cheap portable studio project

made this pic tonight. I dont have a pro digital and i didn't feel like shooting film cause i wanted instant feedback - so i had to set my point and shoot digital up to trigger my off camera flash with its own flash. I taped aluminum foil to the cameras flash to bounce it up into a light sensor i had on a stand just above the camera's tripod. that sensor was connected with a cable to a vivitar flash on another stand which is the one that you see making the light in the picture.

the vivitar was set on automatic at f2. and had a home made snoot around it to control the flood of the light. the snoot was made out of a brown lunch bag, aluminum foil and scotch tape. the foil was placed on the outside to further block the light and help shape the snoot.

I used a microphone boom stand for the main flash. This is a new technique for me of late. It's able to reach out and over a subject and put a light down onto the subject from above - but in this case i dind't need it for that.

note - sometimes when using optical slave triggers, i use aluminum foil to gather light into the sensor if its not firing right. Also - i use aluminum foil for another thing... when i use an automatic flash into a reflective umbrella, i mount the flash with the thyristor sensor facing the subject but i point the flash tube straight up and divert the light with the foil evenly into the umbrella. This way, the thyristor does its job and the light is generaly exposed the way it should be.

All of these techniques are somewhat untested as of now - and i have a ways to go before i know how they will act with my manual film camera

-the digital camera i used here was $150 at walmart on close out - 5mp pentax
-the flash was maybe $50
-the stands are about $30
-the slave sensor $15
-flash adapter for stand - $15
-plus batteries, and the foil and bags and tape

-cheap portable studio $265