Lighting. What matters most is that you have some. And believe me, it doesn't have to be expensive or be imported from Switzerland...

When I was working on the Studio Lighting book, well over a decade ago, one of my friends chided me for using expensive lights. Profoto flashes. Elinchrom flashes and even a few pieces of Broncolor tech. So, to prove to them that we could get by with all kinds of lights I proposed a budget of less than $50 to make my own light for a couple of portrait projects. I mean, why not give it a try?

Ben and I hopped in the car and headed over to Home Depot where we sourced four ultra cheap florescent fixtures; complete with tubes. I guess the design intention for the lights, originally, was for use as under counter lights in a kitchen --- or something similar. 

I chose to buy four because it fit the budget and because I wanted a big enough light source to make softly lit portraits. The bigger the light source the softer the light; right?

Ben and I cut little pieces of cardboard to act as spacers for the four lights. A little distance between lighting fixtures made the overall size look bigger and they also allowed us to reach the light switches on the sides of the units. 

We taped them all together with some convenient gaffer's tape and then covered the whole construction with a sheet of Rosco diffusion material. The bungee cords hold the unit together and they also allowed us to strap the lights to a light stand. 

If you remember florescent lights of the day you'll know I spent some quality time trying to filter out the strong green spike in the color spectrum. But once you got that figured out they did as nice a job as any other fixture. It was an experiment. On some level I guess I was trying to teach the kid that you didn't need expensive stuff to do your art. On some level I'm pretty sure I was trying to convince myself that I didn't need expensive stuff to do my art. Just glad Leica isn't making a whole catalog of "premier" lighting equipment. That might put a severe crimp in my monthly budgets. 

Just came across this and remembered the half day spent horsing around at Home Depot and then working together to put McGyver-type stuff together. The backyard nuclear reactor didn't work out any where near as well... apparently you have to license home nuclear power plants. Even in Texas!