Lighting! What do you use?

[Wonderboy Photography]

Ok this the second time I wrote this, daddy cool sent me an IM and I clicked on it before it completely loaded so here i go again.

Ok I really wanna know what everyone uses, not for my own use but for other people that are just starting. I want them to see what we use and have some insight about what to use. So Tell me what creative things uve done. What inexpensive but creative lighting styles do you have and for those who do have the expensive equipment what do you use? I only shot with natural light for a good while but that was because of lack of funds. I cut up a car window reflector and used it as reflector once i just covered it with gold see thu plastic to make it a gold reflector. But regularly i use my dual SB-800 with a couple pocket wizards, my only issue is the recycle time. My batteries die quick. Everyone tell me what you have and what you use. and throw in a pic or two showing how you do it. I added two shots One is mixing natural light and sunlight i used a SB-800 directly in front of my subject Sarah, isnt she gorgeous? And i use to sunlight that was directly behind but on top of her to show her outline. And the second shot was in doors and all i used was a my sb-800 that was set off by my on board flash.

[Melissa Eve (Freckle Munster)]

Gawgeous photos & models! I love the light you have in the photos.
Thank you for posting this, I'm one of the 'just starting out', and any tips would be great.
I love using natural sunlight, it's the best and really makes for a lovely photo. I have yet to buy a reflector, but I will try your DIY reflector. Another way to make a reflector is from tinfoil & something to wrap it around...it's pretty ghetto, but its effective & gives a nice glowing affect, and you can make it huge.

[Jian Bastille]

Pippi said:

Gawgeous photos & models! I love the light you have in the photos.
Thank you for posting this, I'm one of the 'just starting out', and any tips would be great. I love using natural sunlight, it's the best and really makes for a lovely photo. I have yet to buy a reflector, but I will try your DIY reflector. Another way to make a reflector is from tinfoil & something to wrap it around...it's pretty ghetto, but its effective & gives a nice glowing affect, and you can make it huge.

Hey, you learn the best of basics and how things work from 'ghetto!'

Many, many years ago, I wasn't above using shadeless 100+watt lamps around the room with tinfoil 'collars,' clear-colored tinted plastic wrap right over the flash, and a sheet of tinfoil on foam-core board to reflect sunlight!

Now, I use (still ghetto to some,) KT-900 Smith-Victor set (1250watts) consisting of two 500-watt bulbs with umbrellas and stands, and one 250-watt with boom and tripod. I also use a 3.5" diameter reflector/diffuser, and for flashes, I've been using an ultra-powerful (and 10 years old,) 5400HS flash, with a omni-diffuser dome n top of it. The unit turns 180 degrees horizontal, and 90 degrees vertical. With the addition of all my lights, I use the flash like this (unit is old, and can't access HSS or TTL with current camera, so it flashes at FULL power, so...): formidable distance from subject? Straight at them, no diffuser. Far, but not THAT far? Straight at them, put the diffuser on. Decently close? Point it to bounce off walls in any direction, if available, or, if no walls, a 45 degrees up in the air above them. Too close? If I don't opt for the ring flash, I point the omni-diffuser AT ME, and that little sliver of diffusing light will do the job. Still too much? Well, I take it off, and obviously the light is perfect!

Can't find an omni-bounce to fit your flash? Point your flash STRAIGHT UP in the air, and wrap a piece of white copy paper around it, securing it in the back with a long strip of scotch-tape. You now have a diffused column of light to work with!

[Carly May Carnage]

for the longest time my "lighting rig" consisted of two spotlights from the local hardware store taped onto two adjustable microphone stands (that i already had)

and yep, i used the car reflector for a reflector mmore times than i care to remember too.

i absolutely HATE shooting in natural light as a general rule, although some natural light can be beautiful, mostly it turns out to be a pain in the ass.

[Retrodolls Pinup Photography]

i use a flash light :)
lol
j/k

[Jian Bastille]

secrets & lies said:

for the longest time my "lighting rig" consisted of two spotlights from the local hardware store taped onto two adjustable microphone stands (that i already had)

and yep, i used the car reflector for a reflector mmore times than i care to remember too.

i absolutely HATE shooting in natural light as a general rule, although some natural light can be beautiful, mostly it turns out to be a pain in the ass.

Yes, I'd forgotten, I've used those double-work lights ($30) from hardware stores, unscrewing the grates as to not cast a shadow...

[Retrodolls Pinup Photography]

Ok, but seriously here is a shot I did for a magazine last year. I pulled back for a shot to show part of the set up,
i used;
4 portable power packs
7 strobe heads
1 huge soft box
and a bunch of other smaller items,
and it was shot at about 1:30 in the afternoon

[Jeff Griffin]

I have a bunch of Alien Bees, including their ringlight which is new for me. I also have a set of five Sunpak flashes which I use when big lights are not an option. Like in this shot of Vera Von Munster. You can see one of my Sunpak units at the top left of the shot. There is another with a radio slave attached and dropped into the "trick or treat" bag underneath some heavy orange gels.

I started using ebay radio triggers, but now I use Paul C. Buff's CyberSync flash triggers. They are excellent!

I get huge ghetto reflectors from Lowes Home Improvement or Home Depot. They are 4' x 8' sheets of rigid foam insulation board. It has a silver back and I cut it into thirds and tape one side with duct tape. This way I can fold it up to haul it around.

[Rachel Spring]

I bought a cheap set of tungstan lights from B&H earlier this year, cost me about $230 for three lights and stands (one has a mini-boom arm). It's not too bad, I like it for being on a budget, but the lights get hot pretty quick.

Also white poster board makes a pretty good reflector and it's cheap.

[Filmmonkey]

Since I shoot video I use primarily hot lights. I've got a basic tungsten kit that has a smallish softbox (lowell Rifa lights rock!) a couple focusable spots and one wide angle that's good for overall light but not very controllable.
I've got different sized reflectors, one is "5" (sided white, silver, black, gold etc). I've got several sheets of white and black foam core that get used a lot. One of the pieces has this silver-plastic insulation on it. You can get it in roles at Home Depot and it's just bubble wrap made out of silver plastic. It works well because the texture of the bubbles prevent any hard spots, like foil can.
I have a bag full of varous scrims, flags, and other who-haws and a bundle of various gels, though I use the CTB andCTO the most, trying to balance tungsten to daylight or vice versa.

But when I started out it was with the trusty twin halogen worklights and car sunshields.