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Budget Studio Lighting 30Ls
 | Many think that setting up a photo studio at home is an expensive pleasure. It certainly is if we want professional studio lights, but for beginners they're not affordable. Therefore today I will tell how to purchase for about 60$ a simple flash and adapt it for home-studio photography. The article will also be useful for those who need an additional cheap studio flash light. |
Camera Flash.
For home needs, you don't need to buy expensive studio flash, a camera flash will suffice. Any camera flash can also be operated on a stand. The biggest plus of a camera flash is its size, compactness, operation without 220V power, cheapness. The biggest minus is the inability of continuous light, low power, but to shoot indoors, in sunlight and at night, this power will be completely sufficient. During the day when the sun is shining, it will be harder, because the power might not be enough. In such a case, the flash should be used without diffusers and as close as possible to the subject being photographed.Let's assume you are already a sufficiently advanced user who has a digital SLR camera and a camera tripod. Further you will need the following items:
Flash.
We need a light source. The cheapest I've found is this model: BY-24ZP Automatic Electronic Flash. A real budget option for 18$ with delivery to Latvia. The only minus is that there's no ability to adjust power. As I mentioned, the purpose of the article is to show the cheapest, so with several shortcomings you'll have to live and get around them. The flash's inability to adjust power can be gotten around with several tricks. The first is probably distance. The further the flash will be from the object, the less light will reach it. In cases when full power is needed, I recommend using silver diffusers or not using any diffusers at all, when you don't need to worry about power, I recommend using white diffusers. You can also regulate power with translucent gray folders (available at stationery stores), from which you cut the needed size caps for the flash. These homemade gray filters will absorb part of the light. You can put several together, only need to make sure the flash doesn't overheat. Let it ventilate. My favorites are for light passing through, not reflecting. If the specific flash is not available, you can find others, but slightly more expensive in this online store.
If your budget allows, there's an option to buy this model with power adjustment: GN32M Rated External Camera Flash for 58$. These are the simplest flashes without TTL modes that I recommend using as I describe. If you want to buy a flash for reportage photography, these still won't be suitable for that.
Light Reflector.
In a budget situation, you can also get by without a light reflector. Direct light at white walls or white ceiling. If your hands aren't crooked, you can make a panel from foam plastic or some other hard white material, where you direct the flash's light, this way the light will reflect and reach the subject. But if you want something convenient for carrying, I recommend buying reflectors intended for photography. The cheapest I've found online are these two: Translucent Flash Reflector Umbrella for 7$ or Silver Flash Reflector Umbrella for 10$.
Flash Holder.
You also need holders designed for holding the reflector and flash: Camera Flash Mount (Hot Shoe) for 7$ or slightly better Flash shoe for 9$. There is also available this kit together with a reflector.Camera Synchronization.
The next task is to get the flash to work synchronously with the camera from a distance. The cheapest way is a long cord, but as you know different flashes have different contacts, and for the specific mentioned ones there are none at all, therefore it's necessary to buy a light synchronizer: Remote Slave Trigger for 12$ and with the camera's built-in flash, putting it on manual mode at the lowest power, trigger the slave. On the light synchronizer there's a small sensor that when detecting the flash's light pulse sends it to the flash to fire. This is a very good option if your camera has a built-in flash, which you can turn on in manual mode. In daylight outdoors this won't work, because the sun will be too strong for the sensor to detect the flash in bright daylight.Radio Trigger.
To still make everything easier and not worry more about whether the flash will catch the sync properly, for our budget kit I will add one expensive item - radio synchronizer: Radio Slave Flash Remote Trigger for 17$ or Wireless Flash Trigger with Remote for 18$. Both items do the same thing, differing only in build. If the second one is meant more for flashes, the first one can also more easily connect to studio flashes. If finances don't stretch that far, you can get by with just the light synchronizer, but then the camera's built-in flash must be in manual flash mode.Contacts.
When combining radio triggers with synchronization contacts, you need to carefully check what contacts each has and what comes in the kit, because there will always be something you need to buy additionally.
If you take the first trigger, then cord nr. 4 will be from 2.5mm Male to PC Male contact, but cord 2 is 3.5mm Male. Therefore you would need to buy adapter nr. 3 3.5mm Femail to 2.5mm Femail, but I couldn't find such. Therefore adapter nr. 3 we will replace with two adapters 3.5mm Male to 2.5mm Female Audio Adapter and 3.5mm Femail to 3.5mm Femail (looks exactly like nr. 3.), which can be bought at Rimi and other stores (the first cord can also be found here).
When buying the second trigger, there might be a similar situation, but since I haven't held it in hand, I don't know.
Strobists (Strobist).
There are professional and amateur photographers who in their daily work use only camera flashes for lighting. Such people call themselves strobists. They have adapted their flashes for all life situations and made/purchased various accessories, reflectors, attachments, modifiers etc. One of the most powerful strobist resources is http://www.strobist.blogspot.com.
On this page you can find tutorials, technical innovations for strobists, professional behind-the-scenes and much more.
One of the most famous pro strobists is Joe McNally.
Conclusion.
Here's also a good option, how for about 30Ls at home you can start working with one light and get studio quality photos. Backgrounds can be made yourself, look in construction material stores. For example, you can buy a large roll of foil for background. Over time you can add reflectors, additional lights and various accessories.
When all this is purchased, it's time to learn. Full internet with video tutorials and tutorials.
Further everything depends on your fantasies and creativity.
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