A Few Cucoloris Questions

S

slondon

Well-known member
Where I am I never get to see cookies in use nor have I read about them in detail. For those who use them to break up a boring background for an interview I have a few questions, please.

1. How big is your cookie? I cut mine from a 15"X20" piece of black foamcore. (I looked at pictures of commercial ones and drew the simple patterns myself.)

2. What light do you use? I use a 250W Lowel Pro with barndoors and diffuser lens, focused wide and on a dimmer.

3. What do you use to support the light? The cookie? I use an ordinary light stand with the light on top and a grip head 18" below, with a short gobo arm sticking out 24" or so to support the cookie. The arm has another head on its end and that one holds a 12" arm with a clamp on it that holds the cookie up in front of the light. (Sorry, no pics, thus the thousand words.)

4. How high above the ground is your light? The cookie? Mine are about four feet so i can project the pattern fairly levely for a seated subject.

5. How far is the cookie from the lighting instrument? Mine's maybe 18" and I adjust it to create the fuzziness I'm looking for in the image.

6. How far is the cookie from the wall? Mine's maybe 5 feet to 10 feet. With a high cookie you have to have the setup off camera to the side (usually on the key light side) so you are always projecting the shadows across the background and they are more diffuse the farther from the cookie. I haven't tried projecting the pattern up from below or down from above. Is this done?

So please, tell me what you do or have seen and critique what I have worked out. Always trying to learn.

BTW, there was a nice use of a cucoloris in the interviews of Hillary Clinton that aired this last Sunday on all the AM talk shows. Although the background was a book case they used a cookie to break it up even more.

TIA,

Steve
 
At one point I was using cookies quite a bit but now less so. I have one that's 18x24 both in a wood type and cello type.

You seem to be making out alright with your usage - there's no set rules about how to use a cookie or not - if it's creating the effect you want it to then that's all that matters.

The further you have the cookie from the light source the harder the pattern that it'll project much like a flag and cutters.
 
*** My off-the-cuff replies - Michael

slondon said:
Where I am I never get to see cookies in use nor have I read about them in detail. For those who use them to break up a boring background for an interview I have a few questions, please.

1. How big is your cookie? I cut mine from a 15"X20" piece of black foamcore. (I looked at pictures of commercial ones and drew the simple patterns myself.)

*** 15"x20' is quite small for most (interview) work, although easy to carrry. I'm guessing most of us use more than 24" - maybe 30" or so.

2. What light do you use? I use a 250W Lowel Pro with barndoors and diffuser lens, focused wide and on a dimmer.

*** No easy answer here - your Pro is great for interviews but on the you'll need more with bigger jobs (consider Omni, Tota, and the big boys if you've got a big area or lots of gels/diffusion). Yes, the dimmer is a great idea.

3. What do you use to support the light? The cookie? I use an ordinary light stand with the light on top and a grip head 18" below, with a short gobo arm sticking out 24" or so to support the cookie. The arm has another head on its end and that one holds a 12" arm with a clamp on it that holds the cookie up in front of the light. (Sorry, no pics, thus the thousand words.)

*** A separate C stand with a 2 1/2" Matthews is commonly used, but anything you like should be fine. Now that you bring it up, in a pinch I guess I could use my Wescott holder meant for the reflector.

4. How high above the ground is your light? The cookie? Mine are about four feet so i can project the pattern fairly levely for a seated subject.

*** Most of the time our pattern is obscured so the level isn't important, but if you're trying to show specific patterns as windows, blinds, etc, then the height/angle may be a factor.

5. How far is the cookie from the lighting instrument? Mine's maybe 18" and I adjust it to create the fuzziness I'm looking for in the image.

*** Yes 18"+ is good to obscure the pattern (above I mentioned getting closer to define identifiable cutouts like windows, blinds, etc). And as was mentioned in #1 above, you're probably limited to 18" if your cookie is only 15"x20" - something to consider...

6. How far is the cookie from the wall? Mine's maybe 5 feet to 10 feet. With a high cookie you have to have the setup off camera to the side (usually on the key light side) so you are always projecting the shadows across the background and they are more diffuse the farther from the cookie. I haven't tried projecting the pattern up from below or down from above. Is this done?

*** Yes, 5-10' sounds okay for many jobs, depending on what you're trying to do. You'll need to consider issues like depth of field, which determine the distance between the wall and your subject. Then you'll know where to place your cookie.

So please, tell me what you do or have seen and critique what I have worked out. Always trying to learn.

*** I suggest you consider buying Doug Jensen's DVD, "How to Setup, Light, & Shoot Great Looking Interviews". Another good video is "DVD Enlightenment" - both have excellent tips on cookies and how it fits into overall lighting schemes.

BTW, there was a nice use of a cucoloris in the interviews of Hillary Clinton that aired this last Sunday on all the AM talk shows. Although the background was a book case they used a cookie to break it up even more.

TIA,

Steve
Click to expand...
 
Hi Steve:

Some good replies here.

I am right with Michaels reply, I have 24" x 36" cello and wood.

Always use from a C-stand.

Distances are variable depending on the look I am going for.

You should also check out Nino's excellent site www.efplighting.com

Hillary is evil, if the American people are stupid enough to elect her en masse, I may have to move to Canada or Mexico or somewhere else. Nice that she had a good background but all we can pray for is bad lighting on her and more discussions of her cleavage. ;-)

Dan
 
i recently made an emergency one from a large aluminum food tray thingy (you know the kind tha caterers use to bring food in?)
just cut a bunch of random holes in it with scissors and mounted it on top of a light stand with a mafer clamp - works good enough for a quick-n-dirty setup
 
FiddlerMD said:
i recently made an emergency one from a large aluminum food tray thingy (you know the kind tha caterers use to bring food in?)
just cut a bunch of random holes in it with scissors and mounted it on top of a light stand with a mafer clamp - works good enough for a quick-n-dirty setup
Click to expand...

I've always cut my own out of foam core.
Same sort of thing...works good enoughf or a 'quick n dirty' setup.
 
Yeah, Nino knows his stuff and has assembled a nice information source. It's a great place to point newbies especially since his explanations are clear and easy to understand.

Best,

Dan
 
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