Hey people! Its been awhile since I wrote on my blog. As I always try to find time to at least write once a day I tend to get tied up with work and shooting, even on the weekends, oh well I try.

Here we go, well on to the topic: Poor Mans Lighting – Or So We Think.

Poor Mans Lighting a term that many photographers use, pertaining to home made, cheap, modified lighting. I was inspired to write today because last night as I missed my train, I had 2 hours to kill in the L.A Union Station, then I noticed a classic well dressed young lad and a beautiful classic dressed lady and then a lady crouched down holding a camera snapping away.

The photographer was snapping away with an assistant by her side with a 4 feet long by 1 feet wide bathroom mirror (those you can get in target or ikea for $6) and a 12 by 15 silver looking board or sheet as an add on to the mirror and all they had was the ambient lighting from the train station, which was not a whole lot, I was assuming she was using at least a 2.8 lens.

Now seeing this in action I really wanted to see the outcome of the shots, who knows it may not be a poor mans light equipment, it might be a simple add on to give out an amazing effect, with technology to our disposal I think anything is possible, you may have a profoto head but for a certain effect all you need is a bulb or a flashlight, this brings it down to one basic medium “LIGHT”. Light is what it is, it makes and shapes the images we create through the eyes of our shutters, so what ever form or shape it may come in, it is what it is.

Sitting there watching them in action with the tools of trade I see how minimal and how overboard we can get sometimes when all we need is a really simple shot that will tell a story.

Its just amazing how a shoot can be pretty simple to a pretty demanding, that’s why we love what we do, we can use whatever tools necessary to get what effect we are trying show.

Keep shooting my friends!