Tips for cheap diy photo equipment

doczoc

9

31 Mar 2003 - 11:01 PM

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Anyone know of any websites offering tips on making cheap equipment for photograhy, lighting, reflectors etc?

Big Bri

11

1 Apr 2003 - 11:03 PM

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I use the shiny cardboard/foil disks from frozen pizzas as reflectors, but then I always was cheap.

ella

9

2 Apr 2003 - 9:49 AM

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If you want large peices of card / mountboard etc. for FREE!!!!! you should try your local scrap store. They normally list in the phone book and have all sorts of industry left overs. Lots of board / paper / fabric / card / shiny things / rolls of foils etc. Also useful are large polystyrene sheets (great reflectors), DVD boxes for storing your CD image library, acetate for creative filtering effects.

If you don't use it for your photography, great for kids art projects.

Obviously the benefits to the environment of supporting schemes that make use of materials that would otherwise be thrown away is the main advantage. It normwally costs about 20 per year, and then you take as much stuff on as many visits you like for no charge at all!

Even Lawrence LLewllen Bowen uses our local scrap store! (good enough for him, then good enough for me)

Ella

macroman

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11 Apr 2003 - 9:01 PM

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Use cat litter trays for developing dishes.
Only cost about 1.50, come in various colours, and are big enough for 12x16 prints(just).

Little Jo (e2 Member)

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12 Apr 2003 - 10:25 AM

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I read somewhere that slightly scrunched foil makes a superb reflector and gives lovely natural results.

In the past I've used a simple sheet of white paper to throw a touch of light into the shadow areas.

I've also used concealed polystyrene packing material to support macro subjects and help position the subject so it was parallel to the lens without problems. Makes controlling the depth of field much easier.

Another useful tip I picked up from a pro - use a small piece of a sweet wrapper taped to the flash gun to provide a touch of warmth to the flash illumination. It's cheap and can be readily cut to size to provide just the right amount of warmth.

Jo

CJ

9

14 Apr 2003 - 1:33 AM

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I know what you mean when it comes to kitting out your still life set. If you buy it all new it come to a tidy amount. One thing I have used in the past and still do. Are cake boards as reflectors. They mainly come in silver and gold, but I ahve seen them in several others such as blue and green metalic. If you use the thin ones, 5mm they are much easier to handle. As for size you can get them up to 450mm diameter for about three-five pounds. Alternativly use an old one. So you really do get to eat your cake aswell!!!

mithrandir

9

25 Apr 2003 - 12:10 AM

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Heres my lighting tip: fluorescent lights!

I can hear people screaming already...

The trick is to buy high colour rendering tubes, in my kitchen striplight I have a philips '950' tube, very close to daylight: colour temp of 5300K and a colour rendering index of 0.98 (1 is perfect) Most places don't stock these, you'll need to order one, find a specialist or mail order from somewhere like DC lighting which is where I get my esoteric lamps from, I think my 4' tube cost me about 5, not too much more than 2 odd for a cheap and nasty...
If you want a studio setup on a budget, fluorescents are one way to go, a less cheap fluoro tip is to use electronic ballasts to get rid of the flicker, mine came from a tescos refit.

SteveCharles

9

25 Apr 2003 - 9:47 AM

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Neptune,
I know it's not really in keeping with the 'cheap' theme, but if lighting colour is a problem, have you tried colour correcting filters? A jessops 80a blue filter is about 12, and will correct colour when used with tungsten lighting, so you can use a regular desk lamp or whatever.