DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

The Strobist Corner: A Quadzillion Duty Light Source

Aug 4, 2010 by Udi Tirosh Leave a Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Caterpillar (lit with Can O' Pickles)A long while back David Hobby did a double duty assignment where he asked participants to use a single light source to perform several lighting function. A huge deal later I saw a great video from Jim Talkinton about using mirrors as a way of expanding a light source and became obsessed with it.

In this post, I will share my experience with creating a setup that only uses one very cheap work light on a stick-in-a-can and lots of mirrors from a Dollar store (or Amazon). The premise is that you can light well on the cheap. Mucho strobismo.

Here is the fun bit, lighting for this setup only costs about $10. The step by step is right after the jump.

The resulting image is on the top of this post. We’ll get back to it, but first, lest see what we started with.

Actually, just before we start breaking this down, If you like this kind of stuff, you should consider reading Light Science and Magic, definitely a great companion when trying to pull a trick like this. Back to the setup…

This is the general setup I used, A single light source, a clamp worklight on a stick-in-a-can. As you can see in the first image with this setup, it is a dramatic shot, we have the highlights on the roof, and the shadow falling forward. Details, however, well, this can be improved.

Work Light & Mirrors

As you can see in the setup shot, the red background was washed with light. The first thing that I did was to tape a cardboard flag on the worklight. This gave me a darker red to work with. This is one of the first things I did. As a result I got the following image.

Work Light & Mirrors

I can do better with the details on the front, or lack thereof. But first, I set the background, a round mirror borrowed from my wife’s dresser and placed on the floor did the trick.

Work Light & Mirrors

Now, lets take care of those details. First thing was to add some details on the chain. I it made from a black reflective plastic. I faced a wooden block covered with aluminum foil just covering the family of angles. This provided little bit of details on the chain. From now on we are going to follow a setup/result kinda pace.

Work Light & Mirrors

Work Light & Mirrors

Next up were the dead windows, those were taken care of using a mirror placed right in front of the caterpillar.

Work Light & Mirrors

Work Light & Mirrors

This is already looking a little better. But the front window is still kinda dark and a lifting fork is lacking punch. This was taken care of using another mirror placed on camera left.

Work Light & Mirrors

Work Light & Mirrors

Looking to draw a bit more attention to the driver’s chamber, I used a small concave mirror and pointed it at the driver’s sit. It is placed right next to the aluminum cube is light is coming from the same direction.

Work Light & Mirrors

Work Light & Mirrors

Looks good, but still missing something. The caterpillar logo’s quite dark, I used another concave mirror to provide some more highlights on it. This time, the mirror is placed closer to provide stronger light. (Please ignore the big block in the setup shot, don’t really know why it is there).

Work Light & Mirrors

Work Light & Mirrors

I was not yet happy with the back ground. So, the last thing I did was to tilt the light just a bit, this provided some flare, usually I’ll try to avoid it, however it this picture it worked well. Let’s review the image that opened the post again. If I remember correctly, I also bumpped the exposure a bit.

Caterpillar (lit with Can O' Pickles) and some mirrors

And there you have it, all done with one light source, some mirrors and a very sturdy tripod. This is definitely a path I am going to explore more.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailThe Strobist Corner: Super Simple Gel Holder For “Strobist” Gels Default ThumbnailThe Strobist Corner – Extending Your TTL Flash Cord Default ThumbnailThe Strobist Corner: Protect Your Strobe With A Frisbee Default ThumbnailStrobist Corner: Mount Your Hot Shoe Strobe On Big Modifiers

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: Featured

About Udi Tirosh

Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

« Poll: I Would Improve My Photography If…
The Moment It Clicks / Joe McNally – A Book Review »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Canon EOS R5 Transformers now available outside of Japan
  • Sony almost joined team Micro Four Thirds in 2008
  • Photographer’s Block? Here’s how to get out of a creative rut
  • Zhiyun MOLUS G60 & X100 LED lights are tiny-tiny powerful LEDs
  • Three new full-frame and APS-C Sigma lenses coming soon

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy