inexpensive lighting solution

Hi All,
I'm thinking of getting some inexpensive lighting for portraits and still-life photos.
Any suggestions? Share your setup? I've heard of lights from the hardware store, etc. but need more details!
cheers!
-PP

The cheapest low cost lighting system would be to buy some white foamcore and to use it as a reflector along with as much window light as you can get.

I light all of my on-location bridal portraits this way. Strobes, umbrellas, softboxes, they are all trying to emulate northern window light, so why not use the real thing?

White foamcore is readily available in an art supply store and you can save a lot of money if you ask if they have any damaged pieces. Having the corners dinged is a big problem if you are trying to mount a print on one, but it won't matter to you at all, if you are just using it as a reflector. I even found some foamcore that was white on one side and black on the other, which comes in handy for an emergency background or if I want to use a "negative reflector".

I would agree with Dave above. Relecting natural light is very cheap, i.e. using foamcore or similar (alli foil pasted onto a cardboard sheet). Light given looks very good especially when photographing animate objects, e.g. people, fruit, flowers etc..

Even if you go for professional reflectors from the likes of Lasolite etc. it is still cheaper than one studio flash head.

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Next up would be continous light sources, e.g. 500W/1000W halogen work lights can work well. I have two of these, supplied on height adjustable tripods. Each unit has two halogen lights, each rated at 500W. So in all I have 2000W of light power. Cheap as well, even here in the UK. Both units together came in at under £40.

Only downside is that they run very very hot. In addition, any subject placed under them also gets hot. This is OK for bits of metal etc. (I use them for race/road car parts) but humans and animals don't like them much. In addition, you need to run with a custom white balance becuase of the colour of light given off by them. Easy to do with the 10D etc. though so that shouldn't be a worry.

You can also make diffusers for these as I have done using white tissue paper on a cardboard frame held in front of the lights. You do need some good distance though again because of the heat.

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thanks for the responses. I have no bright northern light so the advice about the lighting is useful. I'm surprised that the halogens required white balance adjustments! Is there an artificial inexpensive light source that doesn't? Although yo uare right a custom white balance would be easy.
So halogen lamps it is then!
cheers.
pp

Yes, I have a bunch of the same halogen lamps. Yes, they do get hot. I can easily heat up my unheated garage studio with them in the middle of winter. Yes, you do need to set up a Custom White Balance, but that isn't hard at all. The color is close to a regular tungsten lamp, but not quite. The big factor is that you get a lot of light for very little cost.

I built a bunch of aluminum reflectors, snoots, and shades. Whatever you do, maintain convection cooling around the lamp assemblies. Otherwise, the lamp element will fail. (That was spoken from the school of "been there, done that".)

---Bob Gross---

bear in mind that those "workman's" lights chage colour over time. The longer they are turned on the more yellow they get.

Those lights also will throw shadows if they are like the ones in the picture above. A friend of mine bought some of these and that's what turned out to be the problem. The metal "guard rails" will cast a shadow and they are there to prevent burns. Now you could take the guards off ...

I've said this on this site before and I'll say it again: Halogen lights are very hot and very dangerous. If it's just you then you pays your money and takes your choice. But if there's any chance a kid will reach up and touch one, or that it could fall over and start a fire, then you should really think hard about having them around.

On the photography side of things they are also much weaker than you think that they are going to be. If you are photographing inanimate objects then you can use longer exposures but if it's something like a portrait then shutterpeed becomes more important. At two meters you will not want to point these things directly at a living subject - at least the subject won't want you too! The heat will affect them to much. Then if you use some type of fireproof light modifier their lack of power will be more evident.

If you can't use window light then monolights are the safe and not particularly expensive answer. If you can't afford them you should perhaps ask yourself if you can afford a bad burn or a fire. Straight out: I wouldn't have halogen lights around the place. They are far too dangerous.