Hey everyone, just wanted to post a picture that I took yesterday that cost me $100 in lighting. The two side lights are 4' dual tube lights modified so they can be plugged in and they have 40 watt daylight balanced bulbs in them and the front light is my $50 ring light.

For anyone you wants cheap but great light here is the result.


Needs a hairlight, but hey for $100 you cant beat this lighting

[codiac2600]

It looks pretty good Chris,

I might PM you in a week or 2, after I get a set of coldlights, about some studio setup advice

Thanks Stu and PM or email me whenever you'd like.

Looks like a good setup Chris.

Paul

Thanks Paul.

You can see the reflection of the ring light in her eyes. Very interesting - not red eye, but ring eye.

Lol, yeah it looks better when you're zoomed in but far away it has a not so spectacular effect.

Lol Frank. Looks like a good setup Chris. Easy to get a smile out of your client with that cardboard contraption. but you get great results from a cost effective setup so, well done!!

Thanks Peter.

Hi Chris,

I've been interested in this kind of lighting since I've seen some of the strobist results and videos with it. The thing that concerned me is the light output being too low to get a fast enough shutter speed and small enough aperature. Do you remember the settings you were getting from this? I don't know how to read exif off a web posted picture yet.

Thanks,


Anthropas

My settings for that shot was ISO 320, f4, 1/60 shutter with shake reduction on. The nice thing about this method is you can mix flash with it since it's daylight balanced so if you need to stop action use on camera or off camera flash at 1/32 power for fill and stop action.

[codiac2600]

Too Funny, I started building some stands to kit up with 4ft T8 daylight lamps c/w dimming ballasts. I was hoping to have it finished last weekend. Have you had much opportunity to experiment with different lamp types? (full spectrum, daylight, enhancement, etc). I was going to make a front diffuser out of rip stop nylon. are you using industrial strip fixtures (bare lamp, narrow open type), or wrap fixtures (where the fixture has an acrylic or plexi 3 sided cover). I went with industrial strips. I am also designing some flap like side louvers / barn doors (white 3m vinyl on the inside face, flat black paint on the other outside face.
Your photo results are very encouraging. This may be a reasonable cost effect approach to home studio lighting (constant lighting)

It's the open type and no I just picked up the cheapest daylight bulbs I can since I already technically have a full studio and thought this could be just something fun to experiment with.

Looks good, you are going to have to write a 'Ring-Eye' reduction script.

Thats Buddha and yeah, the effect only looks cool close up...

Does anyone else find the ring reflection in the eyes disturbing/distracting or just plain wrong looking?

I do myself actually, I'd rather switch out the ringlight for another of the side light setups, but didn't have one.

I dig this a lot! I love all these DIY projects you're taking on with wonderful results!

Also, dig her pose and your composition on this one... great angle!

Thanks Hamid

[codiac2600]

Looks like your lighting setup worked well.
Nice reasonable shadows and detail on your subject without blownout highlights.

Could you post a photo of your setup and positioning of lighting with a subject? That would be very helpful.

These are 4' fluorescent dual tube lighting fixtures with daylight bulbs in each?
How are you supporting these units? What are you using to keep your spill light down?
Have you considered putting a thin white cotton cover over the units to soften the light more?

Thank you.

Umm, I would if I could, but I never snapped one off but I'll take a shot tomorrow when I'm playing again for everyone to see the setup.

I basically bolted a chain to the back of each one and hang them from lightstands.

I would soften it a bit more but the light isn't powerful enough as it is so I'd be more inclined to add flaps to reflect more light forward.