Bought a New Camera and Need Help with Studio Lighting

[highquality]

I recently bought a Nikon 10.2 Meg camera and would like to get the most out of it. I want to set up a decent small lighting studio, but don't want to pay a fortune. I priced some of the studio kits around here and they are outrageous.

Anyone have any good ideas for a cheap home lighting studio?

[Megospidey]

depends upon how big you want.

If you're just looking to take pics of Megos and small items, Quantaray by Sunpak makes a great portable studio called "ebox studio". It's a fold-up, portable studio that comes with two small lights and a stand for your camera. Works great for small items.

You can probably get it or order it from a photography store.

[Dave Mc]

This doesn't cover backgrounds, but one of the cheapest and easiest things you can do is buy a couple of those flouresent hobby/work lights. They work great.

For example, this AC pic of Shazam was taken with one hobby light, no flash, and a piece of very light grey flat finish posterboard.

http://www.megomuseum.com/wgsh/accessory/shazam/shazamlarge.jpg

[Hulk]

I bought one of these at Walmart when they were on sale for $40. Works great for the price.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5030889

[highquality]

Cool, thanks for all the great ideas, guys. Your help is much appreciated.

[jemboy2004]

I think I may have to give that portalbe studio a try as well.

[highquality]

I think I may have to give that portalbe studio a try as well.

And maybe a miniature runway and some tiny fashion photographers?

[jemboy2004]

HQ that is another great idea! My gals need some attention.

[batmanmc]

eath is a bit too into his ideas for fashion sows maybe he could come to ma and help organize the show with you ric. mike

[Megospidey]

I bought one of these at Walmart when they were on sale for $40. Works great for the price.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5030889

That's exactly the one I've got only it's made by a different company. Works great!!

[MegoSteve]

I went through this earlier in the spring. I looked around locally and wasn't happy with the pricing or selection. A lot of those light tent and light sets come with little tabletop lights that I didn't really like; I wanted bigger floor-standing ones. Same with the tent. I wanted to shoot some figures that were up to 20" or so tall, and most of the tabletop sets came with small 12"-20" tents.

After some searching, I decided that I couldn't get what I wanted in a readymade kit, at least not without paying through the nose.

I ended up buying a light tent on eBay that came with some seamless paper backgrounds (sweeps), then buying lighting (and I lucked into that because it was cheap). Here's what I bought:

Tent:
Alzo 28" tent

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSAA:US:11&Item=280067651265

Lights:
Smith Victor KT750

http://www.adorama.com/SVKT750.html?sid=1185139162595101

(If you look on eBay, these pop up periodically for $30-50 cheaper.)

I'm pretty happy with my setup. Since I'm lazy, I've barely used it, though.

[highquality]

Here's my first pic with the camera. I obviously need a lot of work, but the camera is more than impressive.

I bought the Wal-Mart lighting set that Paul and Derek use, but can't seem to get the same results out of the lights. The flash seems to work well, but I'd rather get use of the studio lights.



BTW, many thanks to BertoBlueMeanie, Merlyn1976Paul and BatmanMCMike for helping me finish this Burgundy Cuffed General.