VARIOUS PEOPLE have asked about the pictures I took for Helen’s blog. It was a pretty low-budget affair.

She wanted some new headshots, which we did, but we also took a blog photo — in her pajamas, natch — because she wanted to take down the old black-and-white picture on her blog and replace it with something more colorful. I actually took this one as I was setting up a different shot, but I liked it best for its spontaneity.

I used the Nikon D50 with a 50mm/f1.8 normal lens, and an aptly-named thrifty light set that I actually got to support some webcam video stuff I’m planning to do. It could have been brighter — quartz instead of photoflood — but it was adequate. That’s pretty much the description of the whole setup: Cheap, but good enough. My motto!

More from the D50 here.

UPDATE: Gerard van der Leun emails that he’s got the same light set, but that it’s not available on Amazon any more. True — the link was just an illustration. But this one is very similar. And if I had it to do over again, I’d buy this one.