Cheap lighting...

stan the man

stan the man

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Hi folks
I'm looking to get some form of light set up to do some indoor macro work,but seeing as I've recently spent so much on lens/monopod/filters etc, it's left me a wee broke,so has to be on a very tight budget. Do I have to go for a specialised form of lighting, or can something be rigged up from something I may have at home?

thanks in advance.
 
No probs - here's one that works fantastically well and is dead cheap...

Sunny day, window, anything white to reflect light back onto subject

An old boy at the club is (was, left now) a master at this - it's not always necessary to spend a fortune

For any better advice, I suggest you outline what you're wanting to photograph and if any form of backdrop is needed - old-boy was a flower genius; used to hang jumpers behind on a clothes rail for a range of coloured backgrounds !!!
 
Asda Llansamlet sell a portable home studio which costs £19:95 made by Hama i think. Its basically a 60cm square of white nylon type material,wire framed with double sided backdrops grey and blue. It forms a box shape which can be lit with two flexible table lamps,£2:99 each from argos. Jobs a good un.
This can be table top mounted for ease of use.
It may not be exactly what you were looking for but just an idea, its very versatile.

Len
 
diddydave.... I was just speaking "general macro work", if there's such a thing...flowers, water drops etc. also don't want to take macro shots on sunny days, as I may well be out and about with camera then ...sorry I cant be more specific.

Len...thanks, I'll take a look next time I'm down there :thumbs:
 
Lights - if you need a lot of light, you can buy cheap outdoor halogen floods. 250W or 500W. Pros: cheap - £ 5 or less. Cons: put out a lot of heat...

You can also use card - Staples or craft/art shops will sell card in lots of colours and you can curve it to make a small infinity backgrop.
 
I bought some of these, and 5400k lamps, but you could use 60w pearl and tungsten white balance in camera.
They are infinitely adjustable, and have the height reach for a small lightbox to light from above.
No bases, just a bracket you have to screw to something.
actually, might be able to buy bases for them, but cheaper without, obviously
 
stan the man said:
got myself the hama portable studio from asda today..reduced to £10 :woot:.just need to get some lighting now,and jobs a good 'un :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Good stuff:thumbs:

Picked up one of these myself on Saturday, well worth a tenner, also picked up a couple of "Asda value" table lamps to go with it.
 
joxby said:
I bought some of these, and 5400k lamps, but you could use 60w pearl and tungsten white balance in camera.
They are infinitely adjustable, and have the height reach for a small lightbox to light from above.
No bases, just a bracket you have to screw to something.
actually, might be able to buy bases for them, but cheaper without, obviously
Click to expand...


I was also looking at that ikea thingy yesterday, where did you buy the 5400K lamps? The only lamp I can find in B&Q is rated 2700K and they are square fluorescent lamps that mount on walls.
 
strobefreak said:
I was also looking at that ikea thingy yesterday, where did you buy the 5400K lamps? The only lamp I can find in B&Q is rated 2700K and they are square fluorescent lamps that mount on walls.
Click to expand...

I bought them from a local lamp specialist, I get good discount (trade).
These are exactly the same on Fleabay
 
Those are the ones I'm referring to on this thread. Do you have sample images taken with those lights to show us?
 
Yes I have, I shot some flowers on black but they aren't processed yet.
I read a few posts in that other thread, and the gist is correct, provided you set your w/b to the correct temp, it doesn't actually matter that they are 5500k.
The reason I chose 5500k is I expected to be using flash aswell, and wanted as close a match as possible.
In the end I didn't need flash, so I haven't tried them both together to know how close they are yet.
Flash temp is kinda variable, depending on strength:shrug:
6500k is a bit high, SB600's are 5400k to 6000k I think
 
I was looking at those "daylight" bulbs.

are they standard uk light fitting?

also, would they throw out enough light for portrait work ?
 
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