The Doll Forum

I live in Michigan. Clear sunny days for photography are few and far between. The one thing that I've always needed, and never had is a good set of photographer's lights.

I decided to change that.

So I went up to Home Depot and purchased the following items. 2 ten foot sections of potable water 3/4" PVC pipe, and the following 3/4" connections. 4 four way connectors, 8 each 90 degree elbows and 4 connecting collars.

One 10 foot section was cut into 4 two and a half foot sections, the other was cut into 8 nine inch sections, 4 each 3 1/2 inch sections and 2 one and a half inch sections. They were assembled as follows;

Each 2 1/2 foot section had a connecting collar glued to one end. Each four way connector had 2 nine inch sections glued to opposite sides with a 90 degree elbow at the ends. Two of these had a one and a half inch section glued to the top, the other two had 3 1/2 inch sections glued into the 90 degree elbows. The resulting pieces looked like this.



Assembled, they make two stands. Each can support 2 inexpensive clip on shop lights such as these.



These stands can be disassembled for storage, and with the lights cost $23.00 US each.

Anyone with a hacksaw and tape measure can make these.

Mahtek & his Ladies

great idea Mahtek!

Genius, I'm off to the hardware next week.
I've been propping a halogen torch on a clothes rack. Doh!

Hi Mahtek,

Hmm, I can't judge about right light sources for photograpy, leave this to Stacy, she says it will work with the proper light balance, thus that seems nice to me.

Regarding the stands, I think that idea is nice, because you can simply disasemble those, you can eventually only glue the base partly and you end up with a bag of pipes when ready with photographing, needs only little space, and its indeed very simple to make, eventually one can sand the end of those pipes a little after sawing, if they are little rough, this pipe is easy to work with you get it smooth quick.

Another idea, maybe if one bumps on cheap or used camera stands, those are very stable too, portable and can keep not too heavy light equipment too.

Mytime & Helen & Carmen

This is a very good idea. I think most of us will follow your example. Cheap, and disassembling is possible.
This last point is important : Tuesday a friend came to my home and asked me about Elle's stand which was visible in a room (too big to be hidden). I've been evasive but i don't like that.

You don't speak about the 2 lights fastened to the stand, except their price. Can you say more : power, type of bulb (natural, tungsten...). Thanks

Do you think the power cable could find its way through the pvc pipes or maybe it's too difficult ?


Jihan & Elle

Thanks everyone!

When I first went to the store, I had the idea of making them out of wood, with hinges for folding. Luckily, I passed the plumbing aisle first! The ideas came rushing to me and a few minutes later I had a cart full of stuff.

It took me about a half hour to get out of the aisle. Everyone assumed that I was a plumber, and I was inundated with requests for help. Good for them that I knew enough about it to help them get the correct things!

Stacy,

Thanks for the tip! My old camera that takes good pictures does not have a white balance, my new camera that takes crappy pics does. Go figure. I should have upgraded beyond the realm of pocket cameras. Do you prefer incandescent lights too? My house is full of compact fluorescent bulbs, but when it's time for photography they all get changed.

Mytime,

I've been looking for used light stands, or any other item that I could use for this purpose, but I've had no luck finding them. Now that I'm expecting a new doll's arrival, I decided to just make them.

Elle,

Yes, disassembly for concealed storage was a major concern for me also. The lights I will use in my garage for working on my vehicles. No one will question those!

The lights are standard incandescent bulbs, tungsten filament, not halogen. I have several sets of bulbs to experiment with. I have soft white 25 watt bulbs, General Electric 40 watt Reveal daylight bulbs, and GE 75 watt Reveal daylight bulbs. As this is a new set up for me, I'll have to get back with you to tell you what works best!

Running the power cords through the pipes is definitely possible, but I think it would make disassembly much more difficult.

Mahtek & his Ladies

The only thing I would add would be some rubber crutch tips so as not to scratch the hardwood floor.

BTW. I made this a Sticky !

Great idea on the rubber tips, Camp!

You know, I think that I may have some felt pads for chair legs around here that might work too!

Mahtek & his Ladies

What a cool idea!! and because its not very expensive...one can make a few of these for some great lighting!!

lol...IVe often been in a hardware store with one idea and seing something else like you did and comming out later with something alltgether different.

PVC End Caps with stick on felt pads...

Mahtek,

Excellent work!

CD,

thank you for making this a sticky!

Great,

exactly the advice I needed following my "How to make a studio", post.

Well done Mahtek.

I think I'm going to make a set of these today!

Hopefully having some lighting equipment will help cure me of my Dolly-Pics-Blues.


But first!


I'm off to mow my lawn.



And NO, thats not a euphemism.

And here we are over a month later and I finally made the light stands.

This project could hardly be more simple to do!

Mahtek's measurements are all spot on, and his assembly directions are simplicity in it self.

Heck I did the whole thing in about 30 minutes, glue drying time included!

Good news, Bel!

It's good to have someone checking my work.

Now let's see some pics!

Mahtek & his Ladies