$500 Lighting Kit for $122

One of the the many parts of my new job is being DP (director of photography) on most of my shoots so lighting is very important to me. I have lots of great equipment to work with at work so I don't feel like spending tons on lighting equipment for my personal work. That said, I still like to have something descent to work with. Basic clamp lights and umbrella lights are okay but a good softbox lets you control light much better. Unfortunately softboxes often run several hundred dollars a piece. I did some serious hunting on ebay and came up with a cost effective setup that really works great. Please note: Since most of these items were bid on, you may not get the exact same price I did.

What I Used:

2x Light Sockets (Umbrella Adapters): $10

1x Light Stand: $25

1x Light Boom Stand: $50



2x 40" Umbrella Softboxes: $25



2x 40w-200w Equivalent Fluorescent Bulbs: $12

(These I actually picked up at my local hardware store)

This setup will give you two of your main lights out of the standard three-point lighting kit: the key light and back light (hair light). You will probably still need to get a third light as a fill light depending on your ambient lighting. You can invest in another light stand and umbrella softbox or just use a clamp light or basic umbrella light. Since the fill light is meant to fill in any harsh shadows that the key generates, it doesn't necessarily need to be as controlled as the key light.

Now this isn't the most perfect setup and it may not work for everyone, but it is an inexpensive route to get some quality lighting equipment. The light boom stand can also be used as a mic boom stand if you don't have a person around to hold your mic boom over your head for your shots.



Hope this helps!

The Manly Man Conference

Manly Man from Tony Reale on Vimeo.

This was a test shoot I did for an intro action short to start off our Manly Man Conference this August. The idea was to have an action movie intro like you often see in award shows.

I simply grabbed my HV20 and shot a quick concept over the course of 5 hours with some of the staff at our church.

I used this as a chance to experiment with camera angles. In the first hallway, I did a Vertigo zoom (Hitchcock zoom). On the roof I experimented with some fly by shots and extreme closeups. At the end, the final epic scene I shot in one take and kept the camera moving around the actors to keep the intensity going.

There are many things I would change for in a final shoot. Taking more time to setup lighting, get a boom operator for sound, use a steady cam and manual controls, etc. My wind screen even got in the way on a few shots.

Regardless, I had a lot of fun shooting this and I hope you enjoy this concept video.




This is a promo video that I shot and edited for the Manly Man Conference. We used four Arri lights and shot with a both an XL-H1 and my HV20. I then played around with some color correction and time remapping.


For more info on The Manly Man Conference, check out the main website: www.themanlymanconference.com