Has anyone ever softened a Home Depot work light like this?

Jim Michael · December 24th, 2006, 01:11 PM

The manufacturers of filters for lighting make diffusion material as well and it's available on rolls. The softness of the light is going to vary with the size of the diffusion material and hence its distance from the light as well as the amount of diffusion provided by the material. A thin diffusion material placed some distance from the light will act like 2 lights on the same axis - the hard light from the source plus the diffused light from the diffusion material.

Home Depot also sells a 2x4' white plastic grid you could pair up with your diffusion material to control direction of the light.

Ryan Kingston (Guest) · December 30th, 2006, 01:39 AM

Found a cheap fire resistant option for you guys to try out. Im trying this out tomorrow on a shoot. I have the dual head 500 watt worklights on a 46" stand. So been messing around with a easy way to diffuse the light.

I came up with this. I bought aluminum baking containers 11x9 by like 3"s deep. Walmart has a far selection of sizes. I then bought what is called cooking parchment paper comes in packs of 8 and is 12x16"s So all I did was simply trace the square of the light on the back of the aluminum baking container, and cut it out with a knife. Then tape the parchment paper on the front of the container, and simply slide it onto the light. Ill post some pics tomorrow to make it more clear. Almost 2am here, but the quick test I did showed the light was quite soft and looked good. Ill shoot with this setup with 2 sets of the lights tomorrow afternoon, and evening.

This solution is very very cheap, very very easy, and is made to be cooked in an oven, so no chance of fire. ;) Ill post some tomorrow after I get all of the lights done.

Henry Clayton · December 30th, 2006, 02:05 AM

All of these ideas sound really interesting. One thing I've found is that since the twin lights tilt up & down independently, one can be bounced off the ceiling for diffuse light, the other can be direct. A nice trick for certain situations.

H.

Dana Salsbury · December 30th, 2006, 10:41 AM

I looked into the light Jay suggested: http://www.regentlighting.com/common...TOKEN=13993360

I have never purchased lights, but it looks like the perfect fit. With the dimmer switch it seems like diffusion would not be as hard core. With the ability to tone it down to 150W, I might buy a couple of them.

Brian Luce · December 30th, 2006, 11:13 AM

seems like most of these lights sit on the floor, great for a green screen maybe but what issues might it create lighting people?

Ryan Kingston (Guest) · December 30th, 2006, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Luce

seems like most of these lights sit on the floor, great for a green screen maybe but what issues might it create lighting people?

The ones I bought are on stands about 46" high or so. Ill have a little hdv tutorial on how I made my cheap diffusers tommorow or so. Capturing the footage now.

Steve Witt · December 31st, 2006, 12:40 AM

Kewl!!! Can't wait to see it Ryan.

Ryan Kingston (Guest) · December 31st, 2006, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Witt

Kewl!!! Can't wait to see it Ryan.

Did a video tutorial on it. Rendering it now Ill upload it in a bit.

David Delaney · December 31st, 2006, 01:05 PM

Very interested in seeing this when it is uploaded.

Brian Luce · December 31st, 2006, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan Kingston

Did a video tutorial on it. Rendering it now Ill upload it in a bit.

I'm sitting in front of my display like a puppy waiting for milkbone. I'm not panting
though. Not yet anyway...

Ryan Kingston (Guest) · December 31st, 2006, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Luce

I'm sitting in front of my display like a puppy waiting for milkbone. I'm not panting
though. Not yet anyway...

Haha Im being finicky about quality right now. 4th render gah. After last nights shoot though I can tell you without question this works quite quite well. And costs about 1.00 per light, and is never ever going to catch fire. Maybe I can have this method named after me if everyone likes it. The Ryan diffuser or something... lol :)

Ryan Kingston (Guest) · December 31st, 2006, 04:19 PM

Ok here is the vid I did of how to make these, and a bit of eye candy at the end of a model we were shooting. I wouldnt say its nsfw, but it is a cute girl in a tanktop and santa hat hehe.

http://www.varaoke.com/diffuser.html

This is the embedded link, for those of you that have .flv players you can do the direct download if you like here

http://www.varaoke.com/diffuser.flv The file is about 63mb so some connections might have difficulties with streaming the embedded. If it chops pause it for a while and let it buffer the whole way. Let me know what you think.

This was quick and dirty, and just barely edited it. I may do a prettier version later, but too much going on right now to spend much time on it.

David Delaney · December 31st, 2006, 04:42 PM

Bravo. Great tutorial,thank you

Ryan Kingston (Guest) · December 31st, 2006, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Delaney

Bravo. Great tutorial,thank you

Thanks Id love to see results if anyone else gives this a shot. :)

Brian Luce · December 31st, 2006, 07:44 PM

Looks good to me!

Oh, and the tutorial was nice as well...

Wouldn't it be easier and safer and faster to use clothes pins to attach the parch paper?

How about that big handle bar thingee, can it be removed? looks likes it's in the way.

December 24th, 2006, 01:11 PM	#16
Jim Michael Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 895	The manufacturers of filters for lighting make diffusion material as well and it's available on rolls. The softness of the light is going to vary with the size of the diffusion material and hence its distance from the light as well as the amount of diffusion provided by the material. A thin diffusion material placed some distance from the light will act like 2 lights on the same axis - the hard light from the source plus the diffused light from the diffusion material. Home Depot also sells a 2x4' white plastic grid you could pair up with your diffusion material to control direction of the light.

December 30th, 2006, 01:39 AM	#17
Ryan Kingston (Guest) Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Nashville TN Posts: 40	Found a cheap fire resistant option for you guys to try out. Im trying this out tomorrow on a shoot. I have the dual head 500 watt worklights on a 46" stand. So been messing around with a easy way to diffuse the light. I came up with this. I bought aluminum baking containers 11x9 by like 3"s deep. Walmart has a far selection of sizes. I then bought what is called cooking parchment paper comes in packs of 8 and is 12x16"s So all I did was simply trace the square of the light on the back of the aluminum baking container, and cut it out with a knife. Then tape the parchment paper on the front of the container, and simply slide it onto the light. Ill post some pics tomorrow to make it more clear. Almost 2am here, but the quick test I did showed the light was quite soft and looked good. Ill shoot with this setup with 2 sets of the lights tomorrow afternoon, and evening. This solution is very very cheap, very very easy, and is made to be cooked in an oven, so no chance of fire. ;) Ill post some tomorrow after I get all of the lights done.

December 30th, 2006, 02:05 AM	#18
Henry Clayton Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: New Orleans, La. & Livingston, Mont. USA Posts: 40	All of these ideas sound really interesting. One thing I've found is that since the twin lights tilt up & down independently, one can be bounced off the ceiling for diffuse light, the other can be direct. A nice trick for certain situations. H.

December 30th, 2006, 10:41 AM	#19
Dana Salsbury Major Player Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 859	I looked into the light Jay suggested: http://www.regentlighting.com/common...TOKEN=13993360 I have never purchased lights, but it looks like the perfect fit. With the dimmer switch it seems like diffusion would not be as hard core. With the ability to tone it down to 150W, I might buy a couple of them.

December 30th, 2006, 11:13 AM	#20
Brian Luce Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,290	seems like most of these lights sit on the floor, great for a green screen maybe but what issues might it create lighting people?

December 31st, 2006, 12:40 AM	#22
Steve Witt Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: kentucky, USA Posts: 429	Kewl!!! Can't wait to see it Ryan.

December 31st, 2006, 01:05 PM	#24
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	Very interested in seeing this when it is uploaded.

December 31st, 2006, 04:19 PM	#27
Ryan Kingston (Guest) Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Nashville TN Posts: 40	Ok here is the vid I did of how to make these, and a bit of eye candy at the end of a model we were shooting. I wouldnt say its nsfw, but it is a cute girl in a tanktop and santa hat hehe. http://www.varaoke.com/diffuser.html This is the embedded link, for those of you that have .flv players you can do the direct download if you like here http://www.varaoke.com/diffuser.flv The file is about 63mb so some connections might have difficulties with streaming the embedded. If it chops pause it for a while and let it buffer the whole way. Let me know what you think. This was quick and dirty, and just barely edited it. I may do a prettier version later, but too much going on right now to spend much time on it.

December 31st, 2006, 04:42 PM	#28
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	Bravo. Great tutorial,thank you

December 31st, 2006, 07:44 PM	#30
Brian Luce Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,290	Looks good to me! Oh, and the tutorial was nice as well... Wouldn't it be easier and safer and faster to use clothes pins to attach the parch paper? How about that big handle bar thingee, can it be removed? looks likes it's in the way.