Brooke Shaden

When people ask what type of equipment someone has, they usually mean two things: camera and lighting gear. Lighting can be a really intimidating obstacle because of the range of equipment out there and the price of it. I have next to no training with professional lights. The only training I have had has been in film school with large film lights, but nothing like strobes or photography lights. Even if I did have training, there is no way I could afford that right now. So I improvised, and I got the cheapest, most efficient lights I could find. I am willing to bet that just about everyone reading this could go out and get the same lights with about $20 in their pocket. So what is it that I light my photo with? Why, 200watt bulbs from Home Depot, of course.

Anyone can go out and find a 200watt bulb. The 200 watts will give off enough light to get a good exposure, but at the same time it won’t blow a fuse or melt the wire of the cord that it will be attached to. Okay, so what good is a 200 watt bulb without the proper cord to attach it to? My next trick is this: paper lanterns from Ikea. The package for the lantern and cord is about $5. I own three lanterns and three bulbs. The lantern is great for light diffusion. Light bulbs are often too harsh to light a subject with, but the paper will make the light appear softer.

Next step: How does one direct the light? The fancy word for shading the light on a certain area of the set is a flag. So, my solution to that would be using a black trash bag. You can tape the trash bag to the lantern wherever you want, thus directing the light and/or keeping it off of a certain part of the scene or subject.  The only other thing that I carry with me when I am lighting something artificially is something that my mom told me was of the utmost importance for survival in college: duct tape. Don’t ask me why she said that, but it has proved to be quite handy. Who needs a c-stand when you’ve got duct tape? Use things around the house to tape the lights to – lamps, walls, chairs…you name it and it will work.

Now that we have three lights and ways to rig them, the possibilities are endless. You can practice anything from back lighting to three-point lighting, to one-light setups.

I do all of my artificial lighting with the light(s) pictured above, and I always have for the photographic life. I would certainly like to delve into other types of lighting, but for now this works. We all have to start somewhere!

I used three lights to light my last picture. Below is a diagram of how I lit my picture with my equipment, and below that is a description of each light.

Light #1: This light is a 200 watt bulb inside a 1 1/2 foot paper lantern. It was placed 4 feet away from the table in line with the fruit.

Light #2: This is a 200watt bulb inside a 1 1/2 foot paper lantern. It was placed 6 feet away from the table in line with the fruit. This light was placed farther away from the table to create shadows, yet it was close enough to add fill light which softened the shadows so that it did not look harsh.

Light #3: This light was a 120 watt bulb that I pulled out of my bedroom lamp. It was placed inside a few vines of red grapes, thus giving the illusion that the grapes were illuminating the scene. The grapes were about one foot in front of the subject and about one foot above the subject, thus giving the subject a pop of light compared to the surroundings.

To those people who can’t afford lights – I’m right there with you. These money-saving lights really helped me learn lighting as well as boost my confidence in the fact that you don’t need expensive equipment to successfully light a picture.

…And a side note: the paper lanterns warn people to not put anything over a 75 watt bulb inside…I take no responsibility if you set fire to something, though I’ve never had a problem :-)