[Cailean]

I'd really like to try my hand at portrait photography but don't want to shell out for the requisite lighting equipment... Is it worth-while to experiment with common household lighting? (Taking shades off of lamps, etc.) Or, will the results be so poor that it's not really practice...

[slejhamer]

Absolutely!

I'd suggest starting with window light and a reflector (a large piece of white board from the craft shop works, as does a silver sun reflector for cars.)

With household lamps you can go for the "bare bulb" effect, or use a desk lamp to get more directionality.

Then you can graduate to inexpensive hardware-store halogen work lamps (just don't use them with children or animals - these lights get VERY hot!)

The only thing to watch for is white balance - especially if you mix the lights. For example, window light will appear bluish while tungsten will be very orange-yellow; mix the two and it's a good candidate for conversion to black & white.

[Cailean]

Thanks for the encouragement & tips... I'll see if I can get my wife to sit for me, though I'll probably have to promise not to post anything here... well, what she doesn't know won't hurt her!

[dewy]

make sure she doesn't have any spys on here =P

[shuttertalk]

Cool.. let us know how you go! That's the beauty of digital - you can experiment and get results straight away. And what's more, you can photoshop the ones that don't turn out right!

[dewy]

Waste nothing =)
where in film we couldn't experiment and the crap ones were crap for ever, in digital you leae the good ones and photoshop the bad ones =)

[Toad]

That's true about film, Dewey - sadly true - but a great capture in film is a classic forever - when it's hot, it's better than digital by a mile - but there is no saving a miss - like you can in digital.