let there be light!

Let’s talk about this whole darkness at 4:30 in the afternoon thing for a moment here.

I know it happens every year, but it’s really starting to put a damper on this whole blog thing. I don’t know if you know it, but I work just like the rest of you out there.

Even if I could leave school every day right when the kids get out (read: I don’t), I only go straight home about 25% of the time after work. I have errands to run, doctor’s appointments to go to, dogs to bring to the park, etc. Which means when I walk through my door at night, it is night time. The sun is gone for twelve hours, and I have to find some sort of magical way to make my food look delicious so you’ll come back to play again tomorrow.

There’s two things I could do about this. The first thing is to plan freakishly ahead, make four recipes on Sunday, and photograph them all for your viewing pleasure. This kind of rocks because not only do I have all of my blog posts halfway done for the week, but I also have a fridge full of meals to eat throughout the course of the week. Less dishes and more time to relax? I’m all about that.

But let’s be honest — I don’t always have time for that, nor do I always have an idea of what I will want to eat four hours from now, let alone four days down the road.

The other solution is to buy some lighting props so I can continue business per usual throughout the dark and depressing winter months.

So what I did was went out and dropped $1000 on lighting equipment just so you would still be friends with me.

Aaaand, that’s a lie — I spent about $25.

Last week, I went out and bought the following:

• cheap 2 headed standing lamp
• daylight bulbs (5500k)
• 2 foam boards
• brackets

I was thinking about making a light box, but then I realized that I would probably cut myself if I tried to do that (no joke). I thought I’d like to keep all 10 of my fingers for parent teacher conferences this week. I kept the covers off of the lamp, but I kept the shades just in case I decide I like the lighting with them on better.

And I taped two brackets on the backside of one of the foam boards and am using the other one to place food props on.

Yes, it is on top of Charlie’s crate and next to our very packed guest room closet — we’re pretty high class around here.

It may not be perfect, but I think it’s getting the job done — at least better than I was getting before when shooting photos in the dark!

Let’s face it — nothing it as great as natural sunlight, but when you can’t get it, you’ve got to improvise somehow!

Question: How do you take good photos when dealing with lighting issues?

Tagged as: daylight bulbs, DIY lighting, DIY project, photography