Want to save some money on your lights? My friend and
celebrity photographer Jerry Avenaim showed me this
trick a while back, and it has really caught on as I’ve
demonstrated it at my various glamour workshops. The
instructions for setting up your own lighting system fol-
low. Please note that you may need to hire a carpenter,
plumber, electrician, or professional builder to con-
struct this properly and safely.
You may be surprised to learn that the lights used in
this setup are fluorescent. How ever, these bulbs are
amazingly forgiving—so much so that they are now
commonly used in high-end productions. For example,
if you pay close attention to makeup commercials on
television, you can sometimes see the catchlights from
just this type of light appear in the models’ eyes. They
use it to help the model’s makeup appear soft, smooth,
and creamy. This lighting is becoming so popular now
that you can’t always even identify it from the catch-
lights anymore (lighting companies are now making
these units in different shapes than the one I’m going to
describe). Of course, you can make yours any way you
like—just hire a professional to construct it for you.
Building the Setup. Here’s the basic setup: First,
purchase four shop lights (about $15.00 each) from
your local hardware store—like Lowes or Home Depot.
Select 4-foot lights that hold two 48-inch bulbs. These
lights have no front cover; they are the type that hang
down from the ceiling and have a pull-string to turn
them on. (Note: These lights are so popular now that
photographers on the Internet forums call them “Home
Depot Lights,” although they are not made by Home
Depot.)
Next, you’ll need a frame to support these lights.
You can have someone build you a frame out of PVC or
even 2x4-foot studs, like a few of my friends have, oryou can have a carpenter mount them on a sheet of ply-
wood, creating a 4x4-foot square of lights on the ply-
wood. If you choose this method, make sure your
carpenter cuts out at least a 3x3-foot square hole inside
the 4x4-foot frame. Mount the plywood on photo-
graphic C-stands and shoot through the hole with your
subject on the other side. (I’ve even attached these
lights to light stands using duct tape and wire ties for a
quick 4x4-foot frame.)
Once you have your frame put together, you’ll put
two bulbs in each shop light. This is the key to the
whole setup. The bulbs you choose can be any brand (I
personally prefer the GE Chroma 50s, because they
have less flicker, which is more important in video than
still photography). Just make sure that the bulbs are
stamped and identified as having a 5000K color-tem-
perature rating. Sound familiar? Remember your studio
flash units and 12:00pm to 3:00pm daylight? Yep—
same color of light, but different quality of light—and
that’s what makes this setup so unique.
Metering. Now, turn the lights on. Stand in front of
the frame, set your light meter at ISO 200, and read the
ambient light until you get the settings for^1 / 60 second
at f/4.0. That is where you put your subject in a chair or
on a posing stool to get the proper catchlight. This is a
good starting point, but feel free to experiment as you
like with other ISOs and camera settings.
Makeup. Your model must have great makeup for
this technique to work. A professional makeup artist
can create what is called the “dewy” or creamy look. This
works best, but don’t hesitate to experiment.
Accent Lights. I occasionally like to add a bit of con-
trast to the image, so I put a hair light behind the
model. The simple modeling light from any studio flash
provides a nice, warm hair light; it’s normally balancedTHE POOR MAN’S LIGHT (OR, HOW TO SAVE $3800.00)