How To Light An Amazing Portrait With A DIY Lighting Kit For Under $50

On this video tutorial Aaron Nace from Phlearn looks at creating a really cool portrait shot using a very inexpensive DIY type lighting rig and explain how to best use it to get maximum results.

You can easily get an inexpensive set of 3 or more fluorescent lights online for under $50, after you get your basic rig (Nace does actually show you how to make them hold in place but you may need a light stand or some other way of making the lights stay exactly where you want them to be).

After you secured your lights in place you need to start using them – what Nace talks about (briefly) is using 3 types of lights – main light/key light, fill light and an accent light/hair light.

The video goes hand in hand with two other videos we posted before entitled: “A Look at the Five Main Portraiture Lighting Patterns” by Ed Verosky and “Basic Portrait Lighting Techniques“.

You can find many more videos on technique, tutorials and general explanations about using lighting in photography on our photography lighting section here on LensVid as well as more Phlearn videos on our special Phlearn subsection.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.