Quick Dash, Low Cash Photo Studio

It may be that I'm the result of Depression-era parents or that I'm just plain cheap. I rely on elbow grease and baking soda to clean the bathroom; we use clothespins to keep our chip bags shut; plastic bags work great the second time around; you won't find that many pieces of clothing in my closet that cost more than $20; and my workout "club" doubles as the laundry room.

I played around with different scenarios quite a bit and found that the setup that gave me the most flexibility and least headache was pretty low-tech: two 60W task lights pointed at each other over a white paper "corner" I made with sheets of white card stock. This configuration reduces the amount of shadow coming off the pieces when I shoot them. It works well for me, too, in that I can instantly set it up on my messy worktable and break it down just as quickly--no storage.

When shooting with this light box, I make sure to set the white balance menu in my camera to "tungsten" to compensate for the yellowy light. I also up the exposure to +1 so the piece doesn't go dark.