Need help with indoor lighting ASAP

[lilcarzybizzo]

A friend of mine wants me to take photos of her two month old son and I would LOVE to but its Autumn and its so cold outside which would mean the photos would have to be taken inside...which i dread. I am not good at indoor lighting at all. I don't really have the money to go out and buy a bunch of fancy equipment nor do I even know what I would buy if I had the money. Does anyone know of any cheap lighting I can get? Or ways to use lamps etc. to achieve good lighting. I find that my photos come out somewhat blurry and off color with the regular lighting in my house. Any advice I can get would be great Thanks!


Additional Information: My camera is a Nikon D40

[inkista]

Do you have a fast lens (i.e., one with a max. aperture of f/2.8 or wider?) A 50mm or 35mm f/1.8 might help you out a lot both in terms of shutter speed, out of focus blur, and exposure, if you want to go without adding strobes. Also, shooting RAW and adjusting white balance in post production can help with the color issues.

Only other advice I can think of is to shoot in the daytime and use light from windows and a DIY reflector panel (or even just a piece of white poster board). Don't be afraid of using your higher iso settings like 800 and 1600--just pay attention that you're not underexposing.

You may eventually want to learn how to light, though. The site that gets most everybody hooked on the idea of learning to light is the Strobist.

[zona5101]

There are lots of inexpensive lighting solutions...search here of google "DIY lighting"
The you'll need to remember to set you white balance on your camera (if it doest do it automatically). Lastly, see what kind of shutter speed you are getting with your DIY lights. You may want to get a tripod to allow you to use slower shutter speeds. Good luck