Professional portraits with cheap lights:

[peeker]

I was just reading this and remembered another idea instead of velcro is the 3M hooks that have the sticky stuff on the back. The benefit is that it won't peel off the paint when you finally remove them. Some backgrounds have grommet holes, just line them up.

[revjvegas]

Ahh. 3m Command hooks and various mounts.
Those rank up there with postIt notes and liquid white out.
Dang smart invention.
I use the picture hanging strips all over the house.

[78novacaine]

Well, I must have lost my mind, because after watching this vid several times over the last few weeks I went up to Home Depot yesterday and plunked down $35 on my fancy expensive lighting setup :D

results here: http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...ml#post1174418

[humminboid]

Photographers have become somewhat crippled lately,,,some will say since the beginning...by the myth that to solve any problem, throw $$$ at it.

And the camera manufacturers are smiling all the way to the bank, beause we believe it!

Ansel Adams, I believe it was, did a lot of his early work with a $10 lens he picked up at a flea market in Mexico.

No matter how much it costs, ALL a camera is, is a support for the objective and the sensitive media! We have modern wizardry added which has literally brought photography out of the dark ages (closet, darkroom?) and has made it easier to concentrate on the creative moment.

But, are we PHOTOGRAPHERS or gear junkies? It is possible to be both. A photographer can produce acceptable results, given enough light, no matter where he is, and what he has to work with, while the other extreme says "WOE betide me!, for I do not have that super-fast f/1.1 wide angle super zoom that CanKon had just released, (or words to that effect) which lens, will propel me to the Pinochle of Excess!"

This is the result of a touching belief in the ad copy, that such and such a camera/lens/bag/editing program will automatically make the lamest snapshooter into another Joe McNally.

Modern technology makes it harder for members of the Coalition for Really Average Photography (Of which, I am a proud member, some days!) to take bad pictures, and that is good...a few will learn better, and progress to the top of the the heap. But, those are relatively few, and the others do generate some interesting conversations from their accumulated wisdom .

Can it be done well with what the gentleman showed? Obviously! Can it be done better with "better" equipment? Probably yes, but sometimes, good enough is all you need.

[toverman]

Thinking that photography gear will make us better photographers is just like the makers of fishing, hunting and golf stuff ... you can't buy awesome, but you can use what awesome people use.

It is easier now more than ever to get a good photo by letting the camera pick the settings. But where pros really set themselves apart is in consistency and the ability to make any lighting situation work for them. I'm getting there!