration of how breaking the rules can yield great pictures, though unconventional.

Do you recall what the name of the gallery is that has all these pictures of candlelight photography? or the URL for this gallery please!

Thx
Shafiq

[Scottes]

Shortcourses.com has a book/ebook on "Digital Desktop Studio" - http://www.shortcourses.com/bookstore/studio/book_studio.htm. I have it and it is quite good. Though geared more towards photographing small stuff - toys and models and such - it covers a lot on doing it cheap, easy, and the benefits of doing it digitally. Good stuff.

[SWPhotoImaging]

I used four tin reflector, clamp lights from Home Depot ($7.50 ea), with "natural daylight" bulbs, two silver pop-out sun shades (Auto-Zone $14.95)and shot family portraits against a sheet thumbtacked to a wall ($0). After post-processing (always shoot RAW), cropping and replacing background in PS-CS, I printed and framed several and gave them to relatives for xmas gifts. Everyone who got one thought they were professional pictures. I and those on here on the forum that saw one, thought maybe they needed one more light behind the subjects for hair highlites, but were otherwise nice pictures.

So, for another $7.50, I can get a fifth light for next time, and my "studio lighting" investment climbs to $52.50

You can't get much cheaper than that.

[Ferdinand]

sdwike,

I did a search on homedepot online and couldn't seem to find natural daylight fluorescent bulbs. Could you help me take a look or get me a link? I am in San Jose, CA. Not sure how hard is it to look for a compact light bulb with Color Rendering Index of 90~100.

Where did you get your natural light bulbs? Thanks.

Regards,
Ferdinand.

[iwatkins]

... Bubble wrap with household foil behind it produces a loverly reflected light, so much so that I am thinking of patenting it and you can make a full length reflector for a few quid (bucks) :D

Great minds think alike and all that.

I use large polycarbonate sheets (used for covering green houses etc.) that have tin foil glued to them and then covered in bubble wrap (the small stuff) as large scale reflectors for doing car photography in natural light. Biggest one I have is 8ft x 4ft and works a dream.

It is also useful for lighting the doorway of a house or an area in the garden for portrait work.

Very cheap to make and a damn sight cheaper than the Lastolite equivalents. :lol:

Cheers

Ian

[robertwgross]

I needed to construct a particular sort of metal reflector snoot to harness some of the extra light and heat I had in a 500-watt quartz light. I purchased a roll of bright aluminum roof flashing metal at Home Depot. This is a strip of thin sheet aluminum, and it can be cut with strong scissors. If you need to fasten it, use rivets.

Let's see, for the Brits, this would be aluminium. Cheerio.

---Bob Gross---

[robertwgross]

I needed to construct a particular sort of metal reflector snoot to harness some of the extra light and heat I had in a 500-watt quartz light. I purchased a roll of bright aluminum roof flashing metal at Home Depot. This is a strip of thin sheet aluminum, and it can be cut with strong scissors. If you need to fasten it, use rivets.

Let's see, for the Brits, this would be aluminium. Cheerio.

---Bob Gross---

[SWPhotoImaging]

Ferdinand,

The bulbs I am using are standard screw-base lamp bulbs (tungsten), not flourescents. They are Philips brand, called "Natural", and the packaging indicated that thier color was very nearly the same as daylight. They also came from Home Depot, same as my "fancy" reflector lights.

[Ferdinand]

Thanks sdwike, I was looking around and the only type I have seen so far is GE's tube flourescent and you can choose daylight at 6500K but only a Color Rendering Index of 70 where as the 5000K Noon time light has a better Color Rendering Index of 90. So looks like 5000K is something I might want to look for, unfortunately for the screw on bulb type as you have mentioned, there is none that I found that are rated that way so I cannot be sure. Thanks again.

Regards,
Ferdinand.