Homemade photo equipment

Photography is a really cool profession, art, and craft!

Many people think that all of the equipment that we use is really expensive.  Most of it is, but not all.  Today I made us a new set of reflectors!  We’ve been using home made reflectors for years.  They are little more than foam insulation board painted and coated with our secret blend of 13 herbs and spices, just like KFC’s original recipe chicken (you think I’m going to publish all of our secrets, haha). We’ve found that our home made ones are far more effective then the ones that you can buy at a well stocked photo store.  And they are one of the keys to really well crafted portraits.

There are a lot of photographers in this world.  A lot of photographer wannabe’s, too.  I don’t want to sound snotty, or stuck up or anything, but many of the photographers that are out there know very little about light.  You can buy (or make) all of the photography tools that you want, but if you don’t understand light, and how it shapes the human face and body, you don’t know diddly about portrait photography.

A good portrait photographer can take off 10 to 15 pounds just by the why he or she modifies the light that falls on their subject.  Many of the photographers that are out there do just the opposite, only because they don’t know better.  What kind of a photographer would you rather have?  One that knows how to take off ten pounds, or one that inadvertently makes you look FAT?