Fun Low Cost DIY Photo Projects

It is winter here and cold outside. I am passing some time playing around with some low-cost DIY lighting projects. Now I have some nice commercial photography lighting, speed lights with umbrellas and 10 and 13 foot light stands. But I thought it might be fun making a few very low-cost homemade lights. I know these would not be something for a professional, but for a hobbyist or someone new to the hobby on a low budget, these little DIY Lights can do a nice job and at approximately $10 per light, why not. Your cost may vary.

Bill of Materials:

ITEM PRICE

Box of 2 120Watt equivalent LED Flood Lights Temp 3000 Kelvin........$11.84 that is $ $5.92 per bulb

1 x light socket adaptors.........................................................................$ 1.27

1 x 6 Foot Extension Chord....................................................................$ 1.37

1 x empty recycles plastic water jug of vinegar jug. Not counting cost of this, but I have seen water as cheap as 49 cents a gallon,

Some electrical tape. 1 roll at the dollar store........................................$ 1.00

What I used:

I found vinegar jugs to be a little heavier plastic, water jugs will work ok. Also use only LED lights as they don't get hot enough to burn you or melt the plastic of the jugs.

Attach the socket adaptor to the LED Flood Light.

Next, I cut a small door into the side of the jug, and inserted the LED Floodlight with socket and pushed the socket out the end of the jug. I need to use the razor knife to trim the end of the jug to allow the socket to stick through. Then I used electrical tape to secure the adaptor into the jug. I then plugged in the extension chord and DIY light was done. The plastic jugs make a nice light defuser.

Maybe some of you have a cheap DIY project you would like to share. Hope to see yours.

Now some experimenting, testing lenses, camera settings, and these spiffy lights. lol.

It is winter here and cold outside. I am passing some time playing around with some low-cost DIY lighting projects. Now I have some nice commercial photography lighting, speed lights with umbrellas and 10 and 13 foot light stands. But I thought it might be fun making a few very low-cost homemade lights. I know these would not be something for a professional, but for a hobbyist or someone new to the hobby on a low budget, these little DIY Lights can do a nice job and at approximately $10 per light, why not. Your cost may vary.

 

Bill of Materials:

ITEM PRICE

Box of 2 120Watt equivalent LED Flood Lights Temp 3000 Kelvin........$11.84 that is $ $5.92 per bulb

1 x light socket adaptors.........................................................................$ 1.27

1 x 6 Foot Extension Chord....................................................................$ 1.37

1 x empty recycles plastic water jug of vinegar jug. Not counting cost of this, but I have seen water as cheap as 49 cents a gallon,

Some electrical tape. 1 roll at the dollar store........................................$ 1.00

 

What I used:

[ATTACH=full]1231386[/ATTACH]

 

I found vinegar jugs to be a little heavier plastic, water jugs will work ok. Also use only LED lights as they don't get hot enough to burn you or melt the plastic of the jugs.

 

Attach the socket adaptor to the LED Flood Light.

[ATTACH=full]1231388[/ATTACH]

 

Next, I cut a small door into the side of the jug, and inserted the LED Floodlight with socket and pushed the socket out the end of the jug. I need to use the razor knife to trim the end of the jug to allow the socket to stick through. Then I used electrical tape to secure the adaptor into the jug. I then plugged in the extension chord and DIY light was done. The plastic jugs make a nice light defuser.

 

[ATTACH=full]1231389[/ATTACH]

 

Maybe some of you have a cheap DIY project you would like to share. Hope to see yours.

Creative and I like the price but how do you attach to a light stand? Come on, finish the project!

The jug handle slides over the top of light stand easily, but you could always get creative and use, string, tape, velcro, a coat hanger.

Nice lens, by the way! ;-)

Interesting project. I want to start scanning some old negatives after I get up and running with my renovated Windows 10 machine.

how do you attach to a light stand? Come on, finish the project!

OK, the pressure is on! Thanks tholte. ;) I decided to come up with a more polished approach to mounting one of these to my Wescott light stands.

In the spirit of keeping it cheap, I went into my garage and found a clean unused paint stir stick. I drilled a small hole just shy of the diameter of a Metz screw. (The screw at the top of my Wescott light stand.)

Because it was just shy of the diameter, I was able to use a little pressure and spin the stick onto the screw creating screw threads into the wood hole. So no need for a Tap and Die set.

Next, I had to cut two slits into the jug to slide the jug onto the paint stir stick.

You could use a screw or the speedlight mount that screws into the Metz secure the paint stir stick. With this configuration, you could still attach a speedlight and umbrella and use the DIY lights as modeling lights. Just a thought.

Got the second LED Jug Light mounted to a Westcott stand with the Paint Stir Stick mount. This does add about 10 minutes to the project. Part of that time is walking into the ice cold garage to find a paint stir stick. :p

The jug handle slides over the top of light stand easily, but you could always get creative and use, string, tape, velcro, a coat hanger.

[ATTACH=full]1231507[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1231508[/ATTACH]

Thanks for putting the finishing touches on Mark. The next question I have is how do you get the Avedon look with those lights?

Great stuff. I imagine you can get lights of different temperature.

You could, Any temp available on the market. These are 3000 Kelvin, I wanted these as they are close to the temp of the soft light I use in my home, so If I happen to have a light on in an indoor photo shoot there is not a huge temperature difference that you have to deal with when using 5200-5350 Kelvin speedlights. With these LED floods going through the jug defuser I am finding setting the white balance to 3100 gives a nice warm skin tone image if shooting in color. I have not looked at all that is available on the market yet. But I have seen regular daylight LED bulbs at a temp of 5000 Kelvin at the local home improvement stores. I imagine you could find these in several temeratures if you checked out all available online.

Because these are LED they dont get hot and can be touched while on, they are warm. I am able to put a piece of paper in these to spread light in the jug a bit. By using a small piece of colored material in the jug you could alter color a bit. I imagine anything from gel packs, to thin paper could be experimented with. I have yet to play more with this.

I also like that these are dimmable as I may may add a dimmer to this in a future project. Currently I am using distance from subject and angle of light to adjust the individual lights intensity in sculpting the light and shadows.

Another advantage of these for the studio vs speedlights, these are on all the time while working so to a large degree you see what you get when setting the light positions. Also I am not burning through packs of AA batteries as I experiment perfecting my technique. :)

OK, the pressure is on! Thanks tholte. ;) I decided to come up with a more polished approach to mounting one of these to my Wescott light stands.

In the spirit of keeping it cheap, I went into my garage and found a clean unused paint stir stick. I drilled a small hole just shy of the diameter of a Metz screw. (The screw at the top of my Wescott light stand.)

 

Because it was just shy of the diameter, I was able to use a little pressure and spin the stick onto the screw creating screw threads into the wood hole. So no need for a Tap and Die set.

[ATTACH=full]1231512[/ATTACH]

 

Next, I had to cut two slits into the jug to slide the jug onto the paint stir stick.

 

[ATTACH=full]1231514[/ATTACH]

 

 

[ATTACH=full]1231515[/ATTACH]

You could use a screw or the speedlight mount that screws into the Metz secure the paint stir stick. With this configuration, you could still attach a speedlight and umbrella and use the DIY lights as modeling lights. Just a thought.

[ATTACH=full]1231516[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1231517[/ATTACH]

I'm also sort of snowed in, and have been messing with trying to simplify tabletop macros. On the left is a base from something that might once have been a CB mike stand, with an old tripod head attached, a remote flash cord, and a flash. On the right, the base from a broken microscope, milled and drilled to accept the macro rail that came as the bottom half of a Minolta auto bellows, topped with a rather sloppy but functional home made clamp to accept Arca Swiss tripod pads. The heavy bases allow things to be tilted quite far without tipping over or losing balance. To go along with this (not shown) I've been messing with broken Nikon lens mounts and odd lenses and bits, trying for home made macros. Some other pieces of that microscope have some promise, but so far the best rig has been a Konica microscope attachment modified to fit a Nikon, with the lenses from a Compugraphic typesetting machine.

.

how do you get the Avedon look with those lights?

I think it is more the Mark Keefer look, ;) though looking at some of Avedon's work on the internet, in retrospect, I can see similarities. Many of his images look a bit shallower in depth of field but similar and what I see on the internet may be a lower resolution and can appear soft. I didn't start this saying I want to do Avedon style shots or anyone else's. I just worked trying to create a good image and I know what I like.

How to get the Mark Keefer look. So you want the recipe for the secret sauce! :eek: The key to the kingdom. lol.

I have many books on B&W photography, stuff from early Hollywood era 40's and 50's, and some 60's photography scene. I have done a lot of studying and analyzing of images from past eras. I have attended all day photography seminars from rock stars in the industry. I know what I like and what I want to accomplish. There has been trial and error. I know where I want the light and shadow to be and how to move the lighting and where not to move the lighting and why. And still, I can screw it up. Practice, practice, practice.

So looking at Avedon's shots and looking at mine, look at the catchlight in the eyes, it will tell you a lot about where the light was from the front. I placed my lights at about 5 to 8 feet from the subject just left and right of center. I used a third light higher and just right of the center-right light. You can see it in the catchlights. The center lights were just above eye level. I had to adjust light distance from the subject to ensure shadow definition of the face and that there were no incorrect shadows or hot spots. Placement of the lights and light intensity is so important.

Next, I used a good 85mm f/1.4 lens. I have the SIGMA 85mm f/1.4 Art. But I didn't shoot wide open because I want a very sharp image with a wider depth of field and my camera lens was only 5-6 feet from the subject, I shot at f/9 to get the camera in the image sharp and still keep the back of that leather chair sharp. I played with this f/stop a bit to find what I thought was the sweet spot. The camera was also on a tripod and because it was late at night and I was the model I had, I set up my 5D MKIV with secure WPA Wi-Fi through my home router. What a blessing that is, but that is a subject for another discussion.

So I could control my camera wirelessly from my computer just off camera on my lap, I could quickly see what was working and what wasn't in my lighting and camera positions.

The other half of the secret sauce is taking the good RAW images into Lightroom CC and work wonders in post editing. I have created a few Presets and there are some premade ones out there for B&W, find ones you like or make your own and own it. I like just a hint of sepia in my B&W, and I like to push the blacks and whites, a little clarity, and sharpness to a point, but be careful with really sharp lenses. Play with highlights and shadows and contrast to your liking. Images are like snowflakes, no two are exactly alike so there are no exact settings. Tweak it till you are happy.

I think the more I work in post, the more I learn what I did wrong and by doing these little home studio exercises, I can go back and make corrections and hopefully this all sinks into my brain and becomes more instinctual for future shoots. And so hopefully I evolve.

Oh, did I mention, use a calibrated monitor. It is important. I hate going back the next day and hating something I thought was great the night before. Hope this gives you some insight into my workflow.

Find yours and create the tholte look. Or maybe you already have. ;)

I think it is more the Mark Keefer look, ;) though looking at some of Avedon's work on the internet, in retrospect, I can see similarities. Many of his images look a bit shallower in depth of field but similar and what I see on the internet may be a lower resolution and can appear soft. I didn't start this saying I want to do Avedon style shots or anyone else's. I just worked trying to create a good image and I know what I like.

 

How to get the Mark Keefer look. So you want the recipe for the secret sauce! :eek: The key to the kingdom. lol.

 

I have many books on B&W photography, stuff from early Hollywood era 40's and 50's, and some 60's photography scene. I have done a lot of studying and analyzing of images from past eras. I have attended all day photography seminars from rock stars in the industry. I know what I like and what I want to accomplish. There has been trial and error. I know where I want the light and shadow to be and how to move the lighting and where not to move the lighting and why. And still, I can screw it up. Practice, practice, practice.

 

So looking at Avedon's shots and looking at mine, look at the catchlight in the eyes, it will tell you a lot about where the light was from the front. I placed my lights at about 5 to 8 feet from the subject just left and right of center. I used a third light higher and just right of the center-right light. You can see it in the catchlights. The center lights were just above eye level. I had to adjust light distance from the subject to ensure shadow definition of the face and that there were no incorrect shadows or hot spots. Placement of the lights and light intensity is so important.

 

Next, I used a good 85mm f/1.4 lens. I have the SIGMA 85mm f/1.4 Art. But I didn't shoot wide open because I want a very sharp image with a wider depth of field and my camera lens was only 5-6 feet from the subject, I shot at f/9 to get the camera in the image sharp and still keep the back of that leather chair sharp. I played with this f/stop a bit to find what I thought was the sweet spot. The camera was also on a tripod and because it was late at night and I was the model I had, I set up my 5D MKIV with secure WPA Wi-Fi through my home router. What a blessing that is, but that is a subject for another discussion.

 

So I could control my camera wirelessly from my computer just off camera on my lap, I could quickly see what was working and what wasn't in my lighting and camera positions.

 

The other half of the secret sauce is taking the good RAW images into Lightroom CC and work wonders in post editing. I have created a few Presets and there are some premade ones out there for B&W, find ones you like or make your own and own it. I like just a hint of sepia in my B&W, and I like to push the blacks and whites, a little clarity, and sharpness to a point, but be careful with really sharp lenses. Play with highlights and shadows and contrast to your liking. Images are like snowflakes, no two are exactly alike so there are no exact settings. Tweak it till you are happy.

 

I think the more I work in post, the more I learn what I did wrong and by doing these little home studio exercises, I to go back and make corrections and hopefully this all sinks into my brain and becomes more instinctual for future shoots. And so hopefully I evolve.

 

Oh, did I mention, use a calibrated monitor. It is important. I hate going back the next day and hating something I thought was great the night before. Hope this gives you some insight into my workflow.

 

Find yours and create the tholte look. Or maybe you already have. ;)

I'm also sort of snowed in, and have been messing with trying to simplify tabletop macros.

Awesome Matt!

I am going to try and make one of these lights and see how it works.

If you do, I recommend going with the heavier duty plastic vinegar jugs. Also, a tip for easy removal of the label is to heat it with a hairdryer, it warms the glue and they can be easily peeled off. Also, a glue gun may help in better securing the paint stir stick and light socket adaptor for long-term use. I saw Target had 1-gallon jugs of distilled white vinegar on sale for $1.99, typically I see it for sale at other stores from around $2.99 to $3.70 a jug.

The Vinegar can be used for a lot of things too, pickled eggs and beets, It cleans mold, clean coffee pots and coffee makers, fights athletes foot fungus, clean smelly drains, makes a great non-toxic weed killer, works better than Roundup in my opinion and safer for the environment, it is edible so no worries it will make you sick.

My first camera case, made from a water proof .50 Cal Ammo can. Shiny paint, some foam rubber to line it, brass chain and clips to secure it in the canoe for many years of river trips that were to follow. This little homemade thing survived many dips and never failed to keep my first real camera, a Pentax ME, dry and undamaged. Circa 1980, I was still a teenager, think I had $10.00 in the whole thing. Everything in the picture fit inside it.

I have Pelicans now....

My first camera case, made from a water proof .50 Cal Ammo can.

Cool. You made your own Pelican case.:)

Mark, my ME is on my desk. It produced 60k in earnings and still works fine though bears some dents and dings.

Quantifiable proof that it’s the man behind the camera that makes a great photo. In all those years I never made a penny with the same camera, LMAO.

Mine is sitting on the desk beside me...