another lighting question... Okay I know people have asked what kind of make shift lighting they can use about a hundred times. But there have been no answers I can find. I know they sell daylight bulbs for growing plants inside your home in a dark place. Why couldn't those be used in a plain old shop light with something to diffuse it in front of it or bounced off a light wall? Or clamp lights clamped wherever you need them???

I already know what I want to buy when I can, a four light photogenic outfiit with an 800 power pack and then all the goodies. But I have too much cash going out for school books and lenses and supplies already at the moment.

Can some kind hearted expert please tell me what they do in a pinch without depending on daylight(window light), or balanced film (I am using 35mm) thanks to all who even look at this thread since I had no idea if it belongs here. mjg

-- jane (jmngold@aol.com), August 11, 2000

Answers

Jane, one of the great advantages of shooting b/w is that the color balance of the light used is of FAR less importance than in color.

Go ahead, use cheap clamp-on thingies with ordinary hardware-store reflectorflood bulbs. Or get some simple, low cost old-style lightstand-and-reflector rigs that use the venerable 250- and 500- watt photoflood bulbs. You can use florescent lights too: two 4-foot, 3-tube "shoplites" that you can get at Home Depot, stood up on end on top of milk crates (or whatever) to the left and right of your camera angled slightly in, make a great start to b/w portrait or product- shot lighting. Use big pieces of illustration board for reflectors, cut bits of cardboard for gobos (put in front of a light to prevent too much from hitting a certain area of of the subject). Stick mylar sheets (or any other nonflammable translucent stuff - how about those litte antistatic clothes-dryer sheets?) in front of the lights to difuse...

My point is, for b/w, you can get some darn fine lighting of all kinds (dramatic hard theatrical, flat even, soft reflected) without spending a lot on "pro" equipment. Have fun experimenting!

-- Michael Goldfarb (mgoldfar@mobius-inc.com), August 11, 2000.

The post above is righ-on for B&W. For color, you can use the same clamp-on reflectors, or cheap stand that use the similar reflectors, but get color balanced photo-flood bulbs.

The real disadvantage of "hot lights" is the discomfort of the photographer and the subject.

For a little more money, you can get some inexpensive flash units. You can get a flash that screws into a household socket with a built- in slave trigger.

You might also look on e-bay for used studio flashes. I bought a Novatron kit new for about $500 a few years back, so it isn't all that expensive to get into the studio system. It's easy to decide you need $10,000 worth of "the goodies" but you can go very far with 2 lights, a couple of umbrellas, and some reflector cards. Just make sure, if you go this route, that you get a system that has expansion options.

-- Charlie Strack (charlie_strack@sti.com), August 18, 2000.