Light like a pro with Lights from Home Depot

Hm,
if he would include lighting diagramms with screenshots of the films he worked on, I´d buy a copy;o)
If he uses a HD worklight or a Tota light to iluminate sth is of minor interest for me, I wanne know why he used an openface lamp and why he put it where and how the lighting ratio was aso...
Nothing against DIY lights though;o)
 
Just procured a Lithonia "Worklight - Red Steel" 2 x 4' bulb flourescent shop light from Home Depot to test for a fill light. Model number 1245R.

It uses the 8T 32 watt bulbs...no flicker electronic ballast. Not nearly as bright as Kinoflo or Coollight, and probably not as color accurate; but for $21 and cheap bulbs, it's worth a test.

I got three sets of bulbs in the available temperatures at Home Depot.

6,500K Daylight Deluxe w 2,800 lumens
5,000K TL850 w 2,950 lumens (same as the plant lights)
3,000K Soft white w 2,950 lumens (same as kitchen and bath)

Results so far with the 3,000K Soft White is that the light is very compatible with the 3,200K white balance. The colors look good with incandescent key light and practicals.

I got this fixture because it's the least expensive shop light with the T8 ballast and a power cord with plug. The reflector is gray, which is a plus, because it helps control the light. Aluminum foil really increases the output...but be careful not to get too close to the bulb ends (a potential electric tickle).

The other bulb temperatures I'll test when I get to the sunlight through the windows scene setups.
 
So this is a worklight with 2 4 foot T8 tubes in it if I understand correctly. Can you post a picture? I haven't seen that at Home Depot before.
 
They have 3 or 4 different florescent shop lights...the kind that hang from chains over your workspace type fixtures. They are located on the isle with all the florescent lights.

I'll see if I can supply a photo.

What I really was shopping for was a 4 tube with an egg crate diffuser.
 
Can't beleive I missed this thread!!

As a complete video newbie (with dreams of hitting pro-hobbyist someday), I think a book like this would be of tremendous use :thumbup:

In response to some of the comments made on people blowing their wad on the camera instead of getting lighting as well:

I saved my ass off in order to afford the best camera I could get (the DVX102) even if I got a set of cheap redheads, the money left would have dictated getting something like a Sony VX or lower.... Now why would I do that? :huh:

By the time that I've saved for some decent lighting kit (as well as a 35mm adapter etc) I'll have hopefully become competent enough with the DVX's settings and with shooting that I'll be able to kick out something moderately good.

In the mean time, using what I can get away with will have to do - who knows, I might even pick up some handy tips and tricks along the way :)
 
Oh, I know about the shop lights already as that was my first choice for a fluorescent fixture too, I thought you had discovered a new type of fluorescent work light there maybe.
 
I once had a steadicam man tell me that Flat black paint makes anything professional.
 
I think I'd buy the book because an experienced gaffer probably has tried millions of things that I never even thought of yet.

A worklight can be very useful in some situations - I don't see much of a difference to a Lowell Tota light, except that it's a lot cheaper.
I just remembered a situation where I effectively mixed DiY and pro: Key light was a bedside lamp (out of frame), so I just used the practical and put a 250W halogen bulb inside. But then I needed some additional fill to make the throw of the key light "longer" without being noticeable - I used a 6-bank fluo unit with 20° honeycomb grid - perfect. With Home Depot stuff the fill would have been a lot more complicated, but the key light from the bedside lamp was perfect with only DiY - even faster than using a pro light instead.

Whenever I look at a set photo of big productions I always see big HMI lights... at least 6kW and usually many of them... There is no Home Depot way of lighting huge areas with natural looking, soft daylight. There definitely is a Home Depot way of lighting someone sitting at a desk in an office - and I think the book will be about these situations where you don't necessarily need pro equipment.
As far as I can remember the article about "There Will Be Blood" in the ASC mag, the scene in the bowling alley was almost exclusively lit with household bulbs - because in this case the gaffer felt it was the easiest and most natural looking way to light it. In other scenes they rigged multiple huge hmis of course.

*edit* found the article I mentioned:
Detailing the crew’s approach to the scene, Baumgartner explains, “We were seeing floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall in there, so we articulated some 212 bulbs to supplement the light coming from the practical globes hanging from the ceiling. We put a pair of 212s on armature wire at each socket so we could just spin the 212s and hide them behind the globes, depending on the camera position. That helped to build up the ambient light to the point where Bob could shoot freely. A portion of that scene happens at the end of the lanes, where the light levels were a bit low, so my best boy, Chris Milani, suggested hiding a row of PH 140 bulbs behind each pin rack. That created a beautiful glow that we used for the whole scene; it also added a vital push of light for the actors.”
Click to expand...
Quote from http://www.ascmag.com/magazine_dynamic/January2008/ThereWillBeBlood/page4.php
 
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I actually did make a flashlight out of gaff tape and some aluminum foil, some D batteries and a bulb. It worked great until the bulb started melting the tape!
 
Forget about the book. It's been 7 years that it was mentioned. Cameras and lenses have been drastically improved to the point of using available light a la Kubrick.
Has anyone ever given the thought of doing a film without any supplemental lighting added. Just take scenes the way they appear and work magic with them F 1.2 or faster primes. Perhaps using only scrims and reflectors. NO added light whatsoever.Do some CC in post and create something that looks different than all that artificial lighting that we all have been accustomed to being Hollywood style lighting. Perhaps a film shot this way will look real and that cold raw "real" factor is just what is needed when producing a drama or horror flik.
 
Surely all this does is prove that an expert can produce excellent work with whatever is available, and a technologist can produce rubbish with a huge budget?
 
paulears said:
Surely all this does is prove that an expert can produce excellent work with whatever is available, and a technologist can produce rubbish with a huge budget?
Click to expand...

Ive clearly become part of the facebook generation, as I was disappointed not to find a like button.
 
I have had good success with Home Depot construction lights (2 lights per stand with 2 x 300 watts each giving me 2400 watts with two stands) mounted on two T bars that can go as high as 12 feet. It's advisable to plug into two separate circuits to avoid blowing the fuses and the glare is unbearable unless you add diffusion. I found Bounce fabric softener to be pretty effective as diffusers (use one sheet, two sheets, or three sheets x 2 x 2). You want these to go on the far side of the safety grid, otherwise the Bounce sheets start to fry. I may go for LED panels any day now as trucking all of this around and having to wait for the lamps to cool at the end of a session is tedious.
 
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