Matt Gettemeier
July 4th, 2003, 07:14 AM
Hey gang... I definitely consider myself to be NEW to the "art" of lighting. From that perspective I thought I could offer some insight to those of you who read these posts because you know you WANT to take this all important step into the professional realm of video by doing what ALL pros do... LIGHT YOUR SHOOTS!
Obviously you won't need a light ALL the time, but in my experience a light or reflector can improve 90% of the video I've shot.
After much deliberation I decided that at the least I would want two fresnels which could later be augmented by one or two softlights (probably fluorescents)... since there aren't many "low power" fresnels I figured I should get some that could take at least a 300w tungsten bulb and higher... Well if you've ever seen a 500w work light and thought, "Damn! That thing's BRIGHT!" I can tell ya'... a 300w fresnel isn't much off from that. I have a trv900 and a couple 300w's look like the sun went supernova. As far as indoor lighting it's boarderline unusable. The nice thing is you can aim one at the ceiling and you have instant softbox (not REALLY softbox... just diffuse light)... then the other one can be gelled to death and it still has plenty of output... pop on a diffusion gel and a color balance gel... then wrap it in ten layers of aluminum foil... Ok I'm kidding about the aluminum foil...
My point is that I always hear people saying how gel use cuts the light down a lot if the gel is dark. If you go with a 300w or higher fresnel this won't be a problem.
A point that shouldn't be underestimated is HEAT. I can't imagine a 4 light fresnel kit in a tight location... 1500w of fresnels or open lights will be just like a 1500w space heater... CRANKED UP. Even with a 300w fresnel you can feel the heat of the light once you get within 3 feet of it...
Recently I also bought a 42" Photoflex and it's AMAZING how much light it can produce in an outdoor area... I used to use one of those rectangular car-dash-thingies and you'd think they would be basically the same... ?... they aren't. The cool thing about this reflector aside from portability and shear size, is that you can focus and shape the reflected light to suit the shot (when somebody is handholding it)... Concave it slightly and it makes a hotspot... open it up and it gives a really wide blast of light. I laid it under a flowering bush in my yard and it made the foliage and blooms look like a CG effect played out in real life! Through the cam it was amazing...
The point of this post is to get you new guys to buy a light and a reflector... you'll be surprised at what it'll do for your videos. The other point is that you WON'T NEED a high power light most of the time... I wanted a really versatile kit for indoor/outdoor lighting and I can tell ya' that even just ONE 300w light is amazingly powerful...
When I was browsing online catalogs I thought of 300w lights as "baby lights"... They aren't.
Obviously you won't need a light ALL the time, but in my experience a light or reflector can improve 90% of the video I've shot.
After much deliberation I decided that at the least I would want two fresnels which could later be augmented by one or two softlights (probably fluorescents)... since there aren't many "low power" fresnels I figured I should get some that could take at least a 300w tungsten bulb and higher... Well if you've ever seen a 500w work light and thought, "Damn! That thing's BRIGHT!" I can tell ya'... a 300w fresnel isn't much off from that. I have a trv900 and a couple 300w's look like the sun went supernova. As far as indoor lighting it's boarderline unusable. The nice thing is you can aim one at the ceiling and you have instant softbox (not REALLY softbox... just diffuse light)... then the other one can be gelled to death and it still has plenty of output... pop on a diffusion gel and a color balance gel... then wrap it in ten layers of aluminum foil... Ok I'm kidding about the aluminum foil...
My point is that I always hear people saying how gel use cuts the light down a lot if the gel is dark. If you go with a 300w or higher fresnel this won't be a problem.
A point that shouldn't be underestimated is HEAT. I can't imagine a 4 light fresnel kit in a tight location... 1500w of fresnels or open lights will be just like a 1500w space heater... CRANKED UP. Even with a 300w fresnel you can feel the heat of the light once you get within 3 feet of it...
Recently I also bought a 42" Photoflex and it's AMAZING how much light it can produce in an outdoor area... I used to use one of those rectangular car-dash-thingies and you'd think they would be basically the same... ?... they aren't. The cool thing about this reflector aside from portability and shear size, is that you can focus and shape the reflected light to suit the shot (when somebody is handholding it)... Concave it slightly and it makes a hotspot... open it up and it gives a really wide blast of light. I laid it under a flowering bush in my yard and it made the foliage and blooms look like a CG effect played out in real life! Through the cam it was amazing...
The point of this post is to get you new guys to buy a light and a reflector... you'll be surprised at what it'll do for your videos. The other point is that you WON'T NEED a high power light most of the time... I wanted a really versatile kit for indoor/outdoor lighting and I can tell ya' that even just ONE 300w light is amazingly powerful...
When I was browsing online catalogs I thought of 300w lights as "baby lights"... They aren't.