Any tips for improvised aids?

[ash59uk]

I just wondered if anyone had any tips regarding improvised aids?

For example when I take portrait shots at home I have a sheet of hardboard that I have glossed white to use as a reflector.

Many of us I dare say don`t have bottomless pockets for buying gear.

 

[lensflair]

I just wondered if anyone had any tips regarding improvised aids?

For example when I take portrait shots at home I have a sheet of hardboard that I have glossed white to use as a reflector.

Many of us I dare say don`t have bottomless pockets for buying gear.

My favourite I posted in another thread. White bedsheet clipped to the curtain rod in front of a window. Flash outside the window trigger with radio or another flash, beautiful softbox type light is the result. Use venetians etc and even remove bedsheet for creative effect.

Want to use nd filters for landscapes? Buy a big square filter and just hold it in front of the lens, no holder required and it fits every lens you own.

Don't have a cable release for long exposures, use the camera self timer to avoid camera shake when pressing the shutter button.

Use a cheap $20 flash with optical slave built in to add some backlighting or hair light to your portraits. Or pick up a cheap optical slave trigger that turns any cheap flash from a flea market into the same. Use a hanky or something to cut the amount of light it produces if required.

 

[tdodd]

My first home studio setup involved a pair of 150W tungsten worklights behind the white shower curtain in the bathroom and I angled the bathroom door (white) as fill.

Result at 1/50, f/2.8 and 400 ISO....

Obviously far from perfect, but a start.

I now do have a lighting set and proper backdrop, but barely the room to use it all. Rather than set up the backdrop stands, as I have vinyl on tubes, I bungie the tubes to my curtain rod in the dining room. It saves space, works well, and if I didn't have the stands would have saved me £60 or so for the stands.