basic incandesent studio lighting info needed
Bill H. Hilburn Jr.
Can anyone recommend a site that has basic incandescent studio
lighting info? I am going to start doing some home studio work, and
would like to get a bit of basic info, before investing in the right
books. It's strange, but I find it hard to select the good books without
knowing something about the subject.<GG>
You have my thanks in advance.
Adios,
Bill Hilburn Jr.
JAMES CAMPBELL
Below are a few sites of lamp manufacturers. But first of all you need to
identify exactly what type of studio work you want to do. That will affect
your choice of lamps. My most important piece of advice is to get the most
professional lamps you can afford. Build up a good kit slowly rather that
buy a cheap apparently complete kit.
You have three questions to answer.
1) Subject matter
2) Tungsten or flash?
3) Transparency or print film?
1) Are you doing portraits, still life, copying, or other work?
2) Tungsten light is easy to work with because you can always see what the
light is doing. On the down side it is hot and there is a limited range of
tungsten balanced films around. Flash with modelling bulbs allows you to
work more easily with less heat, but it is harder to predict the exact
effect. You will also need a good flashmeter. If you are only doing
portraits, I find flash with reflectors easier to work with, For still life
or copying work on a small scale tungsten fresnel lamps probably allow more
control.
3) If you are only wanting prints for friends or customers use negative film
as this will have most latitude and I find more pleasing fleshtones. (Fuji
NPS160 or Kodak 160 Vericolor). If the work is for reproduction you might be
better to use transparency film as this tends to scan better.
As a basic starter two heads and a reflector will allow enormous creative
scope. No book can teach you to light; learn the techniques of exposure etc
and then study every picture you see asking how was it done? And why was
this the look that they wanted?
These sites are the manufacturers I use – there are many others all good who
offer a very similar range of lamps
http://www.arri.com/
ARRI is one of the best makers of lights for film, TV and photo work. You
would be looking at the ARRI Junior lamps in their lighting page. I have a
500w and a 1000w, both good.
Elinchrom is a great manufacturer of flash equipment. You would be looking
at the something like the compact 500 with an umbrella or softbox. There is
quite a good tutorial on lighting in this site. I have 4 compact 500 heads.
http://barbizon.com/photoproducts.html
Never dealt with this company, but you might find their catalogue a useful
source of info.
Last but not least, most cities have rental companies for all this stuff and
the daily rates are not very much. Consider spending some money on hiring
different types of kit to learn about it before you buy.
Feel free to ask any further questions
James Campbell
Lighting Director
BBC TV
London
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