Been experimenting with softbox - some questions

Brian Huether · January 9th, 2009, 07:24 PM

Here is a shot yesterday with just softbox:

http://www.guitar-dreams.com/misc/video/softbox.jpg

Here is with softbox and 60W flo (couldn't find the 30W):

http://www.guitar-dreams.com/misc/vi...ox_and_60W.jpg

Not sure why today's shot has more reddish skin tones.

Anyway, curious what you think.

brian

Perrone Ford · January 9th, 2009, 07:55 PM

Looks good. What fluo did you buy? That would likely explain the red cast. Would you be willing to upload the video to my site for me to play with a bit? I've been waiting for a chance to try my new upload/download service.

Brian Huether · January 9th, 2009, 08:12 PM

Yeah I can upload it. The flo is N:vision 60W daylight.

brian

Chris Swanberg · January 10th, 2009, 02:03 AM

Frankly I like the warmer colors in the 2nd pic. You are getting there! Looks pretty good to me.

Chris S.

ps. Like Perrone I like the N:visions. I keep them in varying wattages to substitutes in practicals (existing light fixtures).

Richard Andrewski · January 10th, 2009, 02:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Huether

Yeah I can upload it. The flo is N:vision 60W daylight.

brian

I doubt its a 60w. Probably a 15w with equivalent of 60w output. And sounds like you got a warm color temperature like 3000K or so. Normally you would want to match all the color temperatures at the same. In this case 5600K since the big bulb is already that.

Chris Swanberg · January 10th, 2009, 11:15 PM

The N:Visions come in 3 "flavors". The lowest in degrees Kelvin is "Soft white" and unfortunately I do not have any of those to tell you the mfgr's claimed color temp, but I would say somewhere sub 3200 Kelvin from memory. The next is "Bright white" and I think it is slightly above 3200 Kelvin. The last is "Daylight" and they at least claim it to be 5500 Kelvin on the packaging.

I have often wondered about the accuracy in both the manufacturing process and on the labelling claims.

Perrone Ford · January 11th, 2009, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Swanberg

The N:Visions come in 3 "flavors". The lowest in degrees Kelvin is "Soft white" and unfortunately I do not have any of those to tell you the mfgr's claimed color temp, but I would say somewhere sub 3200 Kelvin from memory. The next is "Bright white" and I think it is slightly above 3200 Kelvin. The last is "Daylight" and they at least claim it to be 5500 Kelvin on the packaging.

I have often wondered about the accuracy in both the manufacturing process and on the labelling claims.

2700K, 3500K, 5500k. I have color temp tested all three, and all three have fallen within 100k of the claimed color. I've been VERY pleased with these bulbs. For the price, they are nearly unbeatable. $10 for a 100w 2-pack last month at H.D. Awesome!

Perrone Ford · January 12th, 2009, 06:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Huether

Yeah I can upload it. The flo is N:vision 60W daylight.

brian

Brian,

You don't appear to have private contact turned on. If you have an FTP client, connect here if you can:

ftp://98.230.31.52

And see if you can upload your video. I'd love to see it.

Steve Oakley · January 14th, 2009, 11:02 PM

with a flo light, you can cut it with black fabric window screen. entire 50ft roll is something like $10. I have a couple hunks of this in my crate of gels. works great on the bottom of softboxes to control FG spill. much easier to use the a proper scrim + C stand, especially when needing to be light on gear / tight space. hold in place with C47's.

bobinette is the trade name of the real scrim material, but you can find about the same black hex lace in most fabric stores in an emergency. main difference is that the fabric store store isn't treated with any fire retardent unless marked as such ( very unlikely ! )

you can of course double or triple up to cut more.

Ken Campbell · January 15th, 2009, 01:42 AM

Looking good Brian! When I work with guitarists I tend to like using a large diffuser, alà Dean Collins, as close as possible to the subject with one or two lights well behind it to make everything uniform. With the lights well behind the diffuser I can use those lights again with a bounce card for fill lights. I love the soft light and how it brings out the contours of the guitar without the ugly hot spots. Since the diffused light tends to make everything more flat, I usually put a spotlight behind the artist to separate them from the background and add some dimensionality to the scene.

I sort of learned how to shoot guitars from studying the Paul Reed Smith catalogs. They really have fantastic photographers for their instruments.

Have fun!

January 9th, 2009, 07:24 PM	#16
Brian Huether Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Monterey, CA Posts: 94	Some comparison shots Here is a shot yesterday with just softbox: http://www.guitar-dreams.com/misc/video/softbox.jpg Here is with softbox and 60W flo (couldn't find the 30W): http://www.guitar-dreams.com/misc/vi...ox_and_60W.jpg Not sure why today's shot has more reddish skin tones. Anyway, curious what you think. brian __________________ Brian Huether www.guitar-dreams.com

January 9th, 2009, 07:55 PM	#17
Perrone Ford Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 4,100	Looks good. What fluo did you buy? That would likely explain the red cast. Would you be willing to upload the video to my site for me to play with a bit? I've been waiting for a chance to try my new upload/download service. __________________ DVX100, PMW-EX1, Canon 550D, FigRig, Dell Octocore, Avid MC4/5, MB Looks, RedCineX, Matrox MX02 mini, GTech RAID, Edirol R-4, Senn. G2 Evo, Countryman, Moles and Lowels.

January 9th, 2009, 08:12 PM	#18
Brian Huether Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Monterey, CA Posts: 94	Yeah I can upload it. The flo is N:vision 60W daylight. brian __________________ Brian Huether www.guitar-dreams.com

January 10th, 2009, 02:03 AM	#19
Chris Swanberg Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 904	Frankly I like the warmer colors in the 2nd pic. You are getting there! Looks pretty good to me. Chris S. ps. Like Perrone I like the N:visions. I keep them in varying wattages to substitutes in practicals (existing light fixtures).

January 10th, 2009, 11:15 PM	#21
Chris Swanberg Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 904	The N:Visions come in 3 "flavors". The lowest in degrees Kelvin is "Soft white" and unfortunately I do not have any of those to tell you the mfgr's claimed color temp, but I would say somewhere sub 3200 Kelvin from memory. The next is "Bright white" and I think it is slightly above 3200 Kelvin. The last is "Daylight" and they at least claim it to be 5500 Kelvin on the packaging. I have often wondered about the accuracy in both the manufacturing process and on the labelling claims.

January 14th, 2009, 11:02 PM	#24
Steve Oakley Trustee Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: United States Posts: 1,158	with a flo light, you can cut it with black fabric window screen. entire 50ft roll is something like $10. I have a couple hunks of this in my crate of gels. works great on the bottom of softboxes to control FG spill. much easier to use the a proper scrim + C stand, especially when needing to be light on gear / tight space. hold in place with C47's. bobinette is the trade name of the real scrim material, but you can find about the same black hex lace in most fabric stores in an emergency. main difference is that the fabric store store isn't treated with any fire retardent unless marked as such ( very unlikely ! ) you can of course double or triple up to cut more.

January 15th, 2009, 01:42 AM	#25
Ken Campbell Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Milan, Italy Posts: 140	Looking good Brian! When I work with guitarists I tend to like using a large diffuser, alà Dean Collins, as close as possible to the subject with one or two lights well behind it to make everything uniform. With the lights well behind the diffuser I can use those lights again with a bounce card for fill lights. I love the soft light and how it brings out the contours of the guitar without the ugly hot spots. Since the diffused light tends to make everything more flat, I usually put a spotlight behind the artist to separate them from the background and add some dimensionality to the scene. I sort of learned how to shoot guitars from studying the Paul Reed Smith catalogs. They really have fantastic photographers for their instruments. Have fun!