This contemporary fireplace and sitting area is one floor down from the previous shot in my photostream in the 5-story townhouse on Lombard street in San Francisco.

I have remarkable respect for those of you using strobes so effectively. I eschew strobes for a couple of reasons--first, I hate the fact that I can't stand and look at the lighting and sculpt it with the light on--I have to pop the strobes and look in the camera and adjust (ugh). Second, I shoot mostly at night and love ambient light--in this case, the strobes become less natural because of their daylight balance. Hot lights can also stray dramatically from incandescent light, but with some tact and a simple selection of hot lights, I find I'm able to pretty easily match or accent the ambient light nicely.

I prefer to work with an Arri lighting kit with a 1k, two 650w and a 300w lamp (tungsten), but sometimes the budget and/or time doesn't allow for it. In these cases, I carry around a duffel bag with two 500w halogen worklights and a trio of mini-halogen floor lamps which I set on the floor to fill in dark spots when ambient alone just won't cut it.

Here there is a 500w halogen with a doubled-up piece of diffusion gel over it camera left. I placed it behind the leg of the kitchen table and liked the lines it threw on the side of the left chair.