It is effective because you can shape the light and often times you don't want to travel with a litedisc because cliamte changes make them stick together. Also the cost is so minimal, you can decide if you ever would want to make the leap to paying $70 for a full disc.

To see a home made litedisc in action, check out my Carmen Electra photos.

Parts list:

1. Poster board ($1-2)
2. Aluminum foil ($3-5)
3. Spray glue in a can ($3) or glue stick ($2)
4. Yellow highliter to make it a warmer litedisc. ($3)

Ok, let's get started.

Making it:

Take the posterboard and lay it on a flat surface. Pull out strips of aluminum foil long enough to cover the board with maybe 1-2" extra on each side. Pull as many strips as would be needed to cover the board, provided they overlap about 2 inches, like shingles.

Take spray glue or glue stick and coat the posterboard with out putting too much on, because it is posterboard and it will get soaked up. Now, the shiny side should go face down. It is far too reflective and causes water 'rippling' effects, which may or may not be desirable. So here we go, flatten each strip as you lay it down, it does not matter if you have some wrinkles or bubbles, it will turn out just fine, you just want it to stick to the board.

The satin side has a nice effect on flesh, but it turns out to be too blue or white for some people, but with a polarizer or a warming filter your photos will be just fine. Or use the hiliter to color it in, sometimes the colors are pretty cool in the subject.

Usage:

If you have a volunteer to hold it, you can shape the light and be more effective with a small posterboard than a huge 72x30 litedisc.

How the hell did I come up with this?:

I was out shooting on location before I had money for a LiteDisc, and so I saw a glare off of some foil at a bbq and voila! I figured it out.