I got these energy saving daylight bulbs from Costco to help out my night time photography. They sell them almost everywhere but Costco was by far the cheapest—$4.60 for 6 bulbs vs. $6 for 2 bulbs at Home Depot. I’ve been meaning to get these bulbs for months now. I first read about them online but didn’t feel the need to get them until the sun started setting so early!
Here’s a view of my makeshift “studio.”
I put some parchment paper on the lamp shades to soften the light, but I’m not sure it made a difference.
Now I’ll show you comparison shots between real daylight and fake daylight, as I show you some of today’s eats.
I roasted half of a kabocha squash that we got for $0.49 per pound! The cheapest I’ve ever seen them.
Daylight photos:
Daylight bulbs taken at night (quite a difference!):
For dinner, I made some tacos and Spanish rice. I followed the recipe for fish tacos that we prepared shortly after returning from Cancun.
Daylight:
Daylight bulbs taken at night:
Big difference!!
Shredded asiago cheese
Spanish yellow rice (sent from Goya months ago)
Corn tortillas
Instead of fish, we used ground beef seasoned with paprika, chili powder, and oregano.
I munched on a few spoonfuls of rice and few pieces of kabocha squash so I wasn’t too hungry by the time dinner rolled around. We were waiting for my mom to come home but she went to her company party. Hence the late dinner time (and spoiled appetite).
The above salad photos under the daylight bulbs look a bit better, dontcha think? They were taken in the above “studio” whereas the taco ingredients were taken in the kitchen, where the light was shining at an angle.
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Earlier in the day I had an Ezekiel English Muffin with Cranberry Cinnamon Goat Cheese while watching our Prezzie give an important speech.
See? It’s not always The Food Network 
.
It was my first time buying the non-cinnamon raisin flavored Ezekiel EMs. ‘Twas alright, but I missed the sweet….a lot! The goat cheese made up for it though.
This cranberry cinnamon goat cheese from Costco is to die for!
Pumpkin oatmeal pancake w/ cinnamon spiked Greek yogurt. Clearly, this is a real daylight photo!
Dessert: Eggnog caramels w/ dark chocolate chips. I made 1.5 batches of the caramels for my mom’s coworkers as holiday gifts but truth be told, they are almost gone! Whoops.
I lugged myself to the gym for 45 min. on the elliptical today. It was a total snooze fest. I hope my workout motivation comes back soon!!
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Tell me: What do you enjoy taking photos of? People? Scenery? Landmarks? Birds? Food?
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s strange..I never actually became interested in photography until taking pictures of food. Now I love photographing just about everything, mainly scenery and animals. There’s still a lot to learn but I’m having fun along the way
That’s a real deal with the lights, too. Costco/Sam’s Club can be pointless a lot of the time unless you use certain items a lot and need them in bulk..but those lights are a real steal!
I’ll take pictures of anything, but I’m best when things are sitting still – haha. Landscapes, food, etc. is kind o fmy niche I am finding.
I love all your photography tips and tricks! (especially the time you used your shorts as a backdrop fabric =) Keep em coming! <3
Want.that.goat.cheese!!
49 cents a pound for kabocha?! I am seething with jealousy! I found it for a dollar a pound once, but normally it’s at least $1.50 if I can find it at all.
I LOVE that goat cheese! I get the same one for salads… add in some chicken and dates and it is a party!
Definitely food! People talk back and hide from the camera. I understand it’s hard to feel comfortable with yourself, but I think that people should take it as flattery that someone wants to photograph them! I love people shots with genuine emotion though, because they’re so hard to catch.
I always have quite a problem with my indoor lighting. It’s a shame the “daylight” lightbulbs aren’t any help.
i love photographing people but artistically or naturally.
Cranberry- cinnamon goat cheese? That is SO on my list of musts at my next Costco trip!!
Your photos look great either way! I had trouble telling the difference tbh. Nice work!
I love taking photos of scenery (especially the fall trees a few weeks back!) and now food, too. I’m finally getting the hang of food photography! As you can probably tell my looking at my blog right now compared to when I first started! Hehe!
The photos look pretty good under daylight bulbs! What a great makeshift studio
Food! I love taking pictures of food! And scenery… I have a tough time photographing people though.
Wow, those daylight bulbs work pretty well!
That goat cheese sounds SERIOUSLY amazing!
Wow, that’s more of a difference than I was expecting! I like taking pictures of scenery the best.
i love taking photos os food and people! i love getting cool angles and such! my photography skills are NOT reflected on my blog though ahah
I love taking pictures of people and food.
The daylight bulbs are pretty good, but nothing compares to real daylight! I’ll be on the lookout for daylight bulbs now, thanks!
I think your fake daylight looks great!! Great job on the pictures, your pics always come out beautiful.
Spoiling your appetite with squash is totally allowed. I do this way too often myself.
I need some of those lightbulbs in my life…my apartment lighting is HORRIBLE!! I like taking pictures of food (duh) and candid snapshots of my friends. I’m like the paparazzi!
I agree with Gabriela – the lighting in my apartment is the worst! I’ve totally given up on trying to take a good picture of my dinner this winter. But I’ll have to look into those lightbulbs because they definitely help a bit!
Wow I’m surprised as how much of a difference those bulbs made> I haven’t gotten around to making a photo studio yet! need to!
I love taking pictures of people, pets, food and nature (but not landscapes). Those last photos look really good – looks like the bulbs were a great investment.
Yum! My mouth is watering looking at that squash! Love the energy saving light bulbs; it’s crazy to think about what a difference it would make if everyone did their part to save the environment! Hope you have a more motivating work out tomorrow
I just had some of that goat cheese the other night. It was fantastic!
Mmmm….. I just got the cranberry goat cheese too because I saw it on your blog. I was wondering how you store your open goat cheese? Can you freeze it? I don’t want to be pressured to eat the whole thing in a short period of time. My last log of goat cheese got moldy before the use by date. T_T
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