Greetings. I'm doing a short with a friend. We've decided to go no-budet. I picked up some Halogen work lights- a 1k (2 attached 500w) and a floor model 500w. I was doing some lighting tests with our camera and the 500w are just too strong. All of our shots are indoors and even using just a single 500w with heavy diffusion blew out the room too much. Any suggestions for cheap, controllable alternatives?
I picked up an oriental paper lantern (round) at a thrift store and some Christmas lights. I put the blue-colored lights inside the paper lantern and I tell you the diffusion was magical. Just beautiful. The problem is, it's only beautiful to the naked eye. The camera doesn't really pick it up. The light is too weak and unfortunately this not a camera that let's us manipulate the aperture, nor does it open up wide enough to pick up the soft light decently. So... what are some ideas for alternatives for accent or mood lighting (specifically colored lights) that we could use instead of the bundle of Christmas lights?
My main issue is price and level of control. Spill is a big problem with the halogens. You turn one on and the entire room is filled up and light is bouncing all around from all sides. Have to find another way.
feels bad man?xx(?
ADDENDUM:
Someone suggested to me "splicing in" a dimmer switch into the halogens or just buying lower rated bulbs for the halogen lamps. That's an interesting idea. I could easily do the latter.
Someone also suggested that I could put CFLs in paper lanterns, thus giving me a low-temp, more wattage solution to the accent lighting. I could try that.
quote:
Originally posted by agvkrioni
Greetings. I'm doing a short with a friend. We've decided to go no-budet. I picked up some Halogen work lights- a 1k (2 attached 500w) and a floor model 500w. I was doing some lighting tests with our camera and the 500w are just too strong. All of our shots are indoors and even using just a single 500w with heavy diffusion blew out the room too much. Any suggestions for cheap, controllable alternatives?I picked up an oriental paper lantern (round) at a thrift store and some Christmas lights. I put the blue-colored lights inside the paper lantern and I tell you the diffusion was magical. Just beautiful. The problem is, it's only beautiful to the naked eye. The camera doesn't really pick it up. The light is too weak and unfortunately this not a camera that let's us manipulate the aperture, nor does it open up wide enough to pick up the soft light decently. So... what are some ideas for alternatives for accent or mood lighting (specifically colored lights) that we could use instead of the bundle of Christmas lights?
My main issue is price and level of control. Spill is a big problem with the halogens. You turn one on and the entire room is filled up and light is bouncing all around from all sides. Have to find another way.
feels bad man?xx(?
ADDENDUM:
Someone suggested to me "splicing in" a dimmer switch into the halogens or just buying lower rated bulbs for the halogen lamps. That's an interesting idea. I could easily do the latter.
Someone also suggested that I could put CFLs in paper lanterns, thus giving me a low-temp, more wattage solution to the accent lighting. I could try that.
As you've found out, a big part of lighting is controlling any light source that you turn on.
Dimmers are an okay way to take your level down, but that also lowers your color temperature so it isn't always the best option. A better way to reduce the AMOUNT of light is to use scrims. Professional lighting units are built to accept scrims that are made to specification to reduce light by half and full stops. Since you're not using professional lights, you could fake a scrim by purchasing some screen material from a hardware store and cutting it to size. I don't know how your lighting units are built so you'd have to figure out a way to place and keep them in front of the lighting units.
That cuts down the AMOUNT of light but you also need to control WHERE the light goes and cut it from places you don't want it to go. That involves FLAGS and/or "grip doubles" and "grip singles." (Here are some examples: http://www.filmtools.com/gripligcon.html ) You would get them into place with C-stands: http://www.filmtools.com/cstands.html. Since you're not using the pro gear, you might be able to fake a flag with pieces of stiff cardboard or wood.
Without knowing what your shots are or your "set" is like and what you want it all to look like, it's hard to suggest how you can best go about lighting it all with specifics. But since your camera is struggling to shoot in low-light, you need to boost the overall ambient level AND THEN boost any accent "practical" lights to appear brighter. Try aiming your 500w into the ceiling just to get a general wash over the room and then reduce the amount of light as necessary by using a homemade scrim. CUT any hard light that might be leaking out onto your set with flags and/or "blackwrap" ( http://www.filmtools.com/roscinfoil12.html) or you could use aluminum foil (paint it black!) as a substitute.
Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com
http://www.realfilmcareer.com
Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com
http://www.realfilmcareer.com
I'd be very careful putting all this together. Those 500W work lights tend to get quite hot. Unlike professional gear, which has properly designed hardware for scrims, cookies and similar to make sure nothing catches fire, you'll have to carefully experiment with placement of your Home Depot version of a scrim or a flag to avoid them catching fire.
quote:
Originally posted by agvkrioniSomeone suggested to me "splicing in" a dimmer switch into the halogens
No splicing is necessary. Here are a couple:
www.midnightsunent.com
www.midnightsunent.com
