Amateur Photographer – 30 August 2019

16 24 August 2019I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113

Technique S AV E M O N E Y

30 tips to shoot

on a budget

I

fyouletit, photographycanbeanexpensivehobby.

Onceyoustartinvestingin thelatestcamerabodies,

lenses,lightingandaccessoriesthe£ssoonstartto

addup.Weallliketo savea fewquidhereandthere,

andjustbecausewedon’thavethe‘professional’kitorthe

moneydoesn’tmeanweshouldn’tbeableto gettheshot.

Whentimesaretightandyou’rebeingsqueezedleft,right

andcentreoutof yourhard-earnedcash,it doesn’tmean

thatyourphotographyshouldsuffer.Aslongasyouhavea

camerabodyandlensof somedescriptionthenthesetips

willapplyto you.

Overthenextsixpages– basedontipsfromAPstaff,

variousphotographersandmembersof thepublic– we’ve

laidout 30 of theverybestmoney-savingideassoyoucan

keepthemoneyin yourpocketwhile being happy with the

results you get from a shoot.

Foillids

SueHartley

SueHartleywas

happytoshareher

tiponFacebook

withus:‘Foillids

fromtakeaway-

stylecontainers

makegreatmini

reflectorsfor

fungi,flowersand

soon,beingwhite

ononesideand

silverontheother.

I alwayskeepa

couple in my bag!’

Govintage

JanetBroughtonandGlenysGarnett

(www.ggcreativeimages.co.uk)

BothJanetandGlenyssharetheirexperiencesusingvintage

lenses.Janetsays:‘Vintagelensescanbewonderfulandvery

cheap;I regularlyusetheHelios44-2thatonlycostme£

(normalretailsecond-handaround£35).Becausetheyare

manual,theadaptersarecheaptoo.’Glenysadvises:‘Buy

anadapterforyourcamerafor£20andbuysomecheap

vintagelenses.Youcanoftenfindthem for less than £

and some of them are superb.’

Largebackdrops

AnnerleyJohnson

AnnerleyJohnsonsharedon

Facebook:‘I buyking-sizeplaincotton

sheetsfromcheapsupermarketsand

rigthemtocurtainpolesat clients’

housesoronlocationwithlarge,

hair-clamp-styleclips.Thesetype

of backdropsareeasytowash,

andtumbledryingthemworksfine;

non-ironsheetsareevenbetter.It’s

a makeshift studio in a carrier bag!’

Gaffertape

IanPack(www.packshots.biz)

‘At£5perroll,Gaffertapeis

essential,withuntolduses.It

comesin largerollswhichare

cumbersometocarry.I usethe

plasticorcard-receiptrollcores

froma localsupermarketand

transferfromthelargetoa

smaller, more convenient roll.’

Buysecond-hand

ClaireGillo,APActingTechniqueEditor

‘Insteadof splashingoutonnewlensesand

lightinggearI alwayslooktobuysecond-hand

withthesetypesof products.I gotmyNissin

Di700AflashgunfromWexPhotoVideo(£

lessthannew)andit wasa greatbuy.Although

eBayis a goodresourceforsecond-handkit,

I prefertopayslightlyhigherpricesonthe

establishedandtrustedwebsites(suchasWex,

Ffordes,ParkCameras,etc.)toensurethe

productshavebeencheckedoverbya

professional.Thisshotwaslit usingoneof my

flashgunsplacedtothesideof themodel,which

I then cloned out of the shot in Photoshop.’

Fromhard-wonpro tipsto

amateurs’craftyworkarounds,

weshare 30 greatwaystosave

cash while getting great results

© CL AIRE GILLO

© WASSILIOS ASWESTOPOULOS/NURPHOTO VIA GETT Y IMAGES