* They are hard for newbies to really get the hang of
* They are useless for video
* They are distracting, especially for newborns and small children
* They are inherently complicated devices
* They are expensive

And for me, a personal issue: popping strobes break up the flow of a session, turning a would-be freeform relaxing exploration of photo opportunities into a stressful event punctuated by blinding flashes of light. “Hold it! POW! (high pitched whiiiiiiine)”

Lighting doesn’t have to be complicated. Here is a solution that I built from scratch, based on the idea of “continuous lights”. It lacks the power of strobes but makes up for that with style and intuitiveness. It is readily understood by anyone who has operated a lamp. The design is based on Alex Campagna’s DIY Spiderlight Strobe project, which is a clone of the Westcott Spiderlight TD5 system. I made design compromises that simplify this to the bare minimum.

If you decide to build this yourself: note that you are working with AC mains voltage, easily enough to kill you, and the wiring here is a far cry from being UL approved. I make no recommendations and instead encourage you to seek a second opinion regarding the electrical work. Tread carefully, I am not responsible for harm or damage that may result from building such a system.

Step 1 is to get some wood squares. I cut up an old shelf into six 8″x8″ squares, then glued pairs together to make a 1.5″ thick block to work with. Sand the tops, then slap a layer of flat white primer on it. Let dry and, using a 1-3/8″ drill bit, put five holes through each. The distance between these holes is up to you – figure out what bulb diameter you’ll shoot for and space appropriately to make sure they will fit.

Now for the secret weapon – Mylar. According to various pot-growing forums (who strangely seem to be the only people on the Internet interested in doing this kind of research), flat white paint provides some 95% reflectivity of visible light while Mylar gets up to 98%. It’s way better than a glass mirror, and also beats the heck out of crumpled tinfoil. The material I used is cut from a Wal-mart Emergency Camping Blanket, $2.97 for a large sheet. It’s thin which is why I painted the back white in the first place: to reflect any stray light that may transmit through. Affix with craft adhesive, wait to dry, and punch out the holes.

Insert the lamp sockets (Phenolic, roughly $1.50 each off Amazon), cut the ends off some 12 foot extension cables, and solder the wires. All the white leads go to one cable wire, all the black leads go to the other. Wrap in three tons of electrical tape to keep these securely insulated away from anything dangerous. I bolted some old plastic lids over the backing to at least give the impression that I cared about safety…

Put in some bulbs and make sure they all light up when plugged in! I’m just using some assorted “warm” CFL spares from the garage. Soon, I plan to buy several 27W EcoSmart daylight bulbs from Home Depot at about $2.50/bulb. For those interested, I did a detailed cost analysis on different bulb wattage as needed to “max out” a given 15 amp 120v circuit. This particular design does not have a lot of space between the holes and so probably can’t accomodate five high-wattage bulbs, but I may be able to squeeze in 4 on the edges and a smaller wattage in the center. CFL Studio Cost Analysis

Indeed the entire project is cheap, assuming you have the tools on hand: extension cords at $3 each, lamp sockets $1.50, bulbs $2.50 and a mylar sheet for $3 totals up to just $72 pre-tax, and the rest was just scraps and leftovers from the garage. Compare that to $225 for a single B400 strobe.

Later I’ll probably add permanent light stands, and some kind of umbrella or other diffuser. Real TD5s have switches to control the amount of light output, but I figure I can just as easily control the lights by unscrewing a few bulbs that I want off. CFLs are a great advancement over the old hot “work lights” setup and not much more expensive… 5x27W gives roughly 500W incandescent equivalent, yet after 15 minutes of running the Mylar backing remained cool to the touch.

This Gallery has all the construction photos I took during the process.

Most recent accomplishments:
* “Finished” the website. I’m sure this will remain an ongoing process as I discover more needs, but the foundations are in place. My gallery uploader is working great and I have tested it with a sample gallery.
* Began setting up a studio in the garage. The first step of this has been to clean the clutter out. I need a large open workspace out there. So far, it’s looking pretty good.
* Don’t need to register a fictitious business name with the county clerk. Since my business name (“Greg Kennedy Photography”) includes both my surname and the purpose of my business, it is not considered fictitious. (If I did need to register one, it would be done with the local circuit clerk, currently Melinda Reynolds. There is a $25 fee for this.)

To Do:
* Build the rest of the studio. I’ve gathered some materials but need to build three DIY Spiderlights (more detail here), some softboxes, and hang some backdrops plus collect assorted floor materials.
* Must file an application for sales tax. Technically, photography is not covered as a “service subject to sales tax” in Arkansas, but I would essentially be limited to charging a sitting fee and then handing over the images (thus, unable to sell prints) without a license. Sales tax applications cost $50 to submit.
* Consider requesting a Conditional Use permit to operate a studio on my property. I live in an R-1 zoned district. As far as my understanding goes, I’m limited in the business activities that can take place on my property, and certainly am not allowed any signs etc.

I’ve recently taken an interest in time-lapse photography. It’s a fun and easy aspect of photography to get involved with, and it has the potential to produce some interesting results. Plus, you don’t need a high-end camera to produce quality video: it only takes 1.6 megapixels (1440 x 1080) to assemble an HD-quality output file, which is available nowadays on many phone cameras.

I had a spare digital camera from 2001 handy: the RCA CDS6300, a 2.3 megapixel camera which is a real piece of junk. Mine has a broken battery door. On the plus side, it came with an AC adapter. So I built an intervalometer based on a 555 timer from a guide on Instructables. In the process of hacking the camera to attach the timer, I broke most of the inputs, so that it can now only be used to take time-lapse photos. It shoots 650+ images to a 256mb CF card as JPEG images, and then a bit of free software can be used to assemble these into a “motion JPEG” AVI video file (and add soundtrack if desired).

Despite the fragile build quality of the intervalometer, the mostly non-functional camera, and low quality still images – the resulting video still looks great. Here are a couple of sample videos.

Next steps:
* researching studio setups. I am considering a partial-DIY 3x daylight CFL + umbrellas + stands, since it’s cheap and quick to get off the ground. I’m new to a studio anyway and don’t know much about trying to get a strobe studio working. If it’s non-portable, that’s OK. I can invest more later when I know what I’m doing.
* researching legal issues with getting my business registered with the state. Emails out to county clerk and secretary of state. My list of to-dos at this point:
” * Obtaining state and local business licenses and permits
* Recording the name of the business with the local circuit clerk
Any sole proprietorship or general partnership operating under a name other than the owners must file a Doing Business Under an Assumed Name Certificate.

Domestic and foreign corporations must file an Application for Fictitious Name with the Secretary of State. Domestic corporations must also register with the county clerk of the county in which the corporation’s registered office is located (unless it is located in Pulaski County). Fees vary depending on the entity.”

• Apply for an EIN number with the IRS
• Start a website

To do:

• Change business name with IRS : )
• Register business with proper authorities: “fictitious name” with the state, business license with the city
• Get gear: new camera and lenses
• Build some studio space in the garage
• “Finish” website
• Put together a standard set of forms: pricing, order form, model release
• Set up some form of accounting spreadsheet / database. Figure out sales tax.
• Set up social media presence: twitter, Facebook
• PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE Portrait shots
• Take a paying client!

For the curious, here are the pictures I captured from the camera. First is the unedited “direct from camera” shot.

And here is the image after some PP (rotate, crop, convert to B&W, adjust bright/contrast, sharpen). Actually this is too much sharpening… but then this was just a quick test to see how well things could clean up with a little work. More serious efforts would involve more serious TLC.