Rui M. Leal of
Lighting Mods

Portuguese photographer Rui M. Leal has put together quite a blog that I think is right up your alley. It goes by the name Lighting Mods and is dedicated to showing you fantastic and cheap ways to improve your lighting by putting together your own lighting tools. I’ve been keeping tabs on Rui for some time now, and he has yet to let me down.

The latest lighting mod is a do-it-yourself soft lighting panel made of PVC. I myself have been meaning to put one of these together for quite some time but just haven’t gotten around to it. When I do, it will include the ability to act as a reflector using an emergency Space Blanket.

Check it out for yourself if you want to improve your portrait lighting on the cheap. Rui is now on part two of this three part series.


Got a great tip? Let me know about it and I’ll tell the world! With credit to you of course.

Image by Uncle Frank

Have you ever had an umbrella and flash all set up on a light stand out in a park, only to have it blown over and bent or broken? Well I recently found this little tip that is a really great and cheap solution. All you need is a tent stake, a bungee cord, and a hammer.

Talk about simple…and cheap. You take tent stake A and hammer it into the ground with hammer B. Then wrap the bungee cord C around the light stand and hook it to the tent stake. Now when the wind blows your light will stay put. Easy!

Check out the main thread for more pictures and a full description of the tip.

And you Nikon folks are finally gettin’ some love from the Timster. I found this on NikonCafe.com. See, I’m an equal opportunity shooter.

Oh yeah, and in a pinch you could use the hammer to ward off any packs of blood thirsty vampires you might encounter. Or uncooperative models.

Two weeks ago I showed you a really simple and cheap way to make a lighting reflector out of some aluminum foil and cardboard. It turned out to be a really popular article. It seems you folks really like it when I tell you how to get better photographs without spending much of your dough. I mean who doesn’t like keeping their money?

Shortly after that, reader Philip Litke joined the Sublime Light forums and posted a great tutorial on building an even better, bigger reflector out of an emergency space blanket, some dome tent poles, and some duct tape. You can make this one really big (which isn’t so feasible with cardboard and foil) and it collapses really small for extra portability. It’s also really cheap with the parts costing you under $20.

I have every intention of trying this out. While I do have a set of reflectors, who doesn’t want more? Besides, this is just plain cool if you ask me. When I do try it out, I’ll let you all know how it goes. Heck, maybe I’ll even make a little video tutorial along the way.

If you want to read the full tutorial courtesy of Philip, check it out here.

Oh, and Philip, thanks for joining in the fun and contributing this tip. I bet I’m not the only one who finds it cool.

Newbie’s
external flash

Hopefully by now you’re starting to see how much better off camera flash makes your photos. But not everyone owns an external flash. If you’re not a professional and you’re not a serious enthusiast, then odds are you only have a camera.

Here’s how many hobbiests progress toward the transition to off camera lighting. They start out buying a SLR. This gets them more into photography. Then they buy a shoe mounted flash for better light. This lets them bounce light off walls and ceilings. Then they finally go for it and get the flash off the camera.

But there’s an option somewhere in the middle if you’re not ready to spend the money for more gear. You can reflect the light from your camera’s on board flash on to a wall, ceiling, or reflector. I’ll show you the simple process for doing this.

Finished reflector

Many hobby photographers would love to run out to the nearest camera store and drop a bunch of cash to buy all the necessary accessories to really make some awesome photographs. Those same hobby photographers would also love to hold on to their significant others, so sometimes priorities must be set. So if you’re one of those people who has been wanting to get a reflector set but doesn’t want to shed the cash, you should know that there are do-it-yourself options.

Here’s how to make your own reflector at home with just a couple of super cheap materials you probably have at home already.