I tried- I really did- homemade lighting ?s

I've seen references to Home depot lighting, etc and can't find a definitive thread on how people are doing this. Can someone post a link, or the definitive setup to do this? My budget is being spent on a 70-200 F4 in the next week or so. I'd really like to take some better pictures of my family and better lighting will help.

I do have a 550ex for on-/off camera.

There are several ways to go here.

You could try the small work lights with an aluminum reflector and spring clamp, and use compact fluorescent bulbs. You'll need several of these to get a workable amount of light, but they're fairly cheap and won't generate too much heat.

Or you could try a halogen shop light that comes on a stand with two 500 watt halogen bulbs. The output may seem bright indoors but it's still pretty weak compared to even a low-powered strobe. You could probably figure out a way to mount a silver umbrella to it. I tried this approach and quickly realized the limitations. Keep a fire extinguisher handy, as well as a fan to cool off your subjects.

A third option would be to fire your 550EX into an umbrella with a PC cord and hotshoe adapters on both the camera and the flash. You could augment this setup with a low-cost hotshoe flash such as a Sunpak 383 and slave adapter. This option is probably superior to the others in terms of power, versatility and portability.

(Copy) "Keep a fire extinguisher handy, as well as a fan to cool off your subjects." Good advice! You might also want to check with your attorney and see how he thinks a jury will rule if you or the subject(s) happen to knock this light over onto someone. These lights have a surface temperature of around 1000 degrees Fahrenheit which will give skin a third degree burn on contact. They are also clearly labeled "Not For Indoor Use" which is another thing their attorney will readily point out.

Stick with flash as suggested above.

Benji

I tried those halogen work lights and quickly realized all the above mentioned issues, primarily the issue of safety. It's just not a good idea. If you really want to do DIY try large apertures, high ISO's and standard clamp on lights or fluorescents. You can make DIY reflectors to return quite a bit of light on your subject as well.

I tried the 500w halogen on my son, but did not point it into an umbrella. It was very bright, but cast way too many shadows. I suppose the second light, strategically placed, would have balanced the light and eliminated shadows.

I just figured I'd try, but seems like flash units or dedicated strobes are the better way to go. Thanks

I used a couple of Home Depot Halogen lights, and they seemed to work OK for what I spent. I built a diffuser from some PVC and a sheet. I was happy with the result for what I spent. It's my "starter" studio. After I get a better camera I will get better lights. Yes the lights are hot, but they did not cause us any issues.

Here's a link to my thread describing my light setup in the G&N forum with some pics. Post #12 in the linked thread has my set up.

...and here's another example in the G&N forum.

There are other options with Home Depot items as Curtis stated with the compact flourecent bulbs. They also have a two way outlet adapter which makes each one of those a 2 bulb fixture, so you can get around 200- 250 watts of output on each one using 30 watt flourecent bulbs. Use 2 of these in the front plus maybe a single in the back for back light and a low light lens. Not as good as a studio or using 2-3 flashes, but it works and dont cost much. I have a ceiling fan in my puter room with 4 of these 33 watt bulbs in it and I can pick my camera up in there and snap away just like daytime outside, well, almost. As others have stated be carefull with the halogen shop lights (very hot)

I have a book (I think it is "Garage Glamour") that has plans to build a large 4x4 (?) flourescent light panel with 8(?) bulbs. It's been a while since I read it, so I may be mis-remembering. If I remember correctly, you have the lights in front of the model and the camera between the bulbs from the back. Anyway, there are sample pics using that lighting and it looks good to me.