Originally Posted by davemdsn 
A lighting tip for those with tight budgets (or no budget, like me).
I have 5 lights, only one of them was expensive and that was the Pentax 540fgz. The others are; one Vivitar 285HV ($40 used), two Vivitar 283(s) (under $40 used), and one K-Mart Focal brand flash. I have three light stands and about 5 umbrellas.
The key is, you can have a 3 light set up for around $100 if you do it right. Light modifiers and extras can come later. You don't need lots of money to get started, just some great ideas like the ones Ben is sharing.
You could go to your local hardware store and buy 3 or 4 garden lights i.e. 250 watt Halogens and get "Full Blue" Gelatin to correct for Daylight and "Voila" a real studio set up. They go for about 20 to 35 € each with stands included. You could build your own "Barn Doors, "Wire Hanger" Gel Holders so they don't burn on contact with the heat of the lamp, Snoots etc. You could even design your own honeycomb grids. By having these and your little flash units, the "SKY" is the limit. My still life were shot with the "Pilot Lights (Modeling Lights) of the flash units only and they are about 150 watts each. I didn't even directly light the product. I reflected the light using Home Make aluminum foil reflectors..What do you think all that expensive stuff comes from? Guys like me who experiment and make up new stuff to play with light. Light is Light...Just find ways to manipulate it, play with it and use it..
PS..I didn't use any Umbrella's. What you see in the illustration is the what I used. The bowl of the flash units only.