Make it yourself
- Thread starter jbrndee
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Scott Spears wrote a great piece on lighting. I think it's scottspears.net.
A good key light for cheap is a 500 watt tungsten work light which can be found at hardware and car parts stores. China Lanterns are great - you can get them at Ikea. Put in a regular 200 watt bulb inside and they make a great softlight for close-ups. Add a dimmer for more control. And don't forget the very useful, easy to get, cheap "scoop" lights. Those silver, clamp on work lights are great for the hair light.
Get some blackwrap to get more control - it's a heavy black foil carried by many photography stores and on line at birnsandsawyer.com and studiodepot.com. Foam core makes great bounce board. Don't forget the importance of stands. "C-stands" are the industry standard because of their versatility, but when I was starting out I filled a small bucket with plaster and stuck a wood painters pole into it. Portability was always a problem but it worked. You can also look for used mic stands and floor lamps - remove the electric wiring and saw off the top.
A good key light for cheap is a 500 watt tungsten work light which can be found at hardware and car parts stores. China Lanterns are great - you can get them at Ikea. Put in a regular 200 watt bulb inside and they make a great softlight for close-ups. Add a dimmer for more control. And don't forget the very useful, easy to get, cheap "scoop" lights. Those silver, clamp on work lights are great for the hair light.
Get some blackwrap to get more control - it's a heavy black foil carried by many photography stores and on line at birnsandsawyer.com and studiodepot.com. Foam core makes great bounce board. Don't forget the importance of stands. "C-stands" are the industry standard because of their versatility, but when I was starting out I filled a small bucket with plaster and stuck a wood painters pole into it. Portability was always a problem but it worked. You can also look for used mic stands and floor lamps - remove the electric wiring and saw off the top.
Excellent advice, Rik.
Just one additonal thing that often gets missed out -- before you buy/build anything else, invest in a decent multi-surface reflector.
It's pretty much the most useful piece of lighting equipment you can own.
Seriously - with good light from a window and a reflector to fill the unlit side, you can get away with a lot.
Just one additonal thing that often gets missed out -- before you buy/build anything else, invest in a decent multi-surface reflector.
It's pretty much the most useful piece of lighting equipment you can own.
Seriously - with good light from a window and a reflector to fill the unlit side, you can get away with a lot.
Although they throw alot less light than the 500w work lights, I've switched over to screw in flourescent bulbs (they fit into regular light sockets). Specifically, the GE softwhite flourescents. They generate almost no heat, so your actors love you and you don't have to take breaks to let the set cool down. The light is nice and soft as well, so it's quite flattering and you can run 3 of them for the same amperage as 1 regular bulb of the same output. This makes them great for lighting outdoor locations with a car lighter adaptor!
For the sockets, I am using AC Delco clamp lights (the AC Delco's have holders that won't fall apart after using them for 10 minutes).
For 25-50 bucks, you can get a light stand that will reach 8 feet which will normally be enough for any application you'll use these for. I'm currently using boom mic stands for everything, they work well enough, 3 scoops clamped to the top of the boom make a good key for my purposes, then 1 low and offside for fill (or bounce with a piece of foamcore from the craft and hobby store). I'm still working on a good way to hair light (I may actually buy a stand with a weighted boom for this one light).
I have foamcore that I've spray painted silver on one side and gold on the other for reflector and Will Vincent left his silver foil window shade here from the last day of my feature shoot. I have white foamcore as well for soft bounce and black foamcore to use as a flag. I've found it useful to keep masking tape and tagboard on set and location for building quick light blockers and even my french flag on my camera was made this way.
Each clamp light with bulb runs about $15-$20. Foamcore runs $10-$15 / 2'x4' sheet. Ebay has folks selling lighting stands (also markertek.com, bhphoto.com and I'm sure several others - check your local photo shops too...they will throw fliers up in their windows if you shop there alot
).
For the sockets, I am using AC Delco clamp lights (the AC Delco's have holders that won't fall apart after using them for 10 minutes).
For 25-50 bucks, you can get a light stand that will reach 8 feet which will normally be enough for any application you'll use these for. I'm currently using boom mic stands for everything, they work well enough, 3 scoops clamped to the top of the boom make a good key for my purposes, then 1 low and offside for fill (or bounce with a piece of foamcore from the craft and hobby store). I'm still working on a good way to hair light (I may actually buy a stand with a weighted boom for this one light).
I have foamcore that I've spray painted silver on one side and gold on the other for reflector and Will Vincent left his silver foil window shade here from the last day of my feature shoot. I have white foamcore as well for soft bounce and black foamcore to use as a flag. I've found it useful to keep masking tape and tagboard on set and location for building quick light blockers and even my french flag on my camera was made this way.
Each clamp light with bulb runs about $15-$20. Foamcore runs $10-$15 / 2'x4' sheet. Ebay has folks selling lighting stands (also markertek.com, bhphoto.com and I'm sure several others - check your local photo shops too...they will throw fliers up in their windows if you shop there alot
).
Seriously - with good light from a window and a reflector to fill the unlit side, you can get away with a lot.[/QUOTE]
Thats is EXACTLY what i thought when i was shooting Airport 9/11 in the airport cafe. We were shooting next to a large window on the west side so in the afternoon and when the sun shone through i used a silver reflector facing the sunlight to bounce the sunlight back into the picture, which i normally use for my stills photography. It gave a cold and deathly colour to the picture which is the effect i wanted.
Remember the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Well thats how it is here in the UK, anyway.
Thats is EXACTLY what i thought when i was shooting Airport 9/11 in the airport cafe. We were shooting next to a large window on the west side so in the afternoon and when the sun shone through i used a silver reflector facing the sunlight to bounce the sunlight back into the picture, which i normally use for my stills photography. It gave a cold and deathly colour to the picture which is the effect i wanted.
Remember the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Well thats how it is here in the UK, anyway.
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knightly said:Although they throw alot less light than the 500w work lights, I've switched over to screw in flourescent bulbs (they fit into regular light sockets). Specifically, the GE softwhite flourescents. They generate almost no heat, so your actors love you and you don't have to take breaks to let the set cool down. The light is nice and soft as well, so it's quite flattering and you can run 3 of them for the same amperage as 1 regular bulb of the same output. This makes them great for lighting outdoor locations with a car lighter adaptor!
For the sockets, I am using AC Delco clamp lights (the AC Delco's have holders that won't fall apart after using them for 10 minutes).
For 25-50 bucks, you can get a light stand that will reach 8 feet which will normally be enough for any application you'll use these for. I'm currently using boom mic stands for everything, they work well enough, 3 scoops clamped to the top of the boom make a good key for my purposes, then 1 low and offside for fill (or bounce with a piece of foamcore from the craft and hobby store). I'm still working on a good way to hair light (I may actually buy a stand with a weighted boom for this one light).
I have foamcore that I've spray painted silver on one side and gold on the other for reflector and Will Vincent left his silver foil window shade here from the last day of my feature shoot. I have white foamcore as well for soft bounce and black foamcore to use as a flag. I've found it useful to keep masking tape and tagboard on set and location for building quick light blockers and even my french flag on my camera was made this way.
Each clamp light with bulb runs about $15-$20. Foamcore runs $10-$15 / 2'x4' sheet. Ebay has folks selling lighting stands (also markertek.com, bhphoto.com and I'm sure several others - check your local photo shops too...they will throw fliers up in their windows if you shop there alot
I found out that standard lightbulbs work better then the florencent while lighting up my greenscreen.
I evenely pitched each light to cover different parts of the wall, then I took 2 florencent shop lights and layed them side by side under the wall (pointing up, right and left of the wall to cover it) the wall was about 8 feet wide and 7 feet high.
It worked great. But I couldnt see me in front very well, since putting a light in front of me would cast shadow. Thats where scotts chinese latern may have come into focus, as to cast a softer light that wouldnt cast shadow over the direct lights.
Dont buy those director lights used in track lighting, they cast a cone shape, the foresent lights have a yellowing effect on greenscreens but the standard lights have a nice overshoot so it blends in evenly. downside is they get really really hot. I could smell them against the acoustic ceiling.
King Goldfish said:
That's strange because when I worked in a photolab all the photos lit by floresent had green hue and those lit by incandescent gave off yellow. We had to color correct all the time. My green screen was lit by floresent lights.. a 4' for top, bottom, left, and right sides.
The main thing is to light the screen separately than your subjects. The screen should all be one solid color. If there's hot spots, that will cause the color the shift based on the light, which is generating the hot spot.
For subjects just have the light to the left and right angled so the shadow or light doesn't hit the screen. Use cardboard or barn doors to block the light from touching the screen.
Unrelated to the original question, but I use green gels on my green-screen lights to enhance the green. I generally keep the subject far enough from the green screen that the key light does not overwhelm the lights on the green screen, but minor shadows don't have an adverse effect with my vector keyer.
As far a lighting, I've built some items and purchased others. Considering that the lighting equipment lasts forever, except for bulbs, I think having commercial light stands and inexpensive lights that mount neatly on the stands is worth a few hundred dollars (I have 6 lights total, with 3 sets of barndoors, 3 commercial stands, 3 homemade stands, and a selection of 100W, 250W, and 500W bulbs).
As far a lighting, I've built some items and purchased others. Considering that the lighting equipment lasts forever, except for bulbs, I think having commercial light stands and inexpensive lights that mount neatly on the stands is worth a few hundred dollars (I have 6 lights total, with 3 sets of barndoors, 3 commercial stands, 3 homemade stands, and a selection of 100W, 250W, and 500W bulbs).