Exterior lighting portable lights?

Drew Ott

Drew Ott

Wish I were banned.
This is a novice question, and I haven't found the answer by searching the threads, so I'm asking it here.

I know you guys will probably shun this, but I bought a set-up of home depot work lights because I don't have much of a budget.

What I am wondering is how would I light an exterior scene, far away from any outlets to plug the lights into? There is a scene in an upcoming short that I am shooting that is right next to a highway, and a scene in a forest, so there are no outlets nearby. I'm aware that I could use a reflector and just use the sun as a light, but that wouldn't work in a forest... and help is appreciated.

-Drew
 
Day time no power? Reflectors, or rent a generator and use HMIs or fluo up close. An on-camera battery powered light will work only for a very tight close-up.

If I were at the budget level you are at, I would build a couple of 4' silver reflectors. (spray glue aluminum foil on cardboard, or since you are familiar w/ Home Despot...) pick up a 4x8 sheet of styrofoam 1/5" insulation. They make some with a silver coating on one side. cut that into 2 4' boards, and that would be my tool of choice.

-j
 
I've also been wondering about this. Are there any 300W+ battery powered lights avaiable for a reasonable price?
 
Thanks for the reply. Is there some way to fix up a car battery to be a portable energy source? You could maybe plug a power strip into a car battery (with some electrical knowledge) and hook up a bunch of lights to that..?

Any more tips would be greatly appreciated.
 
But how long would a standard car battery live with, say two 500W fluorescents? I've hear that they aren't too high capacity.
 
I am confused on the topic of lighting outdoors now. If there is any sunlight on an outdoor shot, isn't it a bad idea to use artificial lighting?? I completely understand using reflecors, same temperature of light you are reflecting into your shot. However, wouldn't mixing the artificial light and the sun's light make a very yellowy and undesired color??
 
Well, using artificial lighting outdoors isn't undesirable because of the color temperature, this can easily be corrected, its the very high power you need to combat with the sun. You can use HMI or tungsten lights with CTB to match the sunlight (adding or taking away CTB depending on the time of day, where you're shooting, what season you're shooting in, etc.).

It's best to use reflectors and butterflys and flags and such where you can. But when you can't get what you want with just that, its time to bring in a big generator and some high wattage lamps.
 
The scene I'm talking about is around night time and I want my subjects to stand out still, but it's in the woods without any power aroud.
 
We made a nice 70W fluorescent light that uses Li-Poly batteries. Runs about 3 hours or so. Dimmable of course.
This shouldn't be too difficult to make as a DIY project. Need a nice flo bulb, a good battery, an inverter, and an enclosure.
We manage to pack it into a Pelican 1500 case, incl. a small light stand.

70Wc.jpg


70Wa.jpg


70Wb.jpg
 
OK, that's cool.

Should be moved to the DIY section, but I'd sure like to see plans, and know what all those knobs and swtiches are... Is that a voltmeter?
 
j said:
OK, that's cool.

Should be moved to the DIY section, but I'd sure like to see plans, and know what all those knobs and swtiches are... Is that a voltmeter?
Click to expand...

Thanks.
It's to showbballplaya283 that one could make something that would work sans powergrid, and sans generator.

Voltmeter, yes. To give indication of battery remaining power.
The red pushbutton switch turns the voltmeter on, the toggle switch turns the light on. There's a fuse there also. Not shown is the dimmer (other side).
 
That light would make a great "emergency extend the daylight" light.

I shot a western (out in a field) and we kept a 200w joker with a battery pack fully charged. It seems every day as the sun set we pulled that thing out and bounced it off a beadboard, sometimes direct, to help extend the daylight. (why are the most critical shots always scheduled last?!?)
 
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